A year on from Redbait’s debut EP ‘Red Tape’, their follow-up release ‘Cages’ presents the St. Louis hardcore band in an especially confronting mood. Given the state of the world at the time of release that’s hardly surprising, but even so, the EP’s opening number ‘Capital Gains’ is particularly sharp and aggressive even by their previous standards. In a seventy five second howl of rage, the band move through several aggressive styles, each one clearly showing a band that’s not to be messed with…and certainly not about to take things lying down. A huge buzz of bass feedback instantly signifies something great is afoot and within seconds, the track explodes into a slab of crust-punk fury with a message that’s particularly pointed as the band calls for a “working class liberation” for “all ages, all races, all genders and all wage earners”. This is hard to gauge without a trusty lyric sheet, of course, but between a furious vocal performance that mixes hardcore shouts and black metal inflections seamlessly, a brief instrumental breakdown leaning towards more of a metal sound and a huge climax featuring male and female voices absolutely screeching, this is a powerful opening statement for fans and first-timers alike.
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THE RADIO BUZZKILLS – Get Lost!
At the beginning of 2018, St. Louis punkers released ‘Get Fired!’, a fully formed pop-punk masterpiece that applied the band’s usual spiky style to some great choruses. The disc was so popular, the first pressing sold out in quick time and a repress was also quickly snapped up. It even managed to get the expanded deluxe treatment; the addition of various period rarities to an already great disc made the reissue a must-have for any self-respecting punk fan. Given that ‘Get Fired!’ was so well received, The Buzzkills could’ve followed it with more of the same, but instead – perhaps wisely – realised that anything too similar would run the risk of coming up short, so instead, they chose to take a musical side-step…
The Radio Buzzkills invite you to ‘Get Lost’…
The last few years have been very much a case of “onward and upward” for The Radio Buzzkills. The St. Louis pop-punkers released their EP ‘The Quick & The Cheap’ in April 2016 and just five months later plans were afoot for the band to share a stage with their hero and Screeching Weasel co-founder, John Jughead.
Their tenacious and never-say-die attitude led to the Buzzkills working with another of their heroes, Dave Parasite, on the first full length album the following year. Released early 2018, ‘Get Fired!’ was a masterpiece of pop punk. With a couple of Parasite co-writes and an amazing production job, The Buzzkills had made a classic record, their very own equivalent of Screeching Weasel’s ‘Anthem For A New Tomorrow’.
Four Chords & Twenty Seven Weasels: Real Gone meets The Radio Buzzkills
You’ve probably not heard of The Radio Buzzkills. Chances are, even if you’re a big punk fan, the band have still slipped under your radar. In 2017, the St Louis based band celebrated their fifteenth anniversary and they also achieved a career high point when they shared a stage with one of their all time heroes. In January, they stopped by at Real Gone to tell us all about that soon-to-be legendary gig…and more besides.
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Screeching Weasel legend to join The Radio Buzzkills at one-off gig
In the 80s and 90s, many punk pop bands took their cue from Ramones and set about creating similarly fast paced tunes with simple and catchy hooks. In the twenty first century, there are still hundreds of bands plying their craft and playing what many have now dubbed Ramonescore. As the years pass, however, it’s just as likely that these bands were just as influenced by The Mr. T Experience, The Queers and Screeching Weasel. One such band, Missouri’s Radio Buzzkills, released their ‘The Quick and The Cheap’ via Braindead Records in the spring of 2016, but heading into 2017 – and celebrating their fifteenth anniversary – they are about to hit a career high.