Meet RADICALS, the Sydney trio who bring the roof down with new single, Call

We know our way around a band that likes to get loose - the bong-heavy video we made for Dune Rats and the interview that followed after with DZ Deathrays says g'day - and in a time like now, a little bit of escapism through watching a band that likes to get on the beers is something we welcome with open arms, let alone the often-anthemic, high-octane music that comes alongside it. In the past few years, there's been a real uptick in these kind of groups thanks to the surf-rock explosion, and a byproduct of this means there's a further tonne of bands building a profile inspired by these sounds and groups, something Sydney outfit RADICALS are certainly amongst.

The group are incredibly new to the Sydney live music circuit, but that hasn't stopped the beginnings of an exponential rise. Since forming a few months back and sharing their debut single stay, the trio have strong-armed themselves a position on live stages across New South Wales (many of which blaring sold-out signs on posters), supporting Ruby Fields and LOSER amongst sold-out shows of their own - not a surprise, considering the energy and liveliness of their live sets have become somewhat of a bad-kept secret within the Sydney band world.

Listening to their work - even just two songs in - it's not too hard to work out why RADICALS are blossoming into such a cult-favourite so early on. Their debut single stay was a quick-pacing three-minutes-thirty of grunge-y alt-rock that almost feels like a modernised Nirvana; dark-lit, rough-around-the-edges guitar uniting itself with frantic percussion to form somewhat of a gloomy and gritty backbone to their debut, introducing RADICALS as a group dealing with the heavier side of the alt-rock explosion occuring in Australia of late.

Their new single call, however, is an entirely different game. It's another tidy three-minutes-thirty that this time, bursts out the gates from the get-go and doesn't settle down whatsoever, taking the group into a heavier, punk-aligned territory while not watering down the dirt and grit that defined their more slow-stirring debut. It's the definition of explosive, capturing the energy of the group at their most lively and channeling it through heavy-footed guitar that refuses to slow down; an all-out assault that doesn't let up until its final chord plays.

It's a single that really shows how far the group are willing to take their sound - the mayhem of the track's last 30 seconds being something we haven't heard in Australian music for a long time - while also showcasing versatility, something that's impressively difficult to show just a few songs into your career.

It also arrives with an official video clip, which really highlights this light-hearted looseness the band brings to Sydney rock. It's a compilation of friends and family sinking beers (and so much more), playing into that isolation aspect that has encouraged groups like RADICALS to think on their feet and do things we haven't seen before, which call's video clip certainly does. The video's description really teases everything to expect perfectly:

"73 videos,
51 beers,
9 wines,
6 ciders,
4 bourbons,
3 vodkas,
2 whiskeys,
2 cruisers,
1 gin,
1 canadian club,
and 1 unknown concoction later, here it is."

Anyway, take a dive into the video clip below, and introduce yourself to RADICALS before they blossom into even more of a success story in the year ahead. Oh, and trust us - when live shows are a thing again and this group are back on the road, make sure to check them out:

Tell us about yourself?

Three mates from Sydney just making music. We like to keep simple…

Whats the ‘vibe’ music-wise?

I guess you could call us grunge? Like if DZ Deathrays and Nirvana fucked and had a kid, we’d be that kids shitter little brother. When you listen to our music and see us live you can tell we don’t try too hard looks-wise, or really anything-else-wise.

What are your production and writing processes usually like?

Brandon writes the tracks and brings them to practice, then we all just kind of work off that and create our own little bits. Brandon still hasn’t written the lyrics to 85% of our songs yet though, but its fun betting on what lines he’ll conjure up when we play live. One night he started singing about fighting a gorilla or something.

Where do you gain inspiration from musically or otherwise?

Theres are the usual suspects like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Silverchair, Highly Suspect, but we all have pretty wide tastes and inspirations when it comes to what we listen to and put into our music. Brandon is anything from metal to jazz, Myles is anything from rap to indie and Nick is whatever you put in front of him. Kid's a genius.

Can you tell us about your new single call?

In Brandon's words: “call was the first song i ever wrote when I was about 15. I wasn’t the best guy back then and didn’t treat my ex-girlfriend the way I should’ve. So I wrote her a song to say that I’m sorry, that she’s beautiful, all that cringy teenage stuff, and basically just let her know that if she ever wanted to give me another shot id be waiting for her call. In the end though, I didn’t tell her I wrote it, didn’t do anything with it, we never really spoke to each other again, and I never played the song with anyone until 8 years later. Sick!”

What does 2020 have in store for you?

It's looking like we’ll have two more singles out by the end of the year, which we’re super excited for everyone to hear. We think its a lot better than what we’ve released so far (bet you’ve never heard that before). We’re also looking at getting some merch done which should be sick, but besides that we’re just keen to play as many shows as possible!

Where can we find more of your music?

Literally anywhere. Spotify, Youtube, Soundcloud, Apple Music, even Tik Tok… that’s right.

Follow RADICALS: FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM