9 Red Roses – Hope

9 Red Roses
Hope
1991? (no label)
Fremont, California, USA

Possible members:

Masaki Liu
Kevin Reimer
Justin Stevens

Side 1:

1. Fear of the Inevitable
2. Blooddrive
3. No Man’s Land
4. Inside the Mind
5. Hope
6. Beauty

Side 2:

1. Hope (extended version)
2. Beauty

Not much information on this specific release. I know that Masaki Liu has stated online that 9 Red Roses became Dime Store Prophets. Also, Kevin Reimer has stated that he was the guitarist for The Lonely Now and 9 Red Roses – so it is probable that either or both of them played on this release, and that this band was an intermediary step between The Lonely Now and Dime Store Prophets. If I were to describe the sound of the band, it would be somewhere in between those two bands (leaning more towards The Lonely Now, though). An online interview indicates that this band broke up in 1991, but that Stevens and Liu formed another band called Radiation Ranch that changed names to Dime Store Prophets. A self-titled 9 Red Roses demo from 1990 was on eBay recently – I should have snagged it. That demo is a different set of songs except for “Hope.” I’m not sure if this demo is earlier or later. The Lonely Now put out their last album in 1990, and this band broke up in 1991, so I would guess this is a 1991 release (unless they were really, really productive in 1990). And yes, the last two songs of side 1 repeat on side 2 – “Hope” in a much longer version on side 2, while “Beauty” is mostly the same, but with a few slight changes on side 2.

Missing Information: Release date, who played on this demo