The Red Squares

The Red Squares featured on Vaultage 80 with the track The Russians Are Coming, which was recorded at Falmer Poly on a four-track. We had very little other info on the band, but former lead singer Simon Spain took up our call for more info with the email posted below.

Our own intrepid reviewer Stuart Jones, managed to get hold of an mp3 of the band performing Sinking Feeling. Simon also kindly supplied us with two more mp3's of the band. To listen and download, GO...

Simon Spain takes up the story (Oct 2007):

"The Red Squares had two lives - originally they formed for the single "The Russians are Coming" It was indeed recorded on a Friday afternoon at Falmer Poly on a four track. Billy from Birds with Ears was a tutor there and helped us set up the equipment. Russell Pointing sang lead, I played keyboards/synths pretty badly and John played guitar. We relied on synth for rhythm... We never did a live gig in that life of the band.

Soon after the band reconfigured with me as lead singer and occasional
keyboards (also operating the newly acquired drum machine), John on guitar, Chris came in (as a new romantic) playing bass, and Diane Panton played keyboard. We didn't publish any more tracks at all but played live quite a lot and made some recordings for the radio - including this version of Blue Peter). We had a set of around ten to fifteen songs - including Blue Peter, Sinking Feeling, a cover of Roxy Music's Editions of You, Something Suitably Pretentious, and always ending with Swallowing Objects. I have some recordings of tracks still - they are attached. (Blue Peter, Cats and the very early improvised Sound Advice (Russell, John and Myself - recorded in a bedroom in Hove))

I was also half of ArtiScreen Designs, with Alex Smith; we printed posters for many of the bands and venues at the time. I still have have perfect copies of nearly all the posters we made - many we hand screenprinted in many colours - all done at the art college. I will scan the best and send them on for the site ( along with a couple of pictures of the band - you have the wrong band on our page - I think that is the Exclusives)

The site is marvellous and it is a treat to see the incredible detail in
which a wonderfully vibrant time of Brighton is remembered. It is a really
important documentation - good luck keeping it going and growing!"

Please feel free to print my email address
simonspainartplay@optusnet.com.au

Simon Spain

NEW! Interview with The Red Squares (downloadable pdf)

Russell Pointing | Red Squares | June 2008
Hello, I was the 'Pete Best' of the Red Squares, and still get an enormous thrill at having been on an L.P. as a track on Vaultage 80. I got a nostalgia overload looking at your Brighton Punk site and got a real warm feeling looking back now that we're all fat old and bald, oh yes we are!! Great to see Simon Spain is still alive, he was a great friend and a great artist. After the Red Squares I had a couple of bands but concentrated on promoting other bands at the sussex sports centre and ice rink in Queen Square and finally at the Cinescene Cinema in North Street, which is now Burger King, (I hope they managed to get the graffiti off the wall), I put on all the great Brighton Bands some of whom deserved greater recognition than they got.The reason for writing is to pass on some of the pictures and posters that I've got, as I said Simon was a talented artist and did many of my posters, I'm sure he won't mind me passing them on. Theres a Golinski brothers poster, and a couple of red squares piccys, the group photo is us recording the Vaultage track at Falmer.
Please find them attached.  Regards and Thanks Russell Pointing

Thanks to Russell Pointing