Radio City Riot
Radio City Riot (2007)
Brian Shultz
If the Living End weaning out their rockabilly punk edge over their last few albums has you down, London's Radio City Riot might just cure your woes.
Think back to 1998, as hard as that may be. The Living End were exploding in Australia with their self-titled album and its smash single "Prisoner of Society." Radio City Riot does a superb job throwing us back a decade to that time on their breezy five-song self-titled EP. They're a three-piece; one guy plays an oversized stand-up bass; the lead singer sounds like Chris Cheney; sometimes they throw forward charged gang vocals; there are cool guitar solos and leads sporadically thrown around -- if this isn't total Living End worship, I don't know what is. But boy, do Radio City Riot do it pretty well, and they also do it with that same retro-fitted, Stray Cats-nodding flair.
After a somewhat cheesy opener that tells you exactly what'll it sound like in its title ("Intro: We Are RCR"), the EP leads into "Set Sales, For Nowhere," a solid number that contains all the above. "Kill the Lights" is a bit of a darker tinged number, but it's quite energetic, propelled along by frequent "whuh-uh-oh"s and other repetitively delivered lines that are thankfully catchy rather than annoying. The band charges along at a bouncy, friendly clip too. Wrapping things up are "Enough" and its mild country western twang towards its end, and the decent "London Sun."
Radio City Riot is definitely a solid debut for such a young band, even as much as they wear their influences on their rolled-up sleeves.