BAND UPDATE – BLACK GESTAPO ARE DEAD; LONG LIVE THE RIDENHOURS!

After much deliberation, Mink and Lionel-Beee have decided to retire the ‘BLACK GESTAPO‘ name and confirm that all future releases will be under the name ‘THE RIDENHOURS‘.

Mink explains “The old name was created back in 92 influenced by the b-movie blaxploitation movie of that name and wasn’t too controversial, I mean Young Black Teenagers were active and hip-hop at that time was lyrically at its most shocking but over time it’s impossible to preface anything we do with tons of disclaimers. I had to argue with our distribution service just to get the ‘Fuck these Cunts‘ single out and may have hit problems again with the next release, and we were thinking of starting the new album with a song making it clear we are not faschists which is nuts really. It’s unnecessary aggravation but the thing that tipped the decision was if one casual listener in our potential fanbase – you know, old, miserable, old-school, dark humour-having – automatically chooses to overlook us because of the name then…. well it can’t happen.”

On the new name THE RIDENHOURS, “For a start it doesn’t immediately stir negative feelings and cause difficult questions. Anyone who knows their golden age hip-hop will associate the name with Chuck-D (Carlton Ridenhour) who is a huge influence and creates a direct pointer to that period of hip-hop lineage, Add to that the fact he came up with the ill fated ‘Young Black Teenagers’ name which became less suitable over time and there’s another link. It’s also associated with the Ridenhour Prize which promotes truth telling and from what I can tell are not a feared secret police function supporting a regime committing mass genocide, so it’s a more progressive association. We both love the new name and can now concentrate on putting together a really dope album without all that bullshit floating around!

The first single from THE RIDENHOURS will be released in April, with the debut album following later this year.