Ricky Delaney’s in high spirits as we’re chatting, and for good reason. Red Hot Riot might have been quiet on the gig front but behind the scenes, they’ve been working on their next release. “the plan at the start of the year with Red Hot Riot… we were like ‘right, album number three needs to happen this year’. So we wanted to take a bit of a backseat from gigging a little bit because we felt with the last release –  we are happy with it –  we felt we rushed it out a little bit. So we were like, ‘okay, this next one the whole year is going to be dedicated to doing the demo, doing it correctly and figuring out a proper release plan with it’. So it’s been quiet year on the gigging front of things but behind the scenes we’re still busy, so that’s nice. We went to the Shakedown, just to attend the Shakedown Rockabilly weekend, a couple of weeks ago and people were like, ‘what’s going on in Red Hot Riot? Are you still doing it?’ We’re like, ‘yeah we are. We’re not gigging. It doesn’t mean things aren’t happening but yes, that’s where we’re at’. 

The gigs we have been doing have been fun. I can’t really complain on that front. We did Colford Music Festival, which nobody outside of the Forest [of Dean] where I’m from would have ever heard of, but it’s like it’s one we’ve been going to for years. It’s like [we]  grew up around that festival sort of thing, and [it’s a] decent sized festivals, like four thousand people,  something like that. We was asked to headline it this year so that was nice. It was like a full circle thing.”

It’s been two years since we last heard Red Hot Riot on record, and we’re eager to get an update on their next album. “Everything’s written. Realistically I started writing at the tail end of last year…well, I don’t know, October or something like that. I don’t know how many songs I wrote. Way too many. A lot of rubbish! It got filled out pretty quick. But yeah, so that’s done. Drums, demos and everything’s all done. Now we’re off to Dan’s going to lay down his drums next week. From then, obviously, the usual process of bass guitar and all that sort of stuff. But we’re debating how to do it because, like we said about Colford Music Festival, we used that opportunity to do like a big band thing. We brought in a saxophone and a piano player and an extra guitar player. So we were debating perhaps trying that sound a little bit with these new songs as well. We’ll lay down the songs. We’ll see how they go. And then if anything leans to like, oh you know, add a bit of saxophone there or a bit of boogie woogie piano or something like that. We’re open to the idea of it, and I’m all for it, if I’m honest. I’m all for it. But we’ll see how it goes. We’re not going to force anything in, you know, but if it lends itself to it then great.”

Delaney’s very reflective on his last album, working out where to take Red Hot Riot’s sound next. “‘Sacrifice [To Paradise] ‘was a good thing that we did. I’m glad we did ‘Sacrifice to Paradise’. That was an inch that needed scratching for us in terms of like trying to do a little bit more psychobilly, a little bit more punky.  I’m glad we did that. With this next one I would say it’s going back to… we did an EP called ‘Up the Riot’. I’d say it’s leaning more towards that, which is like more neo-rockabilly. But I mean, then again, if we do go down the route, add the saxophone and use that stuff, it instantly makes it feel a bit more rock and roll, I suppose. But I don’t know. There’s not really any spoilers to be had yet. There’s influences in there from like Reverend Horton Heat on some of it. It’s the same as the continuation of that ‘Up the Riot’ EP, I would say.”

We just sort of…now I’m thinking about it, we heavily get into one band and we sort of try and ‘be’ that band for twelve months. But that time, we were really influenced by the Living End, which kind of felt like it followed on with the Stray Cats, in a sense, because we saw the Living End support the Stray Cats in Birmingham a few years ago, and the Living End started out as a Stray Cats tribute band, so it kind of felt like a continuation of that. There hasn’t really been any thought of like, ‘right, this album needs to sound like this, this album needs to sound like this’. Me, Scott and Dan are just open to any style of music really. We just love music and love playing. I guess by doing that internally, when you don’t then stick to one scene… We’ve been playing the rockabilly scene quite heavily, and then we played on the psycho, it seemed quite heavily for a few years. It’s a nice place to be, I think, because otherwise it gets a bit, bit tunnel and a bit boring. But I mean that in the nicest way. That’s just the person I am: I get into it and I’m away sort of thing, I enjoy not being stuck to one scene personally.” 

Their diverse influences, and the way that Red Hot Riot appeal to different scenes, is a point of pride for Delaney, and something he’s keen to continue with on his next album. “We haven’t really thought [our sound] through, to be honest. We started and we were just massively Stray Cats. Everything was Stray Cats, Stray Cats, and so the first EP, ‘Nineteen’, was like basically us trying to write songs that we thought would fill in the first Stray Cats album. Then the next album that we come out with, sorry, the next full length album was ‘Forget Me Not’, and that came out just after lockdown, I think it was. Yeah, and at that time we were rolling with gigs, like we were gigging on every weekend and it was going really well. few of us were getting into weirdly – it’s a bit of a curveball – a lot of modern indie rock. o we thought, ‘I wonder if we could put that spin onto it’. So that happened at that time and that’s how that album happened. The -Billy element of it has always been there, but that album has kind of like an indie feel to it a little bit. Then Lewis joined the band and Lewis is like rockabilly to a tee, lives for it, you know, he lives and breathes it and doesn’t really listen to anything else. Which is great, you know, that’s cool. Then he came in and ‘Up The Riot’  happened and it was very heavily influenced by that. ‘Sacrifice’: yeah, again it sort of just happened. 

Delaney’s absolutely right, and the way Red Hot Riot shift between scenes is impressive. At time of writing, they just finished touring with psychobilly legends Guana Batz across the UK. “We met those guys in the Psychobilly Meeting in Spain four years ago. They obviously had no clue where we were like, we were just there.  We’re just fangirling. I absolutely wasn’t over meeting the Guana Batz! But they were lovely and it was great, and we then met up with Pip [Hancox, Guana Batz frontman] again. Obviously he’s now with the Delta Bombers, we met Pip then and we did a week with the Delta Bombers. At the end of it, Pip was said,  ‘fancy coming and doing a few shows with the Batz?’ We’re like, ‘yeah, go on then!’ So we it did that and it was great. It was the first time we’ve toured in that scene. Loved it. Every gig went well, athen we’ve got a few more gigs with them again!”

Without pausing for a breath, he moves on to his rockabilly and mainstream plans. “We’re doing Goodwood Revival again, which we are our third time now and we love doing that one. And we’re doing Boomtown. We’re playing on the Sunday night. I’ve always thought of Boomtown as like this  EDM festival sort of thing. I’ve not really come across Boomtown but that’s just how it’s been as an outsider, the image of it for me. So when they contacted us, we’d be like, ‘Boomtown really? Like you want us?’ But like, you know, looked into it and I was like, ‘Oh, right. They do have a few other things going on’. So yeah, we’re going to go over there and an hour of power at Boomtown. I guess it’s not similar, but it is in a way to like with Glastonbury. We did not expect that. We did that a couple of years ago. We just thought, ‘Oh, it’s the [token] Rockabilly band’. People aren’t going there for that sort of thing. But as soon as you’re there and you walk around the site, you realise there’s so much more going on. So I’m hoping that that’s that’s the feel it’s going to be of Boomtown. And I mean, either way, I’m sure it’ll be good fun and we’ll go and do our thing and hopefully people will dig it.” He’s also off to the Welsh Rockabilly Fair in September, spreading the Red Hot Riot sound across the country.

Delaney’s last word is definite and optimistic: “The album’s coming next year until this. We’re not going away, even though we’ve seen a bit quieter this year. We’re not going away. We’re still here. We’re still kicking. And yeah, I’m excited to see what next year brings with, like I say, potentially bringing in keys or sax or who knows. Who knows? We’ll see how this album goes and it’s going to be an exciting one either way.” We can’t wait to hear what’s coming next for Red Hot Riot. 

Kate Allvey

Buy a copy of ‘Sacrifice to Paradise’ here