Red Rum Club get ready for biggest hometown gig at Aintree, a little bet and … a new album!

Liverpool band Red Rum Club are getting ready for their biggest hometown gig to date at Aintree Racecourse.

The Crosby sextet are headlining a huge outdoor concert after racing at the Mersey venue on May 16.

And lead singer Fran Doran reckons he might even chance a small wager on a horse or two before.

He said:

“Yeah, I might have a sneaky bet,” says Fran. “Maybe a few quid on the favourite.”

“It could change the vibe of the whole gig to be honest, depending on whether I’ve got empty pockets or not – but we’ll see.

“I tend to go a little bit on the sound of the name, but I do pretend to know the trainers and the jockeys. At least, I know the names to look out for but I don’t know if it actually means anything, because when I back them they don’t tend to come home as winners.”

Horses might not race into the top spot for Fran but he and the other lads – Tom Williams, lead guitar and backing vocals; Mike McDermott, rhythm guitar and backing vocals; Simon Hepworth on bass; Neil Lawson on drums, and famed trumpet player Joe ‘the blow’ Corby – are definitely romping home in first place.

The last year has been a great one for the band whose fourth album, Western Approaches, broke into the top ten of the UK album charts, their highest position so far.

In 2024 they also played the city’s M&S Bank Arena to a 9,000-capacity crowd, before celebrating with fans at festivals across the country.

Aintree will be the first of a new handful of UK gigs for Red Rum Club – appropriately in the Red Rum Garden – which yet again includes Glastonbury, before they jet off to the US for concerts from Seattle to Los Angeles and New York.

And they’re really looking forward to it.

“You’ve got to take it one step or show at a time or you can get overwhelmed by things, especially when it’s a big show,” says Fran. 

“We don’t get too overwhelmed these days, but if you start thinking about a big show that’s six months down the line, you can take your eye off the ball on other things. It’s the behind the scenes stuff that’s more stressing and we are really busy. We’ve got a new album coming out some time soon, and we haven’t got a music video for the first song yet!

“But we have started to get excited by Aintree now.

“Outdoor shows are our favourite and where better to play than the Red Rum Garden?

“Last Wednesday we started getting the setlist together and that’s whetted our appetite. We have done Aintree before, but we were the band that played in between the races, the entertainment, and I can remember being asked to come off stage for a fashion show, so it’s going to be a different experience this time.

“Not many bands get to sell enough tickets to be able to play an outdoor gig so it’s quite impressive and it’s a statement as to where we are now. And the scale and sound makes it’s so exciting, we just need to keep our fingers crossed for the weather. But when we are excited, it always tends to be a good gig.”

He goes on:

“We’ve already sold 11,000 tickets and Aintree has the capacity to go to 16,000 and if tickets keep selling as they have it’ll definitely be bigger than even we expected.

“It gets easier the bigger it is, because you don’t see the whites of people’s eyes or that one person who’s not enjoying it, like you do in smaller venues.

“And we’ve realised that all we need to do is know the songs and give a good show … and argue about what we’re wearing!” he grins.  “With the new album there’s a new aesthetic so it’s going to be the first time we walk on stage in this new era…”

Not surprisingly, Fran’s not giving much away about the new album but he has confessed it does go slightly away from the feelgood sounds that have led to Red Rum Club being described as ‘Mariachi Merseybeat’.

“It is slightly heavier. It’s another side to Red Rum Club. I wouldn’t say rebellious because that’s a bit cheesy but yeah, let’s say rebellious. It’s what Red Rum Club would be if they had a cob on!

“You know, we’ve got a top ten album, we sold out at our hometown arena, and we still felt like we were being ignored by certain parts of the music industry and not being taken as seriously as we feel we should be.

“It’s a little bit of an angry country sound. The way I describe it is as the kids of cowboys who no longer think cowboys are cool.”

Enjoying the moment and growing the band is the main thing for the boys in the band, and with the US once again on the horizon things could get massive.

They’ve already gone down well in the States and with more gigs this year, they are set to cement their place there.

“There are ambitions, we fit, but the ultimate goal is to continue doing what we can, playing the live shows and writing good songs.

“I think what’s good now for Red Rum Club is being able to create something that other people enjoy; making other people think or feel certain ways, and being able to celebrate that with them.

“It brings me pride and makes me happy that with gigs like Aintree, we’re doing something that people can look forward to and, on the night, come together. I know the lads think too, it’s not so much a celebration of us but of bringing people together, and I’m more grateful for people buying our tickets and listening to our songs than they are for us. 

“We are thankful for that support. We’re living the dream.”

Red Rum Club are at Aintree Racecourse on Friday, May 16.

Book tickets for Red Rum Club here.

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