Review: Radkey serve up hedonistic punk revival at the Hare & Hounds
- Missouri band Radkey brought their brand of garage punk to Birmingham on Wednesday October 28th 2015
- Radkey are currently on tour to showcase tracks from their debut LP, Dark Black Makeup
“Ladies and gentlemen… start freaking out” instructs Radkey’s bassist Isaiah J. Radke III. Some freaking out then ensues. On the surface, Radkey appear to be a punk-by-numbers band, heavily influenced by early American hardcore bands such as Black Flag, but there is ultimately more to them to that.
There are moments in their Wednesday-night set at the Hare & Hounds– such as the moody, groovy ‘Love Spills’ and ‘Feel,’ which begins with a Joy Division-esque bassline- which show that there are layers of subtlety to them currently unmatched in this post-post-post-post-punk world.
However, when not showing off their subtlety, Radkey mostly just do the aforementioned freaking out, which they excel at. ‘Glore’ is a particular highlight, with its machine gun-tempo and guitar shredding. A Claymation for this song was recently for Channel 4’s Random Acts channel, and it demonstrates the world of cartoons, video games, violence, drugs and pizza that their collective brains inhabit.
Cultural differences between the Missouri band and the audience are sometimes apparent. “This next song is… it’s a fuckin’ love song, man”, says Isaiah, and a few people at the back snicker, mimicking the drawling Americanism. Nevertheless, whilst Radkey might be something you feel like you’ve heard before, they are something which you never realised you wanted to hear again.
Photographs by Paul Reynolds
View the full set here.
