Radio 4

Rock group

At the start of the new millennium, some of the most exciting new bands were emerging from Brooklyn, New York. Radio 4, a group who used both post-punk and dance-rock to the extreme, was one of the city's most buzzed-about bands. Unlike most of the others, as Radio 4 evolved, they began to mix politics within their dance beats. Influenced by legendary late '70s and early '80s bands like Gang of Four and The Clash, Radio 4 took their name from a Public Image Ltd. (a band fronted by John Lydon from The Sex Pistols) song when they started out in 1998. Throughout their four full-length albums, Radio 4 has progressed from straight up post-punk to electro dance-rock and reggae-inspired political rock. "Radio 4 makes records for punks who want to dance, for clubbers who want harder cuts, and for kids who like their protest with a soundtrack," wrote Eric Waggoner in Seattle Weekly. Much like one of their biggest inspirations, British band Gang of Four, Radio4 "has devoted its career to setting terse political declarations to dance beats and jagged guitar parts that hark back to 1980's post-punk," wrote Jon Pareles in The New York Times.

After migrating from Long Island, in 1989, singer/bassist Anthony Roman, drummer Greg Collins and guitarist/singer Tommy Williams started their new band Radio 4 in Brooklyn. Prior to his new band, Roman played in the emo-core band Garden Variety while Collins and Williams played with Sleepasaurus. Radio's 4 intention was to break out from the emo and hardcore music they had grown out of to play something more fulfilling. "We wanted to do something that would excite us and in turn excite the audience. So we all said, 'Let's do something in a Gang of Four vein,'" Roman told Phoenix New Times.

Just a year after starting Radio 4, Roman opened up Somethin' Else, a record and clothing store in Brooklyn. The following year, Radio 4 got a boost when they singed a deal with independent label Gern Blandsten Records. The three-piece band recorded their first full-length album with producer Tim O'Heir and in the spring of 2000, Gern Blandsten released The New Song and Dance. Almost one year after their debut Radio 4 re-teamed with O'Heir for the four-song EP Dance to the Underground, a collection of songs that foreshadowed the band's emerging electro and dance-rock style.

In July of 2001, the band began work on new album with producing team the DFA. Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy, a.k.a., the DFA, were two of the hottest indie producers around who made a name from their work with The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem. The DFA ended up giving Radio 4 more of a danceable sound than ever before. Unlike most recording sessions, the producers did not work on the album as it was being recorded; the DFA came in and reworked their songs after the band was completely finished.

"We'd always played a kind of dance-oriented rock anyway, but we didn't have any idea how to augment it technically," Roman told Seattle Weekly's Waggoner. "Tim and James didn't change any of the music we'd written, but they threaded a lot of things into the songs. They did a lot of beat-and-loop work and essentially took what we'd done and gave it a heavier groove." Radio 4's sound on the new album was also rounded out with new full-time band members; percussionist P.J. O'Connor (formerly of The Bogmen) and keyboardist Gerard Garone. In 2002, Gern Blandsten released Gotham!, an album that was both in-your-face lyrically but totally danceable. Waggoner wrote that "Gotham! layers punk-pop songcraft with club-dance hall beats and grooves," wrote Waggoner.

Radio 4's fan base got an unexpected boost in early 2004, when the band's 2001 single "Dance to the Underground" was used in a Mitsubishi car commercial that aired on TVs nationwide. The band felt no qualms with allowing the corporation to use their song, even if they didn't get paid a fortune for it. "We were able to get a socially conscious song into the homes of millions of people. This would never have been possible through the radio or even music TV," Roman told Flaunt.

For their next album, Radio 4 changed things up a bit. The material Roman and Williams wrote was decidedly more political than ever before and to get their music to a larger audience, the band signed up with Astralwerks Records (a division of EMI). Produced by Max Heyes (known for his work with Doves and Primal Scream), in 2004, Stealing of a Nation was released with wide distribution by Astralwerks. The new album highlighted the group's fondness of dub reggae, electronic beats and Latin-flavored punk all while singing about the unfortunate state of America.

"You get older and you start to learn more about the world," Gerard said in an interview with Michael Lavine for Rockpile. "You become less self-absorbed and you start looking at the world for what it is. In this day and age, there's so much that can be talked about. How are you not going to stay anything important?" Even with the societal awareness in their songs, Radio 4 still want their fans to dance and have fun and encouraged their fans to do so.

In 2005, founding guitarist Williams left the group and soon new guitarist Dave Milone (who had spent time with DreamWorks outfit Ours) joined as a full-fledged member. Milone joined the rest of the band to record their latest album. Roman wanted to stay out of big-budget studios in order to create an album that was as close to their live show as possible. British producer Jagz Kooner was brought in to round out the album and mix things up a bit. In May 2006, Radio 4 released Enemies Like This and immediately went back on the road to support the album.

For the Record …

Members include Greg Collins, drums; Gerard Garone (joined group, 2002), keyboards; Dave Milone (joined group, 2006), guitar; P.J. O'Connor (joined group, 2002), percussion; Anthony Roman, vocals, bass; Tommy Williams (left group, 2005), guitar.

Group formed in Brooklyn, NY, c. 1998; released debut album The New Song and Dance, Gern Blandsten Records, 2000; released EP Dance to the Underground, 2000; released sophomore full-length Gotham!, 2002; signed with Astralwerks Records, 2004; released Stealing of a Nation, 2004; released Enemies Like This, 2006.

Addresses: Record company—Astralwerks, 104 W. 29th St., New York, NY 1001. Website—Radio 4 Official Website: http://www.r4ny.com.

Selected discography

The New Song and Dance, Gern Blandsten Records, 2000.
Dance to the Underground, Gern Blandsten Records, 2001.

Gotham!, Gern Blandsten Records, 2002.
Stealing of a Nation, Astralwerks, 2004.
Enemies Like This, Astralwerks, 2006.

Sources

Periodicals

Flaunt, September, 2004.

New York Times, September 6, 2004.

Phoenix New Times, October, 2000.

Rockpile, August 2004.

Seattle Weekly, July 2002.

XLR8R, September 2004.

Online

"Radio 4," All Music Guide, http://allmusic.com (June 25, 2006).

Astralwerks Official Website, http://www.astralwerks.com/radio4 (June 25, 2006).