Red Aunts to celebrate new greatest hits double LP at El Cid

The Red Aunts were nothing to mess with. Four musicians who first converged in 1990s Long Beach, the band released a series of searing garage-punk records, first on Sympathy for the Record Industry label and then on the L.A. punk label Epitaph.

While up the coast the riot grrrl movement was rewriting rules via treatises, in Southern California a host of women were doing a similar thing minus the footnotes. The Red Aunts split after its 1998 album “Ghetto Blaster,” a stellar record produced by the Gories’ Mick Collins.

Alas, unlike labelmates the Offspring and Pennywise, the Red Aunts failed to dent the mainstream during Epitaph’s amazing 1990s run. But that stands to reason; their brand of wonderfully reckless rock wasn’t designed as arena punk.

Two decades later, the Red Aunts -- Terri Wahl (guitar/vocals), Kerry Davis (guitar/vocals), Debi Martini (bass/vocals) and Lesley Ishino (drums) -- will celebrate the release of a well-earned greatest hits package. Issued by the essential Los Angeles rock ‘n’ roll label In the Red Records, “Come Up for a Closer Look” will arrive Nov. 11 as a double album in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, and will feature 26 two- and three-minute riff-sprints about roller derby queens, ’65 Chevy Impalas, Satan, smoke, death and deceit.

They’ll celebrate “Come Up” at El Cid in Silver Lake on Saturday with a record release party, where, it should be noted, according to a Facebook invite, “we are NOT playing, just eating and hanging out. With YOU.”

Though the Red Aunts haven’t been in the spotlight, founding member Wahl is more famous than ever via her restaurant, Auntie Em’s Kitchen. Located on Eagle Rock Boulevard, its consistently inspired menu of sandwiches, brunch and baked-goods does to stomachs what the greatest Red Aunts songs -- “My Impala ’65,” “Poison Steak,” “I Can’t Do Anything Right” -- do to ears.

Wahl just published her first cookbook, which features recipes from the restaurant. It’s called “The Auntie Em’s Cookbook: A Musician’s Guide to Breakfast and Brunch,” and features recipes, tips and, best, playlist suggestions for the time spent in the kitchen.

Follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit