Arguably one of the best punk/hardcore bands to have ever come out of Sacramento, Red Tape is readying their live set for their first show in over four years at this week’s annual Punch & Pie Fest! Red Tape will perform on the second night of the four-day fest on Friday, Aug. 15 2014, at Midtown BarFly. The group first formed in the late 1990s and after a couple demos, some touring and an EP or two, the band eventually linked with Amir Derakh (Orgy, System of A Down, Coal Chamber), and ultimately that helped get them signed to Roadrunner Records. In 2004, Roadrunner released their first full length, the fantastically heavy and well produced album Radioactivist. So, not only will Red Tape’s performance at P&P Fest be their first live show in nearly half a decade, it will also be a 10-year anniversary celebration of the release of Radioactivist. When asked if he thinks the album still holds up today, one of Red Tape’s founding members Jeff Jaworski responded with, “Fuck yeah it more than holds up, it still crushes!” He’s right. The album does still crush. And best of all, there might be another album’s worth of Red Tape material sitting in the bank. “We actually have a bunch of new-ish material, about 10 songs we wrote a few years back but never put out,” Jaworski revealed. “We’ll get it together and record some stuff again. Just waiting on that call back from Rick Rubin, you know?” The jokes continued to fly as we asked him if there are other Red Tape shows planned in the near future: “As soon as Iron Maiden calls us up, we’ll do some more shows.” All kidding aside, this is great news for fans of heavy music. Red Tape is back, you guys, fuck yes! “Has it been four years? Damn,” Jaworski reminisces. “Feels great, feels the same, it’s like riding a bike. Can’t wait to rock and roll. We get together, slam a few beers and wing it once a week like old pros. Hella old, ha.” Learn more about Red Tape at Facebook.com/r3dtap3 and to purchase tickets ahead of time to their show (which will also feature City of Vain, Setting Sons and Suburban Threat), point your browser toward Punchandpie.queueapp.com

Major props to local punk-rock promoter and Bastards of Young bassist Sean Hills for putting together Punch and Pie Fest. With zero sponsor dollars the dude booked a week straight of amazing punk-rock shows from Aug. 15 through 20, 2012 (with the pre-party happening on Aug. 14). Catch touring bands like the Hot Water Music-esque Red City Radio from Oklahoma City or Continental from Granite City, Mass., which features Rick Barton from Dropkick Murphys. Also of course there will be tons of local faves like the aforementioned Bastards of Young, Kill the Precedent, The Secretions, City of Vain and others. There are more than two-dozen bands in all, and the shows go down at either Press Club or Luigi’s. Get out and support your local punk scene! To view the entire schedule, visit http://www.facebook.com/PunchAndPieProductions.