Two titans of power-pop and punk rock reunite this March. LA cult legends REDD KROSS, celebrating 45 years of dayglo hooks, sly wit and sky-high choruses, join forces once again with Aussie icons THE HARD-ONS, fronted by the incomparable Tim Rogers, for a long-awaited tour across Australia.
With new music in tow and a shared history of high-volume brilliance, the two pioneer bands are set to light up stages from Queensland to Victoria. Expect high-voltage singalongs, fuzz-drenched anthems, and a masterclass in melodic brilliance from two of rock’s most enduring and prolific forces.
Two days after the tour was announced and tickets went on sale, the Melbourne show at the Tote has already sold out, so a second show, a matinee show on Sunday March 15, has been added and is on sale now.
REDD KROSS & THE HARD-ONS. From LA and Sydney respectively. Separated by an ocean, but with ties that go back to when they were label mates on the US Big Time label in 1987 and maybe even further. Beyond that the connections are plentiful; both started playing out on their respective punk scenes when they were very young - Redd Kross as pre-teens and mid-teens in '79-80, The Hard-Ons as mid-to-late teenagers in '82-83 - and both ruffled plenty of feathers when they did. Both bands transgressed the accepted boundaries of punk, and both pushed audience excitement buttons with high energy, great tunes, an outrageous visual element and a willingness to not only include '60s pop influences into their punk sounds, but also flashy and trashy '70s hard rock.
Indeed, two bands were arguably the first two to understand the musical thread that joined Kiss and the Ramones, and in doing so they together helped make the world a brighter place.
Current Hard-Ons singer Tim Rogers goes back decades with Redd Kross too - a young You Am I were on the bill when Redd Kross toured Australia with the Hoodoo Gurus back in 1994.
REDD KROSS & THE HARD-ONS have also recently both celebrated anniversaries and received the kind of kudos that only occasionally comes with their levels of dedication and perseverance. Redd Kross last year marked their 45th anniversary with their most acclaimed album to date (a self-titled double LP on In The Red Records), as well as a revelatory movie documentary and book. The Hard-Ons celebrated their 40 years with a film of their own - a sequel to that is doing the rounds now - and continued their run of Top 40 records (which began in 2021 with their first album with Tim Rogers and their first for Cheersquad Records & Tapes, the #4 album I'm Sorry Sir, That Riff's Been Taken) with last year's I Like You a Lot Getting Older.
With a shared love of high-energy, catchy and FUN punky rock'n'roll, Redd Kross and The Hard-Ons have always been a match made in heaven, and that match will set East Coast Australian stages alight in 2026.
