Peggy Murphy’s beautician single mom, who also happened to be an expert yodeler, once said her daughter slipped from the womb singing. Piano lessons and a boogie-woogie player only helped the cause. Peggy watched A Hard Day’s Night 27 times. She knew she could never sing like Barbra Streisand, her voice too low, but here she’s a little Debbie Harry, a little Annie Lennox and a whole lotta Peggy.
Red Alert rose in late ’81 from Arizona shoulda-coulda’s Blue Shoes: husband-and-wife co-founders guitarist/singer D.R. Wilke and keyboardist/lead singer Peggy, alongside guitarist/vocalist Troy Janzen, adding bassist Richard Dye.
Once Blue Shoes drummer Jim Allen split, the band said screw it. “He was such a big part of it,” Peggy—now Murphy Payne—says an epoch later. “We auditioned others. His drumming just spoiled me rotten. We would never find anyone that good. We said, ‘let’s just change our name and use programming and a drum machine.’ Nobody had really heard electronic drums then.”
A complete revamp, ahead of its time: electronic drums MIDI’d to a synth, a futuristic aesthetic—controlled bright colors, sculpted hair, parachute pants, sharp suits, a slight nod toward androgyny. An army of Blue Shoes power-pop cultists followed them into guitar-rounded synth-pop, more Gary Numan and Visage than Beatles and Kinks. They even electronic’d-up Blue Shoes staples like “Tonight” and the hit “Better.” They peppered sets with obscure-electro-pop covers (“Lawnchairs” by Our Daughter’s Wedding). “We liked to pick songs you don’t hear on the radio, but you should.”
It was a winning world they dreamed up, complete with clothes designed and made by Peggy’s grandma. The sing-along single “Electric” (and video)—its melodic palm-muted staccato guitars, eddying synth lines and lyrics winking at human detachment—demarcated the era with acute precision. D.R., an unsung virtuoso, made songs big through guitar understatement.
It was the quartet realizing itself. Red Alert captured a spirit mostly outlined by Split Enz, Ultravox and OMD. The sonic thrill of a band digging its self-produced, self-made indie autonomy, finding clever ways to transmit killer pop hooks.
After a few years the nationally overlooked band dissolved. D.R. and Peggy later formed the Curse, had a baby and entered the work-a-day world. They split in 2006. D.R. died in October 2024.
– Liner notes by Brian Jabas Smith
