Articles on Tom Cochrane and Red Rider

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.

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.

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.

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.

One of the fastest rising Canadian singles of late is White Hot by a Toronto band named Red Rider. The song comes in a picture sleeve, something unheard of in Canada except for independent new wave acts.

When Red Rider’s first album turned up last fall, newspaper rock critics were skeptical. The whole project reeked of hype. Record companies decide each month which albums they are going to push.

When singer-songwriter Tom Cochrane first heard Red Rider perform at the El Mocambo in Toronto, he was impressed by the rock group that he went backstage after the show and offered to audition for the spot of lead singer.

Red Rider is not exactly a household name in local rock circles. But if the band, it’s manager and the powers that be at Capitol Records have their way, this five-man Toronto based rock ‘n’ roll consortium and it’s debut album Don’t Fight It, will be the biggest thing to hit the industry since The Beatles.

Capitol Records is going all out on the debut effort, Don’t Fight It, by Red Rider. A single titled White Hot, was released February 5, followed by the album, released on February 11.