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Communist Virgins and Schools on Fire: The Red Brigade Story John Pugh, Lisa Cobb, and Mike Mills form Red Brigade
 John Pugh // Red Brigade was the logical extension/marriage of Jet Jangua and Rat Fink A Bu Bu. The Communist theme came up because we had a Russian flag and it looked cool, (just as Jet jangua had a "Don't Tread On Me" flag). Dressing up like Commies had about as much political significance as dressing up like a bunny rabbit in the mid-90's. Musically, I was drooling all over the first four seven-inches on Dischord (Teen Idles, G.I., Youth Brigade. Sorry, not S.O.A.)and the Mummies first LP. Of course, listening to the one song that survived (from a recording session in Barry Poynter's dining room) "Fuckless", we kind of sound like 12 FT 6 on the wrong rpm. I remember one of the Ho-Hum brothers saying "Y'all sound like the Fall". I had never heard the Fall, but I pretended to know what he was talking about and took it as a compliment.Dave Wilkinson // Red Brigade was an interesting band and I really dug how the drummer didn't have a kick drum or a hi-hat but a snare a floor tom and a ride cymbal. I saw them at State Street and I think the Belevedere as well. I remember that a fire had broken out at Central High School and when that happend John Pugh made these lyric sheets and on the cover was a person sitting there watching the firefighters put out the fire. But I remember the song "National Burn Your Fucking Schoool To The Ground Day" and thinking how cool the lyrics were. I think it rules though that there is a recording that is around and that a song is on this site. Mike Mills // When John Pugh, Lisa Haluszka (Cobb), and I formed the Red Brigade, we were roommates at 110 South Summit Street near the Capitol. If I remember correctly, the original concept for the band's lineup included Jared Smith. He would have been the vocalist and was supposed to wear an old silver motorcycle helmet. The idea was that Jared would roll around on the floor and we'd break beer bottles over his head. I'm not exactly sure if the rest of the instrumentation had been discussed, or whether or not anything else was at all important. Sadly, sometime after we moved from the "Melrose Punx" apartments on Kavanaugh to the house on Summit Street, Jared disappeared, possibly to Philadelphia. The Red Brigade was finished before it began.
Luckily, John had a guitar and had written a handful of revolutionary songs. Lisa was getting serious about playing her bass, even though she was paralyzed with fear that all her strumming was going to leave her deformed, with one fat and one skinny arm. I had played bass and guitar in bands in California, but those positions were already filled. That was okay with me, better than okay, it was great! I'd been ... (More)When John Pugh, Lisa Haluszka (Cobb), and I formed the Red Brigade, we were roommates at 110 South Summit Street near the Capitol. If I remember correctly, the original concept for the band's lineup included Jared Smith. He would have been the vocalist and was supposed to wear an old silver motorcycle helmet. The idea was that Jared would roll around on the floor and we'd break beer bottles over his head. I'm not exactly sure if the rest of the instrumentation had been discussed, or whether or not anything else was at all important. Sadly, sometime after we moved from the "Melrose Punx" apartments on Kavanaugh to the house on Summit Street, Jared disappeared, possibly to Philadelphia. The Red Brigade was finished before it began.
Luckily, John had a guitar and had written a handful of revolutionary songs. Lisa was getting serious about playing her bass, even though she was paralyzed with fear that all her strumming was going to leave her deformed, with one fat and one skinny arm. I had played bass and guitar in bands in California, but those positions were already filled. That was okay with me, better than okay, it was great! I'd been wanting to try drumming with a set-up I'd seen in my hometown of Eureka, California. In the Summit Street basement, I found a floor tom abandoned by Burt Taggart, a raggedy snare drum, and a single ride cymbal. I dragged down a milk crate stool, bought a single pair of drumsticks, and we were in business.
Stevie Wonder's greatest hits was one of John's favorite eight-tracks at the time. I was most heavily influenced by the Ramones. We played Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" to warm up at practice. This might go a little way toward explaining why our sound was not quite like anything I'd ever heard before. Then again, it might not explain anything at all.
Our first show happened at Summit Street. In our usual form, we had no mic stand, so Pugh improvised one out of an ugly ass lamp. He took the light bulb out and put the microphone in. In the only piece of photographic evidence I have ever seen of the Red Brigade, John--with a guitar slung over his shoulder--is severely hunched over, singing into this horrid lamp. The Dangerfield 5 played at the show and someone produced a nice, multicolored spray-paint flyer.
As far as I can figure, the next show was at 800 State Street. We were supposed to open for Cedel Davis. I have a flyer, but I don’t remember the show working out that way. I think someone flaked out, but can't remember whether it was Cedel Davis or us. We did play at least one show at the river, by the big fountain near the Belvedere.
According to the tape case of my only copy of the Red Brigade demo tape, (I lost the actual tape) side one came from a recording made at Das Yutes a Go Go and side two came from a show at 800 State Street. From this, I’m guessing we did finally play at least one show at each Venue.
This was around the time that recordings were being collected to make up a new compilation LP, (something like the amazing Towncraft record) documenting a number of the current bands. Somehow we ended up recording one song at the studio, probably sometime in 1995. There was tight security about the recordings made then, because much or all of the Towncraft recordings had been leaked and circulated widely before the record came out, and there were feelings that this resulted in a much less potent official release. This time around, not even the bands were able to make copies of their own songs. They weren't going to make the same mistake. Unfortunately, as it turned out, they also weren't going to release the recordings.
For years I tried to get my hands on a copy of the only song the Red Brigade ever recorded in a studio, all to no Avail (pardon the pun). Today, eleven years later, I happened upon the Towncraft website and was finally able, for the very first time, to listen to the recording we made that day. Having lost all my recordings of the Red Brigade, I was stoked to finally hear "Fuckless" in all its buzzy, thump-thump, glory.
As for trivia, the song "Fuckless" is about the revolutionary power of the cult of virginity-- which one of us still belonged to in those days. A pair of Canadian girls interviewed John about the song for their zine after hearing the title and what the song was about. I don’t know if they ever published their interview.
Our other songs included, "Guns for the Unemployed" "Who’s Gonna Be the New Punk Rock?" "Kids Who Lie" "Fucked On Planet Earth" "Real Stories of the Doom Patrol" and our biggest hit, "National Burn Your School to the Fucking Ground Day." There was, in fact, a fire at Central High School toward the end of the life of Red Brigade. At the time, we were not available for comment. In regards to schools on fire, we're still not available for comment.
The band name was inspired by the Brigate Rosse, an Italian Marxist Terrorist organization. Our mascot was the recently defunct Russian flag--classic red with a golden Hammer and Sickle. We dragged that flag around to most of our shows.
In the end, much like the Soviet Union, The Red Brigade went out with a whimper rather than a bang. John and I went on to form the "Cut Throats" with McCloud. Lisa teamed up with Catherine and Louisa to form "Foxy Emma." No one knows exactly when or why the Red Brigade broke up, not even those of us who were in the band. Perhaps, as potential terrorists, and/or communists, we attracted the attention of the FBI and they erased our memories. Who knows? Stranger things have happened. (Less)
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Burt Taggart
Foxy Emma
Little Rock Central High
Towncraft
