The Radio Beats (USA)
Interview w/ Steve (bassplayer&singer)
by Gary Craptalk

The Radio Beats motherfuckers! they're the newer garage rock'n'roll sensation of The States. Sounds kinda like Teengenerate, and The Devil Dogs. Check this interview and find out who they are.

craptalk: Who are you, and what's your position in The Radio Beats?
steve: I'm Steve and I am the singer and bass player.

craptalk: Okay you're a pretty new band around, could you give me a little bio?
steve: Well, me, Night (guitar), and Pat (drums) have only been The 'Beats for about six months. Night and I have been in bands since high school, and we contacted Pat to join one of our old bands after we fired our second drummer. Pat had been a friend of mine since about 2001. He turned out to be the catalyst we need to start playing fuckin' rock, so we're pretty stoked to have the three of us. Night and I live in Wheeling, WV and Pat lives in Pittsburgh.

craptalk: You used to play in "The All Stars", and play pop-punk, right? And now you're in the "Radio Beats" and play garage rock'n'roll, why this changeover?
steve: Well, the thing is, when you're 18 or 19 and you hear pop-punk, which is so stripped-down and fun, you want to do it. The problem is, it's so easy anyone can do it. And when they do it, they suck. We weren't that good. Some people dug us, but first off, I am not a good singer. Night is too good of a guitarist to just be playing power chords. And Pat pretty much hated all the bad pop-punk bands out there. After awhile, we began to feel the same. We still love the classics like The Queers, the Ghoulies, and Screeching Weasel... but at the same time, those bands don't have the same rock n' roll style like The Devil Dogs or The Spaceshits or The Rip-Offs. They have the hooks of the pop-punk bands, but they also add some more to the equation.

craptalk: What are the band's biggest influences?
steve: Well, people who describe us say The Devil Dogs, Teengenerate, The Spaceshits, and The Zodiac Killers. At first, we got compared to Teengenerate a lot, which is kinda weird even though we love Teengenerate, but we kinda developed our songwriting and playing a little more to include more classic bands. We're also big fans of The Ramones and stuff. I'd say The Devil Dogs are pretty much our favorite band.

craptalk: Why did you choose "The Radio Beats" as a band name? Is there any story behind?
steve: Haha, we didn't even pick it. Bobby Manic from MRR wanted to help us, so he named us, because we couldn't come up with shit. We're all terrible at naming bands. Bobby was just like "Your band is gonna be called The Radio Beats", and compared to our other choices, it worked. Besides, that song fuckin' rules. (written by Andy G.)

craptalk: Did you play any shows yet?
steve: Yeah, we've played a few. One was a basement show with my friends' band, which was some of the most fun I've ever had playing. The rest of the time, it's just with garbage bands that we blow offstage. These guys spend fuckin' 20 minutes tuning up and shit and they we get up there and play a whole set in the time it takes them to tear their gear down. It's fuckin' ridiculous. We're trying to get better shows, and we're playing a week of dates out of town this month. That's gonna be fuckin' fun.

craptalk: So did anything embarrassing happen while you were on stage?
steve: Ehhh, we just get out there and run around and go nuts and stuff. Last time we played, Night and I jumped off the stage and we're fightin' around in the crowd and we got all tangled up. That kinda sucked, because I could barely reach my fretboard, so we kinda looked silly trying to pull ourselves apart. Another thing was, we were onstage, and the opening bands before us were awful, so no one was watching them, and I'm like "We're The Radio Beats, and you know you we're entertaining, because there's more than four people in here". I dunno, I like to heckle. But these were fake metal bands, so I was like, fuck this.

craptalk: You told me earlier you were trying to get on some better shows. Is it hard to get some gigs done overthere?
steve: Well, when you're new it is. But with a good demo to give to other bands, it's not so bad. Once we get some releases out there, we'll hopefully be playing a lot. There's nothing I like more than playing live. It's just a matter of finding good bands to play with. Pittsburgh has some and we're trying to hook up with them. We just want to get some records out there so people know we're not gonna flake on 'em.

craptalk: You're doing a 7" (soon), right? Could you give us some more info about it?
steve: Well, we went in my garage with our friend Diz and he recorded a really cool demo for us on his 8-track. We decided we'd take a chance and send it out to labels who might like it, and sure enough, two days later, I get an email from Bart Hart of Big Neck Records, and he wants to do a single. We almost shit our pants. But we also have a split 7" coming out self0released between us and The Give-Ups from Dayton, OH. Super-nice guys. I have the test pressings. They should be out soon. That's why we're going out of town.
SteveAllStar27: Big Neck is an awesome label. The fuckin' Baseball Furies are on there. Total honor.

craptalk: You walk onto a magic lamp. A man comes out and tells you he grants you three wishes, what three wishes would you make?
steve: Hmmm... well, I actually thought about this last night. I want the telepathic ability to make any record I want appear in front of me. I could use a Technics 1200, too. And a private jet so I can fly down to South Carolina whenever I feel like it.

craptalk: Let's say you're doing a show. The crowd thinks you guys suck bigtime, and yell at you. What would you do?
a) you tell them to go fuck themselves and play more songs to irritate them
b) you think "screw them" and walk away
c) throw your equipment towards them
d) other...
steve: Well, we only play 9-10 songs in 18 minutes. But I'd say, D, I look at 'em, say "Hey, I don't come to your house and kick the dick out of your mouth". Then I'd call 'em emo fags and throw my bass at 'em. And then start whipping chairs. But I don't wanna do that. One of my buddies always says, "Talk shit, get hit."

craptalk: and what if they're throwing tomatoes at you?
steve: That would be a problem because Pat hates tomatoes more than anything in the world. He'd probably fight them just for getting a vegetable anywhere near him. But I'd take it and keep rockin'.

craptalk: What's the max you would do to get a show with your favorite band?
steve: I'm not gonna kiss anyone's ass or suck any cocks, but I'd be willing to eat the world's biggest plate of corned beef hash. I think I've done that already, actually, but no show came of it. I was telling Manic, you know you're a honky when you could eat corned beef hash everyday and not even think twice.

craptalk: If you could walk in someone else's shoes for one day, who's shoes are that gonna be?
steve: I dunno. I'd walk in my old man's shoes, I think. He's a great guy, but I gotta wonder what he thinks when I'm talking about all this shit. We had a big conversation about 60's frat rock two nights ago over some beers. He's a jazz guy, but he's hip.

craptalk: anything you want to say as a closer of the interview?
Oh, yeah... thanks to Bart and Bobby and Nate (for putting up our songs), and The Give-Ups and all our friends. And thanks to you for digging us and wanting to do this interview. And finally, pimpin' is not a classroom subject.

The Radio Beats website: www.rocknrollreaction.com/theradiobeats/