Red Flag (band)

Red Flag
Origin	Liverpool, England
Genres	Synthpop, electronic, new wave, industrial, futurepop
Years active	1984–2003, 2007–present
Labels	Enigma Records I.R.S. Records Plan B Records
Members	Chris Reynolds
Past members	Mark Reynolds (deceased)

Red Flag is a synthpop band founded in 1984 in San Diego by brothers Chris and Mark Reynolds.

Hailing from Liverpool, England, and after growing up there, the brothers moved to locations such as Montreal and Seattle, following their father's itinerant job. In 1979, the family settled in California, arriving first in Los Angeles, then San Diego. The brothers first started playing electronic music in 1982, when Mark Reynolds bought a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer over a guitar on a trip to a music store. The first song they recorded, "Distant Memories", under the name Shades of May, was selected for a compilation album, Local Heroes, by San Diego radio station 91X in 1984. Shades of May subsequently received offers to play live, and the brothers began to study music and computer technology seriously in turn. In this interim, the band also changed its name to Red Flag. Later, the name would frequently be associated with the red flag iconography of the Soviet Union, though the band insisted that it was taken from a warning signal used in surfing.

Later in March 1988, they performed at a party for Resource Record Pool, a record pool based in Southern California, at the Mannikin club in Pacific Beach. There, the band was noticed by Synthicide Records (a subsidiary of Enigma Records) head and producer Jon St. James. After their demo tapes were reviewed the following day, the band recorded their first single, "Broken Heart" (as well as its B-side, "Control") at St. James's recording studio, Formula One, a week later. St. James, best known for his work with singer Stacey Q, co-produced the record with her; she also provided backing vocals and coached Mark on his singing.

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