Nineteen-year-old Hank Hanewinkel III likes to keep his music in the family. Along with his sister and his uncle, he started the band, The Red Alert. “The Red Alert consists of me on guitar and lead vocals; my sister, Christy, plays drums and sings; and our uncle Phillip plays bass and sings. We play pretty straightforward rock, straightforward rock with an edge. Christy and I started playing together in 2003 after seeing ‘The White Stripes’ in Oklahoma City. I was fourteen, and Christy was eight. After seeing Meg White, Christy suddenly became interested in playing the drums. I taught her twenty-five of ‘The White Stripes’ songs, and, three weeks later, she knew them, and could play them perfectly,” he says.

Born into a family where everyone either plays an instrument or sings, Hank has been playing the drums as far back as he can remember, “My parents have videos of me when I was two, playing drums with my dad, and uncles. My childhood was great. I was brought up on The Beatles, Elvis and great music from every era. My first concert was Paul McCartney, when I was four years old. My dad taught me how to play pretty much everything when I was growing up. I play guitar, drums, piano, bass, trumpet, and trombone. I love playing any instrument, really. I still learn something new from him every day.”

Most big brothers wouldn’t appreciate having their little sisters hanging around, but these siblings are different, “Christy is probably the coolest sister anybody could ever ask for. She and I have always gotten along, even though we were born six years apart. We love the same music, and we both share an endless love for ‘The X-Files’.”

Before their uncle joined their band, Christy and Hank released an album entitled ‘Red Blood Cells.’ Hank explains, “We recorded under the name ‘The Red Stripes’ at our dad's recording studio as a tribute to ‘The White Stripes.’ We gained recognition from our local newspaper the ‘Tulsa World’, and were playing shows consistently throughout 2004 and 2005.” Hank says, “Knowing we could only take a cover band so far, we began writing our own material. We released our debut original album, ‘Put On Your Game Face’ at the end of 2005 under the new name ‘The Red Alert’.”

In February of 2006, Christy and Hank won first place in the Tulsa World ‘Satellite Battle Of The Bands.’ It is a competition sponsored by The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a non-profit mobile recording studio dedicated to providing students of all ages with free opportunites to make and produce their own videos. “Soon after that”, Hank says, “Phillip joined the band filling out our live sound on bass. We played many shows throughout the first half of the year. In June, we won the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus National Battle Of The Bands. Our prize was a slot at the Dallas stop of the Warped Tour. In October, the Tulsa World honored us with ‘Artist of the Year’, and ‘Album of the Year’ awards. We finished out 2006 by recording a six-song EP entitled ‘Extended Play’. We released the EP in March 2007. That year was also very busy for us, playing show after show. We picked up another award from the Tulsa World for Best Rock Act in October. In 2008, we played fewer shows than usual, because we started focusing on writing/recording our next album. We plan to release it sometime in early 2009.”

Art and video have played quite a role in Hank’s life thus far, “I enjoy video editing. I love taking photos with old or unique cameras. I work part time as a graphic designer. I love designing concert posters for shows. I design all of the posters for our shows.” Like music, video entered his life early, “When I was four, I was on America's Funniest Home Videos. I was singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" for some family, started walking backwards, and flipped backwards over a flower pot,” he says with a laugh.

Born to be an entertainer, Hank embraces his life as a musician, “I love getting up in front of people and playing music. I get to entertain audiences, usually of all ages, and the best part is, I have fun doing it. It's never been a job to me. I believe we're here to do what we love to the best of our ability, and watch out for one another.”