Redwalls

Deerfield, Illinois, served as the hometown for the four-piece Redwalls, who came together in 2001. At that stage the musicians still attended high school and performed under the name the Pages, delivering British Invasion covers at their inaugural concert in the jazz venue Pops for Champagne. Soon afterward the Pages started composing their own songs and secured steady dates at Nevin’s Live in Evanston, prompting the club’s booker Mitchell Marlow to resign and become the group’s full-time manager. Former Wilco drummer Ken Coomer, a friend of Marlow’s, helped route a demo to Capitol A&R executive Julian Raymond. While the band tracked its first album for the Chicago indie Undertow, Capitol offered a deal in mid-2003; at the label’s insistence the quartet adopted the Redwalls name—an earlier Capitol act had already used the Pages moniker and later became known as Mr. Mister. Undertow released the resulting debut, Universal Blues, in fall 2003. After those sessions drummer Jordan Kozer departed to pursue college studies, and Ben Greeno took over behind the kit. The Redwalls’ first Capitol album, De Nova, finally appeared in June 2005. Producer Rob Schnapf, previously associated with Elliott Smith and the Vines, layered horns and additional studio polish onto the band’s foundation without sacrificing its raw onstage drive, yielding a spirited homage to classic rock. In keeping with that retro outlook, Oasis brought the Redwalls along on its summer 2005 U.K. tour.