Maryland based Red C Records has a vision
and a plan to change the future of D.C.
Go - Go music. William 'Malachai"
Johns, former lead guitar player for
popular D.C. Go - Go bands, the Northeast
Groovers and SOULO founded the label
in late 2003. Mr. Johns' goal in forming
Red C Records is to create, perfect
and expose to the world, a new form
of Go - Go music called 'Pocket".
Frustrated
with the lack of national exposure for
the art form, Malachai, also known as
Redds, returned home from a stint in
Las Vegas and Los Angeles to pursue
his dream of giving Go - Go to the masses
and has since been working tirelessly
to create the next big thing in the
music industry.
Go - Go music, indigenous to the Washington
D.C. area can be described as nothing
else but a musical anomaly. A hybrid
of R&B, Jazz, Hip - Hop, Calypso
and Latin music, Go - Go has been a
quiet staple of the urban music industry
for over 25 years. Virtually unheard
of by the general population of the
U.S., Go - Go music is the lifeblood
of the urban music scene in the D.C.
area, including Northern Virginia and
much of Maryland. Unlike most major
cities, D.C. supports its local artists
with a fervor that rivals and often
supersedes their support of national
acts.
Known mostly for
its blistering live performances, it is nearly impossible
for any national act to follow the energy of a performance
by a Go - Go band in or around D.C.
This vibrant scene, prevalent in the Washington D.C.
area since the late 1970's, has however never quite
been successful in capturing the attention of the national
music buying public. In an effort to spread this unique
music throughout the nation, and the globe, Red C. Records
has elected to create a hybrid of the form. Appropriately
dubbed ''Pocket"" music after the predominant
conga beat used in Go - Go, this new form will reflect
the original while making use of traditional song structure
not normally present in go – go music, and songs
composed by talented songwriters. As Techno, House,
Trance and Jungle are all forms of Dance music and Dub,
Dancehall and Ska are all variations of Reggae, 'Pocket"
will be a new, but similar form of Go - Go.
With an irrepressible determination to succeed, Mr.
Johns and his new label are certain to put D.C. music
on the map.
