No Skips: Radkey reveals inspiration behind new album Bedroom Sand includes Pokémon, the Chiefs, and stray cats
Radkey // Photo by Sarah Jaben
In our series No Skips, we sit down with an artist or band and go track-by-track through their latest release. For some of us, the banter in a concert where a song gets explained is our favorite thing in the world, and we’d just like to keep living in that. Every song has a story, and these are those stories in the order you’ll encounter them on the record.
If you’ve ever needed to scream in your car, hype up a crowd, or listen to something while you’re tripping out on psychedelics, rock band Radkey brings you Bedroom Sand.
They recorded the album in five short days at the Syracuse University Music Studio after hours. The mysterious title names and attention-grabbing lyrics, added with the clashing cymbals and guitar strumming, reminded me of rock classics and new age headbangers, so to get a better feel for the record, we sat down with Dee, Isaiah, and Sol Radke to reveal the inner workings of their upcoming album that releases July 14.
Courtesy Radkey
The Pitch: What inspired the cover art of Bedroom Sand?
Isaiah: My girlfriend noticed that while I was working on the “Victory” music video, I always had Blue Velvet on because it’s a fun movie to listen to. I was thinking that the album could probably be like a color, or something simple. So, it’s doing something simple, but it’s like a real texture. We ordered the custom lettering blocks from this lady on Etsy.
What would you say is the central theme of the album?
Isaiah: It’s sort of about paranoia and insecurities around being in a band, and also nostalgia and looking back on things that make you happy. Like “Ready To Burn,” it’s literally just a 90s-type song. It just feels good. Video games were also a very big theme for the record. That’s why we straight-up reference a couple of games.
What has the process been like these six years since your last album release, and how long have you been working on Bedroom Sand?
Isaiah: This album’s been in the works for a minute. For instance, “Bedroom Sand,” that song idea came before we did “No Strange Cats.” We thought it was too similar to some of the other stuff we had already done, so we were like, we’ll come back to this song, and we’ll have a different perspective. That’s an old song, but it’s one of our favorites on there.
Can you talk a little about the first track, “Victory?”
Isaiah: We always used to watch the Foo Fighters documentary back and forth, and there’s this part where Dave is talking about how he wanted to come up with an awesome opening set song. We’ve always been thinking we need a song specifically for opening the sets. In “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who, there’s that big yeah in it, but in the song it’s four minutes in, so we thought, what if you just made a rock song that was all yeah, just all hype. We wrote the title about the Chiefs because they kept winning, so we’re hoping they’ll use it someday.
There are a lot of different drum climaxes in this song. What was the motive behind that?
Isaiah: It’s kind of like “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys, where it starts with the bass hard in your face. Then, they’re saying “can’t stand it,” and it’s almost like a big yell. It’s almost even a joke kind of song because it’s so many climaxes. It’s just the most rockin’ thing.
In “Falling Out Of Grace,” this song feels different compared to the other tracks, more lyric-heavy. What would you say was the inspiration behind the second track of Bedroom Sand?
Isaiah: You know, when you’re rockin’, you’re playing in a band, you’re always wondering, is this the album where we’re going to start writing shitty songs? There’s always paranoia, and this song is sort of the fantasy of what your family thinks, what your fans think. Are the haters loving that you aren’t as good anymore? This song is about the world where you didn’t do the best.
Radkey // Photo by Sarah Jaben
What led to “Ready To Burn” being a single? How do you decide which songs to release as a single?
Isaiah: Sometimes you can just feel it. “Ready To Burn” is bouncy; it’s nostalgic. We reference Pokémon and this other video game, Pillars of Eternity, which is a little bit deeper. It’s just a nostalgic song, a 90s-type riff. And with this song, you can totally feel it. We were on tour with Living Color, and I was messing around with the bassline, and one of the dudes from Living Color started giggling and mouthing along to the bassline. It’s easy to sing along to; it’s very simple. It’s easy to be like, it’s time to say “I’m done, Ready To Burn” in the crowd. I always think about Shrek when I hear it.
“Welcome To The Backyard” is an interesting title, almost Green Day-esque, and I can hear some similarities between this song and some of Green Day’s. Can you speak on that possible link a bit?
Isaiah: This is just the most Green Day Dookie inspired song, even the bassline. I had to do a Mike Dirnt-type slide. We even do a little breakdown that’s like psychedelic punk. It’s fun to just, in some ways, be another band in a song.
The perspective voice changes. It’s about a douchey boyfriend who thinks he’s amazing because he has this band and he thinks it’s better than it is, and then he’s getting kicked out by his girlfriend.
What made you want “Bedroom Sand” to be the title track?
Isaiah: I like that we get asked this because it’s literally a made-up thing. To me, “Bedroom Sand” is sand in an hourglass that has little stars and moons in it, and then you use it to have a psychedelic trip. It’s just a completely made-up original thing, but I like the way it sounds because it kind of sounds like it is something. You take a Q-tip, you dip it in the bedroom sand, you stick it in your ear, and then you have a psychedelic trip.
This is another song that’s more lyric-heavy. How do the lyrics of this song translate to that psychedelic rock feeling?
Isaiah: The lyrics are very intricate. There’s the story of being paranoid. I love the movie American Psycho, so “There’s a mirror above my bed,” I always thought it was a funny visual. The chorus is interesting because it just keeps going, and like we were saying, it’s very lyric-heavy, very mysterious. We like to do a catchy, simple chorus, but this chorus is more talking than singing. It’s a very alternative type of song for us.
Is there a story behind the title of “Strays?” That name is simpler than the last few tracks.
Isaiah: We have a bunch of cats, and they’re all rescues. This is the definitive Radkey cat song. It’s about how your family doesn’t necessarily have to be blood. That’s something we’ve learned through touring and meeting people.
What is the inspiration behind the sound of “Return To The Sky?”
Isaiah: It feels like an 80s punk song. Sol came up with the melody, and it’s a very traditional Radkey type of song—your typical over-exaggerated, dramatic, overused 80s punk song. It’s fun and simple. I was happy formaldehyde was toxic, because it felt right as a lyric. We used the word because we needed something toxic for the lyrics that matched the 80s vibe.
There are a lot of heavy cymbals in this album. Is that something you decide to do in the moment, or is it just a product of the genre?
Sol: Yeah, that’s kind of something we do. It has a lot to do with trying to make everything louder and sustained.
What led you to choose “Heartless” as the closer of Bedroom Sand?
Isaiah: After a bunch of pretty catchy, pop-y songs, we wanted to end the record on something that’s like, “what’s going on?” This was a crazy song because figuring out the last part, how everything was going to layer on top of each other. All of the different parts of the song work on their own, but then it’s also designed to stack.
Would you say that it’s the most experimental on the new album?
Isaiah: Yeah, because we like to challenge ourselves when we make a record. We did a lot of versions as far as demos, like working it down until it was not too long. It was longer originally, but like you just listen to it and you feel it out.
Dee: The Beatles are definitely an influence on there, as well as Queen. This song has our longest solo, which adds to the experimentalism of this song specifically.
Any other thoughts on the album, or on what is next for Radkey?
Isaiah: It was a lot of trust in your gut and doing the best you can, and coming out with an authentic product of what we were going through at the time. It speculates on a lot of hoping that it’s good, that we’re not “Falling Out Of Grace.” The next album won’t be as hard, but it’s great that this was a cool challenge. We’ve got this album now, and then we’re going to soon start working on the new one.
Radkey has a few upcoming shows, including in Lawrence at The Bottleneck with Sage Cornelius on Friday, June 12. Radkey is back in the Kansas City metro on June 20 and July 11.
