In November of last year, Missouri power trio Radkey released their latest full-length, Green Room. We recently spoke with bassist Isaiah Radke and discussed how they went about writing and recording the album. Green Room is an outstanding example of the band’s ability to advance their songwriting and incorporate a multitude of new influences. The end result is arguably their most varied, yet consistent record to date. Additionally, we talked about what it was like to put out an album during the pandemic, how they plan on staying connected with fans while they can’t play shows and more.
Bill – Tell me about the writing process for Green Room. Was a lot of it done beforehand or did the songs mainly take shape in the studio?
Isaiah – Most of it was done in advance. What’s interesting is that some of it is songs that were rejects from No Strange Cats… or stuff that the producers weren’t very passionate about, but songs that we still loved and thought were worthy of being put out there. So, we grabbed a few of those, some of them being “Bend,” “Real Deal” and “Seize.” We did record some new tracks as well. “Portraits,” “Two-Face” and “Suffer” were some of the new ones. Even “Underground” was written for No Strange Cats…, but that wasn’t one that we disagreed on, we just never got back in the studio in-time to finish it.
Bill – Got it. So, it sounds like it was kind of a mix of songs that you had for a little while with some brand-new ones. Where did you record Green Room and what was your experience in the studio like?
Isaiah – We recorded part of it at Westend Recording Studios and the rest of it we recorded at Weights and Measures Soundlab. One of them is in Kansas City, Kansas and the other is in Kansas City, Missouri. It was kind of a local thing and it was a really cool time. We did all the production ourselves and it was the first time we’ve ever recorded an album without a producer. That was something that we were really nervous about and we spent a lot of time doing pre-production at home, but it was really cool to actually pull it off.
Bill – How exactly were you able to do that? Did you just pick up things from other producers that you’ve worked with in the past?
Isaiah – That’s what was great was we had done enough work with producers, while working with Ross Orton and working with Bill Stevenson multiple times. After the last time we worked with Bill, we were just like “Man, I think we finally know pretty much everything we need to know about writing songs and production.” But we never felt comfortable doing it until we had a lot of time working with producers and figuring out all the tricks and all the problem-solving and things like that.
Bill – Did you maybe underestimate how difficult it was going to be to produce the album yourselves? Just in terms of having to worry about playing your parts, plus the production side. Was it in some ways more difficult than you thought it would be?
Isaiah – I would say it was, just because you really are the final ear. You don’t have a producer whose name is also on the record, who’s going to be listening hard for anything weird that they wouldn’t want their name on. So, you’ve got all of that pressure. We also didn’t have a whole lot of time to work with. There was a block of studio time that we were able to get and we had to pretty much finish writing the record in about eight days before it was time to record. It was really a grind, but we were able to work on the songs enough to get a record that we felt had the correct amount of work on it and wasn’t rushed. It took a lot of compressed days to get there.
Bill – I’ve heard that a lot with bands, where when they have a deadline like that, sometimes that can spark a lot of creativity.
Isaiah – Absolutely. We’ve had to work under pressure a lot of times and it really does produce good results.
Bill – How do you feel that Green Room compares to your earlier material?
Isaiah – We’re really stoked that we think we actually made something worthy of the last two records, and possibly even better. We’ve been getting really good feedback from our fans and some of our fans are even saying that this is our best album yet. That’s just a really amazing thing to hear. And we hear some things from people like, “Who produced this? Did Bill Stevenson produce this one?” And we’re like, “Actually, we did it all ourselves.” That’s obviously a really good compliment to hear.
Bill – That is awesome. One of my favorite songs on Green Room is “Bend.” I feel like it blends a lot of different genres, from classic rock to ‘90s alternative, resulting in a really unique sound. What were some of things that inspired the creation of this song?
Isaiah – Yeah, we were wanting to try a new type of song and that’s actually the first song that we ever started on acoustic guitar. That was cool. We built it from the ground up and tried to make it as strong as we could without being able to drive it with distortion. We felt really happy about that and we got a good melody going. The song was completely carried on its melody, instead of its energy, and we’d never tried that before. We’re really excited with that kind of song. We think that’s the type of song that really is more like who we actually are and our actual personalities. We’ve never been able to write a song like that, one that represents us so much. That was a really big step for us and that’s one of our favorite songs too.
Bill – For sure. And when you describe the writing process and I think of the song in my head, I can see how it was written that way, as opposed to the three of you just jamming something out.
Isaiah – Totally. We’re really proud of a new kind of discovery of how to write.
Bill – “Underground” is another one of my favorite songs on the record. I feel like it has a really raw style and somewhat of a Misfits vibe. How did this song come together?
Isaiah – Yeah, that’s cool. It was one of those times where we were grinding for like the catchiest melody that you can go for. Out of a lot of melodies, that one ended up standing out. We thought it was a little cheesy sounding, but we were like “Let’s just rock it out and see what it ends up sounding like.” And we ended up loving it. We feel like “Dark Black Makeup” is in that same realm, where if you didn’t take the right steps it could end up sounding a little cheesy. But if you do it just right, you’ve got a really catchy song. That was a big one for us. We had been getting really complicated in our songwriting. And with this album, we wanted to specifically take a step back kind of to where we used to be in Delicious Rock Noise era and mix the styles with what we did on the No Strange Cats… record. No Strange Cats… had a lot of sections and a lot of busyness, where Green Room has a lot more space. It’s a different mix of styles and that was pretty cool.
Bill – Yeah, I can see how at some point it would be fun just to write a straight-ahead rock song.
Isaiah – Yeah, totally. And “Underground” is just really simple and once again the melody just drives it.
Bill – When you listen to Green Room now, what are some of your favorite things about how the album turned out?
Isaiah – We just really like how we were able to try some new kind of crazy sections, because we also had to worry about not repeating ourselves. For instance, in “Suffer,” we’ve got that crazy Beach Boys kind of drop. And on “Two-Face” we’ve got little vocal overdubs coming in and out of it. We’re trying to kind of dig in a little more like that. We’re always trying to change it up for ourselves. It was nice to mess with some different tones and create songs that we really had no shot at making before. “Portraits” is an example of that. That one’s actually a little complicated, but that’s probably about as complicated as it gets on the record.
Bill – The last time I saw you guys live was in February of 2020 at Cobra Lounge in Chicago. I’m guessing that was one of your last shows before the pandemic put a stop to live music. Given that you guys used to tour pretty heavily before COVID-19, what’s the last year or so been like for your band?
Isaiah – It’s been a crazy change of pace. We’re used to being on the road all the time. That’s one of the reasons that we were able to get our record done, because we actually had a bunch of openings. We were able to get to work on finishing the album and we obviously got it wrapped up. We were also able to launch our Patreon and our Kickstarter, and focus a little bit more on the label stuff. Luckily, we had a lot of music out, so we could kind of keep the train rolling with new music and give people something to listen to while they’re bored. It’s been something, because once the album is done there’s really nothing to do besides work on the next one, but it wouldn’t be coming out for a long time at this point. We’ve got the Patreon and finishing the Kickstarter, but it’s been a lot of downtime.
Bill – What was it like to put out a record and not be able to play a record release show and not go on tour to support the album?
Isaiah – It really is crazy. It makes us think about back in the day when bands would sometimes put out an album and actually not tour on it. Or just do one tour. It feels like it’s a lot about just the music right now. That’s one of the reasons we wanted our music to really hit hard and be memorable, because we don’t even have the show to support it.
Bill – But maybe on an optimistic note, like you said, you were able to put out music at a time when people were at home and bored and paying attention to it more. Were there any positives that you noticed from putting out a record during the pandemic?
Isaiah – I would say the isolation and the fact that there’s really nothing else going on but that. So that was something that was a benefit, in terms of when we were making the record. Because usually in the studio setting you still have interviews happening and a photographer coming in and things like that. There’s a lot of other things to think about as well. This time, we were just recording and trying to make sure that the album was right.
Bill – Have you started writing any material for your next album?
Isaiah – We have. We’ve got lots of ideas floating around and we’re starting to work on riffs, melodies and lyrics. We always have songs that are kind of done or they have a verse and chorus. Then maybe when it’s getting close to album time, you’ll either work on finished songs or come at those songs that you started earlier with fresh influences. A lot of the songs on this album started as a verse and chorus idea, and then we came up with the rest.
Bill – When you think about the long-term future of Radkey, what are some of the things that come to mind?
Isaiah – We would love to be touring a lot and continuing to self-produce our records and being able get more music out there. For a lot of our career, it was hard to get music out there. It would be nice to be able to get stuff out there at a consistent pace. We’ve got our podcast going and we’re going to be rocking that for quite a while. We’ll probably be doing that from the road as well. It’ll be cool, rocking with our Patreon, which is kind of like our fan club. And just keeping things rolling through that and trying to make things as big as we possibly can.
