RADIO 4 – ARE YOU RECEIVING US?

BACK IN 2003, NEW YORK’S CIVIC TREASURES RADIO 4 – BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR JUMPING-BEAN BEATS AND INTENSE RIFFERAMA – GIVE JESSICA STEIN THE LOWDOWN ON BROOKLYN, THEIR NEW LOVE OF HIP HOP AND THEIR EAGERLY ANTICIPATED FORTHCOMING ALBUM.

Post–rehearsal for their appearance at the annual College Music Journal (CMJ) four-day music marathon in New York, Jessica grabs a pint with Radio 4 in a hip Brooklyn bar, Daddy’s. The bar (owned by friends from post-punk band The Roger Sisters) is the hangout choice for fellow musicians whom have in addition to Radio 4 brought attention to New York’s punk-funk scene – including Interpol, The Rapture, The Liars, and The Yeah Yeahs. Even though the band live in different areas, Daddy’s is their meeting place of choice. 

"We are all scattered, but if we are in the neighbourhood we come to Daddy’s," says lead singer Anthony Roman,"It’s the kind of place where you will meet a lot of musicians – especially on a Friday night. It’s like LIT in Manhattan where we DJ’d last night, and that’s mainly because it is probably one of the last places in the city where you can smoke!"

In a typical bizarre bar room conversation, we’re discussing the contentious issue of exactly what point of Brooklyn we’re in – Greenpoint or Williamsburg?

Anthony – who has owned a record store, Somethin’ Else Records in Parkslope, Brooklyn since ’99 – thinks we are in Greenpoint. But keyboardist Gerard Garone adamantly insists that we are in Williamsburg.

"This is how you know where you are… All the Italians and Spanish people live in Williamsburg and all the Polish and Russian people live in Greenpoint," explains Anthony, "My family have lived around the corner from here for 60 years and as far as my Grandfather was concerned this is Williamsburg."

And even though the rest of the band looks doubtful, we move on to more pressing matters – such as how work on their new record is progressing.

Back from being on the road touring for a year and a half, Radio 4 are currently in the middle of writing their third album, the follow-up to the highly acclaimed ‘Gotham!’ (which, ironically, fared better in the UK and Japan than in the States) and ‘New Song and Dance’. By all accounts, recording is going pretty well.

"There were a couple of songs in which we think we found the groove and it’s moving along on its own nicely," says Anthony. "I’d say it’s a quarter through. We’d like to have 20 songs but it’s probably going to be 15 and we’ll pick from there. I’m finding that I don’t have to be so conscious of it, which is a hard thing to achieve. As there are always distractions and it can too often seem repetitive."

"Especially when there are a lot of people in the band. It gets to be a bit much when there’s sound coming from everywhere. It’s kind of hard to lock in at that one point where everything seems to mesh together but it’s nice when it happens," adds Gerrad.

The band favours a communal approach to writing, feeding off each others ideas.

"Generally someone comes in with something and we write together", says Anthony. "I’d say 80 per cent of the time someone will have a riff and a bit of a melody and it goes from there. And you hope within a band that someone will help you take it where you want to go, otherwise it’s boring and might as well do it yourself."

The band’s previous sound drew heavily from post-punk inspirations (Gang of Four, Talk Heads, ESG, The Clash, Joy Division) but the new record sees them plundering different influences.

"We probably don’t listen to as much post-punk as we used to because it becomes part of what we do," Anthony admits."I’d say there were more contemporary influences happening within our music now, such as UK garage and hip hop, like The Streets and Audiobullys, I am not sure how that is going to affect us though."

Modern punk seems the way forward then. But are Radio 4 still laying down their tracks after being out late at night, as they did on ‘Gotham!’?

"I haven’t been going out as much on this venture but I think that will happen soon," Anthony confesses."During the writing process of ‘Gotham!’ we hadn’t toured for a year and this time round we’ve been on the road for a year and a half so you don’t really do anything when you get home, and then you gradually start going out again."

Being out on tour has also directly influenced the sound of the new album.

"When we were writing ‘Gotham’ we were more set in where we were and now are a bit more scattered. We’ve been on the road so much and it kind of turns you in to a different person," explains Anthony.

"In a way it’s been beneficial being together so much because with the writing process it’s now like we can read each other’s minds," says Tommy Williams, Radio 4’s guitarist.

"You get influenced in different ways, from travelling so much and from doing the festivals. Seeing so many different bands and even subconsciuosly you grab an idea. Even things you don’t like will influence you and make you go in a different direction," adds Anthony.

But the band are aware of the need to move on and keep their sound fresh.

"A reactionary influence was how our band was set up in the first place – reaction to music we thought was boring. And now with the influx of other bands doing the same thing – albeit independently from one another – we are trying to find something different. We learnt a lot from working with DFA (produces of ‘Gotham!’) and I guess as we’re in the writing process now we are incorporating what they would use in production," says Anthony. "In the past we’ve felt that we were trying to achieve something but didn’t actually get there and now we feel we are. Basically, we are sounding now how we’ve always envisaged we would. We always wanted to be real groove orientated and we are becoming that."

Would you be looking to DFA to produce your album again?

"I don’t think so because James (Murphy, frontman of LCD Soundsystem and co-founder of DFA records) is hectic with LCD Soundsystem and their label is full on," says Anthony.

"I think they’ll have a slot open when we do our greatest hits album. They’re booked up for the next ten years!" adds Tommy.

With a card or two up his sleeve, Anthony says, "We are pretty sure whom we are going to get to produce the new album but at this point it’s best not to say. We’ve never not used a producer. For one thing we can’t mix and another it’s good to have an outsider’s perspective. It is someone who like DFA has got one foot in the dance world and the other in rock."

As to the lyrics, we are curious to know whether Radio 4 will still focus on local political issues as ‘Gotham!’ did, especially with ‘Dance to the Underground’, which was a lob at Mayor Giulani’s ban on dance licence law

"The lyrics are probably the least written part of what’s currently done, so it’s still in the air, but I’d assume it will be similar. We are not going to start writing love songs or about cars. Cars, it’s all about cars! Maybe we’ll address the Greenpoint/Williamsburg issue on the new album," explains Anthony.

And at that point we leave them to argue the defining line up once again.