Red Violet Red

Art school student Jeff Gallea meets Lyle Wells at a New Order concert in 1984. They form the synth-pop duo Festival Of Dreams and play a few local Rochester shows. Jeff sings, programs Roland 707 drum machine beats and plays Korg Poly 61 synth bass. Lyle sings, plays Fender electric guitar and Roland Juno 60 synth. Jerry DellaPietra joins to play electric Fender bass. Jeff, Lyle and Jerry all sing lead while recording cassette demos, but feel a designated lead vocalist is needed for live shows. Jerry recommends novice singer Cedric Herrera to audition. The four unite under the new name Red Violet Red in early 1985. 

While practicing in an abandoned downtown Rochester warehouse with windows open, night club promoter Richard Kaza walks by and hears Red Violet Red's driving new-wave sound. Richard ventures to the 4th floor, listens and invites Red Violet Red to headline at the opening of the new Club Idols. Over 300 punk-rockers, new-wavers and excited music fans pack the small upstate New York venue for their first perfomance. The local crowd hears and watches Red Violet Red use their synths and drum machines mixed with guitars and layered voices for a brave modern sound. Everyone dances. This is Cedrics first band, his first gig and he is expectedly nervous. Lyle gets drunk and throws a beer bottle at the club owner. Jeff hits on Adam Ant's girlfriend then gets bounced (for the bottle Lyle threw). The party gets out of hand and the Fire Marshal shuts the club down for being over capacity. 

Red Violet Red does no future shows at Idols, but Jim Fall, co-owner of lo-fi record company Game Hen Records, hears their intense performance. After that show, Red Violet Red is encouraged to record and release an album. In the summer of 1985, sound engineer Gary Zeftig records Red Violet Red at Music America Studios where Metallica recorded their first album 'Kill Em All'. They self produce and record 8 songs on 24-track analog 2" tape. Game Hen presses two of the songs to 12" vinyl single. 300 records are released. '12 Miles Of Sky' b/w 'Candy Cane'. Each record cover is hand painted with a green photo sticker and hand numbered. A basement flood at Game Hen destroys 50 records making the original 250 records harder to collect. The song "12 Miles Of Sky" charts high on many US college radio stations. 

One year later Red Violet Red breaks up for creative differences, right before a record deal was offered. In 1986 Jeff and Lyle form the cult collector dark-wave band Eleven Pond. Cedric joins the alt-rock band Claude Raines. [SOURCE: DOMESTICA RECORDS]