redhead+mack
Biography
Redhead Mack was originally a side project for singer/songwriter Kevin Phillips, who was playing bass in B.C bands "Madflower", "Corey Primus Band", "Linda Maze Band", and playing lead guitar in "Michael Meszaros Band". As it was a side project, there wasn't a steady line-up, but a rotating roster of folks that were fun to hang out with, and very good at playing. The most notable mix at the time was Redhead Mack as a trio, with Phillips singing and playing acoustic guitar backed by Steve Brand on lead guitar, and Peter Davyduck on stand-up bass.
After moving to Calgary and spending a few months flying back to BC to play most weekends, Kevin decided it was time to make "Redhead Mack" his first priority and find a Calgary line-up to play with. Arriving home from work one day, Kevin heard someone downstairs playing bass to his songs, and he was surprised to discover that his wife, Katy Phillips, had been secretly teaching herself to play bass. He had the first member of the Calgary band! After a successful duo gig to introduce their music to their friends in Calgary, a performance at an open mic in Chestermere with friend, Kat Hammer, on mandolin garnered an enthusiastic response. Kevin worked at Mother's Music in Calgary, and met Eric Heitmann, fresh from Chile. He sold Eric his gorgeous Nord keyboard, heard him play a little, and recruited him! Kat brought along drummer Gail Runge, and Phillips debuted the new lineup to great response. Kat bowed out, and Lee Carlson briefly joined as lead guitar, and quickly took the band into his studio to record the first EP, "Ish", before also stepping away to focus on his solo project.
Dean Morrison was brought in as a hired gun to play the CD release show for "Ish", and did such a great job and had so much fun, that it was mutually agreed that he should stay! Nice folks that play good music... it doesn't get better than that!