Articles on Tom Cochrane and Red Rider

For a couple of years, Tom Cochrane’s Red Rider has been Canada’s most underrated successful Rock Band. In the era of the corporate accountant-musician, Cochran looks to Rimbaud or Neruda for inspiration.

Tom Cochrane, leader of Red Rider, believes the band is gaining its remarkable recognition because it finally establishes an identity. The band will play at 7 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday.

When Tom Cochrane, lead singer-songwriter for Red Rider, was running along the sand at Vancouver’s Wreck Beach earlier this week, it wasn’t because he needed th exercise.

The rock group Red Rider is making a stop in Red Deer Tuesday as part of their tour of Western Canada, a region which has been good to them.

It all occurred quite subtly. No one was really aware of the secret society known as Friends Of The Beaver, a society dedicated to the promotion of Canadian rock ‘n’ roll.

When Tom Cochrane, lead singer-songwriter for Red Rider, was running along the sand at Vancouver’s Wreck Beach earlier this week, it wasn’t because he needed the exercise.

“They were a lot better than I thought they would be” said Greg Cannon of Orangeville as a rock group Red Rider was leaving the stage after a recent performance at the Galactica 2000 in Sacramento.

Tom Cochrane’s songs tell of struggle and justice – not at all your usual rock lyrics. A note to Wreck Beach nudists: No, that wasn’t the Chariots of Fire sequel being filmed on your favourite beach.

It’s ironic that a band such as Red Rider should have the same problem as the hard-core punk rock group Dead Kennedys trying to make socio-political statements in four/four time and at 115 decibels.

Red Rider – Neruda. When Pablo Neruda was offered a high-ranking government by his good friend Salvadore Allende, president of Chile, the South American poet could not accept.

Red Rider: Neruda (Capitol. You don’t have to be familiar with Red Rider to enjoy the most recent efforts of this Canadian rock band. Although better known for their hits, White Hot and Lunatic Fringe, Red Rider has taken to tackling ling more challenging dimensions with Neruda

The alarming image of an urban mob’s perverse fascination with death in Power (Strength in Numbers) opens Neruda, Red Rider’s most lyrically powerful release to date.

Red Rider – Neruda. Mention contemporary Canadian rock and a number of names spring readily to mind – April Wine, Loverboy, Rush, Rough Trade, Saga and The Payolas, just to mention a few.

That is where Red Rider stands today as they tour the Midwest with The J. Geils Band. One of their songs, “Lunatic Fringe,” has been getting extensive FM radio airplay and that, Cochrane said, sells tickets.

It’s odd enough the Beach Boys will play their summery rock in the dead of fall on their current tour. It’s even odder they chose Canadian hard-rockers Red Rider to open the shows.

The second LP by Red Rider, As Far As Siam, (Capitol) is a considerable improvement over Don’t Fight It, which suffered from unexciting production and the group’s indecisiveness.

As Far As Siam, Red Rider, Capitol. Red Rider’s lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Tom Cochrane, is one of the few rock composers capable of writing songs in Cinemascope and Technicolor.

There’s an interesting chemistry about Red Rider. When leader Tom Cochrane’s husky haunting voice clicks with the subtle slide-guitar of Ken Greer, the band zeros in on an ethereal mood.

As Lead singer Tom Cochrane put’s it “the band that plays together, stays together.” Thus lies the secret to Red Rider’s compatibility, as Cochrane and bassist Jeff Jones disclosed Thursday how the rock and roll band manages to keep loose at home and on the road.

Red Rider, a young five-member Canadian band that already has a gold album during it’s short history, performed a unique mixture of pleasing melodies, sophisticated lyrics and hard rock before a house at Casablanca Monday Night.