Glasgow’s very own The Red Lite District has just demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with in the modern punk rock world. Their latest track, “We Are All Working Class Now,” brings to an end their much-anticipated EP, “Life Won’t Wait,” and delivers with it quite a statement of intent, big and unapologetic, a mash of the raw energy of punk with garage/ grunge rock textures.
Arriving as the last song on the six-track EP, “We Are All Working Class Now” feels like a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt the banality of the everyday but still longs for freedom, fun, and rebellion. With its title nodding to the New Labour phrase of the 1990s but without a hint of political posturing, the song taps into a universal theme that everyone, whatever their class or standing, is after that one, basic, timeless kick.
The RLD does this anthem justice with their own trademark sound. There’s a momentum in each guitar riff, and the rhythm is thundering, and the lead vocals are sung with lung-pounding immediacy, balancing grit and melody. It’s a song that is participatory and one that makes room for stomping, shouting, and singing along.
Off a wider EP that belied an adaptability from snarly punk through to more melodic alternative rock, “We Are All Working Class Now” is a fact-file in microcosm as to where the band stands in music that came alive from the first few chords, music that is authentic, music that stood up and demanded your attention. “When Life Won’t Wait” will be released on October 21st on Sodeh Records, and this closing number will ensure that The Red Lite District will be a name spoken in the same breath as a movement in the genre of modern punk rock. It’s an energetic, raw, unapologetically human labor anthem for the everyday rebels of today.
Connect with The Red Lite District on Instagram – @theredlitedistrict
