Red Huxley

In all honestly, after attending the much anticipated Le Castle Vania the night before, reviewing two bands the following night seemed a task not entirely to be desired for.

Arriving in Harrington Street for the second time in one weekend, I made my way to the entrance. In the queue I realised the venue was still somewhat quiet and took a deep breath in preparation for a “Here we go, again!”

There were two young, funky girls standing behind me enquiring what the entrance was and in answering I discovered I was standing in front of two VERY KEEN Red Huxley fans. Always a good way to start the evening.

Now, before I delve into the depths of the sheer crazy brilliance of this “new on the scene” band, I have to inform you that I had only seen them once before. I attended the launch of Kombat Fudge a little earlier in the month at Zula Bar and Red Huxley was their opening act.

Summarised very simply, it only took their first two songs to inject my being with unashamed dancing and perhaps one too many “woohoo’s!!” throughout their entire set.

I was intrigued to see how these ex- Reddam and Bishops boys were going to perform on the infamous stage of Assembly.

As Dylan (vocals and guitar); Murray (drums) and Matthew (bass) slowly set up their instruments I noticed the audience started to fill up very quickly. It was very clear that those who were present, were there for a reason.

The band opened up with My Own Way and what a way it was! To know that this vocalist is new to his art is very surprising, as his strong, earthy voice resonates immense comfort and warmth to the listener.

Love, Drunk, Dirty certainly toned things up a notch and in hindsight this track is my personal favourite, finding the energy and projection rather sexual and inviting, almost like you want to learn the lyrics so you can belt them out yourself with nothing but utter enthusiasm.

The following (yet to be titled) track encompassed an amazing guitar solo, something I am finding to be very few and far between with the majority of the bands I listen to today. Basically, guitar solos ROCK. (Particularly when you have the likes of a musician who is well acquainted with his instrument.)

I’m Coming Home, a fast-paced, “dancey” tune, comprising of intervals of slower melodies building up to an insane beat is one for the head bangers.

Finally closing with another “fresh out of the box” track, the guys of Red Huxley had outdone their mission in creating an incredible up-beat, “let’s party” vibe in the venue.

I quickly swallowed my previous thoughts perceiving my “task” as such and was smiling from ear to ear, nodding in acknowledgement of this raw, talented trio of individuals.

The old-school, black and white visuals on the screens which are located on either side of the stage are brilliantly suited to their unique blues-rock style and spell a level of professionalism we can only expect to receive from their soon to be released EP as well.

Do yourself a favour and look out for their next performance. You’ll be more than glad you did.

- My Music Matrix

Assembly, ever popular with the creative types, hosted the 31st Annual Loerie Awards Agency Battle of the Bands competition last night, 24 September 2009. Being accustomed to gigs always starting at least an hour or so later than advertised in chilled out Cape Town, we arrived just after nine and unfortunately missed three of the five bands that were playing. However we did manage to catch winners and overall biggest ego'ed band the Red Huxleys from Ogilvy and their closest rivals of the night The Gloonies from Gloo.

The plaid-shirt rockers, Red Huxley from premier SA ad agency Ogilvy, won over the Assembly crowd with their old school classic rock and were voted, via SMS, favourite band of the night beating out bands The Room, Checked Zebra, Fourteen40 and the The Gloonies. The three lucky members of Red Huxley won a week at the Red Bull Music Academy's recording studio as well as a performance at a Big Concerts Festival in 2010 along with prizes from Brandhouse....

- BizCommunity.com

Red Huxley is an authentic and powerful rock band newly conceived in the mother city. With old school rock foundations and a straight and simple, no frills attitude, they have managed to create a raw, gritty and jamming sound that cuts through the superficial layer of image based rock and hits you directly in the bones. (Exactly what old school rock was intended to do.) - Red Huxley Fan Page (Facebook)


A friend of mine told me about these guys and i was, to be honest a little sceptical about them because I've never heard the name before, and they've been around since 2009! Then again, as the local music scene has shown us, local bands who have tons of hype around their name, are unfortunately more often than not, average to below average bands who have good marketing skills, this sucks for bands like Red Huxley - because they're really good!


It's a tragedy that these guys have to compete with overrated bands with scores of tasteless fans when they have considerably more talent than most of the local bands you hear on radio!


From the moment heard the first dirty, gungy chord being played in "Love Drunk Dirty" i was transported to the crowds seen in the very first Nirvana video recordings, hair being flung about, people throwing each other around, band going insane, talent enough to drown everyone in the room and the great memories that follow. As crazy as it might sound, these guys managed to fill my mind with imaginary memories - I'd love to see what they can do live!


As far as old school rock goes, this isn't it - its better. They've managed to take the best of the 80's and 90's, trimmed the hair, shaved a little, tuned their guitars and structured their music JUST enough to call it modern, and with those subtle changes they have started the process for making it big.


About a year back i was worried about good old dirty rock, but with guys like this on the front lines, we have nothing to worry about! I'm incredibly excited to see them live next month, and if you can make it, you really should check them out! If you're unsure about them ('cause you don't trust me) check out their pagehttps://www.facebook.com/redhuxleyband and download their tracks!

Red Huxley Upcoming Gigs:

•Saturday, Jun 18
9:00 pm
Nameless Pub
Somerset West

Saturday, Jun 25
9:00 pm
Blizzards
Durbanville

Red Huxley, we solute you, and as our TMWW winners, you got these kind words, a discounted photo shoot, and we tell people about your GREAT music!
- Trick Media

Cape Town based rockers Red Huxley have been jamming the local scene hard of late with gigs at The Assembly and outdoor-fest Synergy to name but a few. It’s only up from here for the boys, whose simple blend of old skool rock leaves the crowd and the groupies begging for more.

On their official site (www.redhuxley.com) the band is described as : “ … with their old skool rock foundations and a straight and simple no frills attitude, they have managed to create a raw gritty and jamming sound that cuts through the superficial layer of image based rock and hits you directly in the bones. “
Band members Dylan Jones (Vocals and Guitar), Matthew Pullen (Bass) and Murray Stephenson (Drums) have been delivering the good stuff, grabbing the crowd by the gonads. As winners of ‘The Loeries battle of the bands 2009' & ‘The Rock Premier League 2010' Red Huxley has more than a few accolades under their belt. I sat down with the guys to find out “what kine”:

How and when did Red Huxley come about?

All three of us had similar music tastes even though we didn’t know it yet. When we met up in the band room early 2009 we started messing around (not with each other…FFS) and stuff just started coming together. We were presented with a gig opportunity at the Assembly, which we were cagey about, but decided to grow a pair and just smash it. That was when we started to take music more seriously. We managed to win the Loerie Awards Battle of the Bands – (which we think was) the springboard to everything since.

The band has been growing from strength to strength lately playing some really awesome gigs, what has been your favourite so far?

2010 was awesome. Jamming with bands who like to drink beer, bring real energy to the stage, talk music and then party some more was A! The best gigs have been with the best people, they are inseparable. Our mid year Taxi Violence gigs were mental. Rated R at the Harley Davidson Club with The Revelators, The Runs, a couple of bikes and cheap beer was a party that got real messy afterwards…A good messy. Very good. Our latest show at Assembly for the MK Awards After Party was a great night for SA rock ‘n roll.

What are some of your influences?

Everything Josh Hommes – Queens of the Stone Age, TCV, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal. We’re also influenced by The Black Keys, Wolfmother, The Datsuns, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath.

What do you make of the current rock scene in Cape Town?

Rock music is growing in CT and South Africa. Live performance and energy is what its all about. English or Afrikaans, the Real Rock bands with hard energy trump the image based ones and have pushed through the superficial layer to headline all the major festivals in the past two years.

What’s next for Red Huxley?

Bigger and better shows. We have a second EP coming out soon as well as a Music Video in the works. Lots happening all the time, everywhere….it’s hard work but fkn awesome!

Who let the dogs out?

Baha men – year 2000…

Red Huxley is a forced to be reckoned with fo’ sure. Their site is sick and you can even download their EP for free. Mahala. Niks. Check ‘em out: http://www.redhuxley.com/ Otherwise to contact the guys: www.facebook.com/redhuxleyband | www.twitter.com/redhuxley | redhuxley@gmail.com.

» Mishqa Rossier

- Rock n Roller - Mishqa Rossier

"Red Huxley’s deep, thrombotic riffs rolled toward us from the stage. Huxley are a modern/classic marvel. Unexpectedly commanding and strangely reverent, they fuse a much-missed rock authenticity with some good old dirty strumming and soul-elevating vocals. They’re definitely old school, and listening to them, I kept on asking myself, ‘Have I heard this before?’ I hadn’t, but I think I wished I had. I was on my feet by the time they played ‘Coming home’. By that time we had also rearranged the furniture several times."

- Getaway - Tyson Jopson