Sacramento’s rock band, Red Voodoo, are ready to take on the world with their debut single, “Rise Up!”, produced by Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon. Influenced by the upbeat, party rock n roll of the 80’s (yet mixed with a refreshing soulful sound) and comprised of members Dino McCord (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Davin Loiler (guitar), Andrew Edwards (bass), and Nick Pesely (drums), the group is also working on a full-length debut album - also under the guidance of Frank Hannon Productions, the new artist development label currently working with a few select new up and coming young artists.

Formed in 2018, Red Voodoo features the lead vocal skills of 17 year old Dino (who is influenced by Sam Cooke, Mark Farner of Grand Funk, and Otis Redding thus bringing a very unusual vocal ability to a band of this age group), the band places a huge emphasis on quality vocals. This is also heard in the harmony backing vocals of Davin and Andrew to enhance the band’s sound. Nick’s drumming however leans more to the progressive influences of Neil Peart, and this brings a colorful melodic tom tom approach to his drumming which is also a rarity in today’s music.

Being fans of 80’s music and local icons Tesla, Dino had heard about Frank’s skills as an engineer and producer of studio recordings from his father. As it turns out Frank had recorded demos for Dino’s father in local bands 30 years ago. Dino and his dad attended a Frank solo concert and Dino sat in to sing the Tesla classic “Getting Better.” The guys then discussed the idea of having Frank coach the band on songwriting and recording a debut single for Red Voodoo. Now the team is working on developing the band even further.

And concerning the composing of their lead-off song, the band explains its creation as, “We wrote ‘Rise Up!’ to express our confusion and our feelings during this recent pandemic that turned the world upside down. With the Coronavirus Covid 19 affecting everyone in different ways, we wanted to have a message of hope for all human beings and make people feel better. We feel that music should be a positive uplifting experience and we hope this song will help anyone ‘Rise Up!’ from feeling down.”

“Since our song ‘Rise Up!’ was inspired by social distancing and the current Covid 19 crisis, we felt it would be great to give back to the health care heroes on the front lines and donate proceeds from our ‘Rise Up!’ merchandise to Direct Relief directrelief.org and please visit our website and webstore for more information on how to help.”

Merchandise Bundle includes an exclusive and limited run of Rise Up! artwork T- shirts, an autographed 8x10 color photo from the Rise Up! video shoot, and a set of red voodoo guitar picks. To purchase merchandise bundles, download or stream the song, go here. View the song’s video below.

And what about the story behind the band’s name? “We heard the song ‘Red Voodoo’ by Sammy Hagar & The Waboritas. We thought it had a good ring to it for a band name. Even though Sammy may have his own meaning to the term ‘Red Voodoo,’ for us it describes the magic of creating fun rock and roll music and the energy we put into it in during our live show. Red Voodoo prides ourselves in being a high energy live band in concert.”  

Prior to the social distancing and lockdown of live concerts due to the COVID-19, Red Voodoo had been performing regularly around the Northern California club scene and building a local following. Turning heads with their unusual talents for their age, nightclubs such as Holy Diver were bringing the band in as support for national shows with Uli Jon Roth, Enuff Z’ Nuff, and Faster Pussycat.

Lastly, Red Voodoo has big plans on the horizon. “In our future, we plan to release a full length debut, and we hope to tour in support of that album opening shows for some new current artist such as Dirty Honey, Greta Van Fleet, or even our heroes like Sammy Hagar and the Circle, Motley Crue or Def Leppard. But of course we realize that these are dreams that can only be accomplished by writing great songs, so during this time we are working on our songwriting skills and planning to release an album when its ready.”