diff --git a/platypush/__init__.py b/platypush/__init__.py
index 9be538833..405abe6fb 100644
--- a/platypush/__init__.py
+++ b/platypush/__init__.py
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class Daemon:
 
         print('---- Starting platypush v.{}'.format(__version__))
 
-        redis_conf = Config.get('backend.redis', {})
+        redis_conf = Config.get('backend.redis') or {}
         self.bus = RedisBus(on_message=self.on_message(),
                             **redis_conf.get('redis_args', {}))
 
diff --git a/platypush/backend/redis.py b/platypush/backend/redis.py
index d53db81f5..79feae85f 100644
--- a/platypush/backend/redis.py
+++ b/platypush/backend/redis.py
@@ -19,39 +19,38 @@ class RedisBackend(Backend):
         * **redis** (``pip install redis``)
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, queue='platypush_bus_mq', redis_args={}, *args, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, queue='platypush_bus_mq', redis_args=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """
         :param queue: Queue name to listen on (default: ``platypush_bus_mq``)
         :type queue: str
 
-        :param redis_args: Arguments that will be passed to the redis-py constructor (e.g. host, port, password), see http://redis-py.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
+        :param redis_args: Arguments that will be passed to the redis-py constructor (e.g. host, port, password), see
+            http://redis-py.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
         :type redis_args: dict
         """
 
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        if redis_args is None:
+            redis_args = {}
 
         self.queue = queue
-        self.redis_args = redis_args
 
         if not redis_args:
-            try:
-                redis_plugin = get_plugin('redis')
-                if redis_plugin and redis_plugin.kwargs:
-                    self.redis_args = redis_plugin.kwargs
-            except:
-                pass
+            redis_plugin = get_plugin('redis')
+            if redis_plugin and redis_plugin.kwargs:
+                redis_args = redis_plugin.kwargs
 
+        self.redis_args = redis_args
         self.redis = Redis(**self.redis_args)
 
-
-    def send_message(self, msg, queue_name=None):
+    def send_message(self, msg, queue_name=None, **kwargs):
         msg = str(msg)
         if queue_name:
             self.redis.rpush(queue_name, msg)
         else:
             self.redis.rpush(self.queue, msg)
 
-
+    # noinspection PyBroadException
     def get_message(self, queue_name=None):
         queue = queue_name or self.queue
         msg = self.redis.blpop(queue)[1].decode('utf-8')
@@ -70,12 +69,11 @@ class RedisBackend(Backend):
 
         return msg
 
-
     def run(self):
         super().run()
 
         self.logger.info('Initialized Redis backend on queue {} with arguments {}'.
-                     format(self.queue, self.redis_args))
+                         format(self.queue, self.redis_args))
 
         while not self.should_stop():
             try:
@@ -88,4 +86,3 @@ class RedisBackend(Backend):
 
 
 # vim:sw=4:ts=4:et:
-