Radkey: No Rules Punk

The Beatles, Stones and Zeppelin were awesome—but rock lives on. Why not break out of the classic rock cocoon and give new rock a chance? Rockhound is here to help. Think of it as a bridge from 1967 to today and beyond.

By Kendall Polidori

A synergy born of shared experience binds the three Radke brothers. They make music with a driving punk force and delicately laid-out instrumental groundwork. Often, Death or Bad Brains come to mind, but the Radke brothers and their band, Radkey, live entirely within their own sphere.

It’s true the St. Joseph, Missouri, natives share a certain aura with the bands above, but according to bassist Isaiah Radke, their band is more of a Weezer, Foo Fighters and Ramones mash-up, only there are no rules. Experimenting with punk, rock, pop and stripped-down acoustics, Isaiah, Dee and Solomon Radke bounce off one another rhythmically to form a sound all their own.

THE EARLY DAYS

It’s puzzling for Isaiah to look back at what the band faced in St. Joseph after touring with such stars as Jack White, Foo Fighters and The Offspring. He notes the bizarre reality of being a Black rock band—often questioned for not being into rap instead.

“We just grew up listening to music, and it happened to be rock music. Black people have always been playing rock music,” Isaiah says. “We’d have people come up to us and say, ‘I saw you guys get on stage and I really didn’t know what was coming.’ But we loaded up guitar, drums and bass, so what else did they think was going to happen? It’s so confusing and bizarre that it’s considered weird to be a Black rock band.”

Growing up homeschooled, the Radke brothers found themselves without much to do—aside from digging through their father’s massive vinyl and CD collections. Artists like Led Zeppelin, the Ramones, The Beatles, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, Weezer and Nirvana were among their daily rotations. When they picked up instruments of their own, those influences immediately seeped through.

They spew pure, elevated energy and an old school rock mentality—jumping around on stage for an hour straight in sleeveless jean jackets and black wrist sweatbands. What bass player other than Isaiah Radke comes to mind who bobs his head aggressively and does jump splits live? Next to none, even in the most hardcore rock bands.

“We always tried to make music that we felt didn’t exist yet,” Isaiah says. “We’re happy we had those influences because then we always enjoyed the music that we made.”

As young teens discovering their place in music, the Radke brothers found that writing and recording came to them naturally. With their dad as their manager, touring the country in a van was a family road trip they enjoyed. Grounded in the same influences, collaboration and songwriting has been an oddly smooth process for Radkey. They somehow eliminate the frontman mentality, too—they are all the frontman, contributing equal amounts of heart to their sets. But in the beginning, getting other people to see that, let alone listen to their music, wasn’t easy.

When they dipped their feet into the live show pool in the 2010s, they had trouble booking shows in their hometown, forcing them to venture out to nearby Kansas City venues.

“It was really discouraging,” Isaiah says. “That’s how people can really kill a band—by not letting them even play shows in the town they’re from. We continued to grind and practice and, eventually, we landed our first gig with Fishbone in Kansas. That’s when we were like, ‘OK, we can do this.’”

(Left to right) Solomon, Dee and Isaiah Radke have been playing music together for more than 10 years.

Paul Andrews

MAKING THEIR OWN RULES

Radkey hasn’t let the challenges of stereotyping and hometown rejections slow them down. Independent from a record label, they’ve forged a path of their own. The key, Isaiah says, is playing as many shows as possible. With that came connections, landing them big gigs and allowing them to retain full creative control. They have to work twice as hard to promote themselves and book shows, but they have no one to answer to or pay, aside from their dad.

“It’s important for us to prove to ourselves that we can make this work,” Isaiah says.

Although known as a post-punk group, offstage the brothers are soft-spoken “nerds” who put family and their cats first. As for their music, they don’t hesitate to stray from a heavier, and sometimes lighter, sound. Incorporating rock riffs and pop melodies, the band lives up to what it means to be punk: authenticity. The brothers don’t pretend to be musicians they are not. They’d rather have fun.

ROCK JOY

Playing their music unencumbered, Radkey strives to build a bridge between hard rock and dance music, which is often frowned upon in rock culture. At a live Radkey show, one song leads fans to form an energetic mosh pit and the next initiates a chill dance party.

They’re shy, but it’s never been hard for them to turn on a spirited stage presence built from the influences of Cheap Trick. Isaiah notes this as “one of the reasons our music got bigger and better. We didn’t want to just be this stage show band, we really wanted people to dig our music.”

Their sound is bigger than expected from a three-man band. The songs are musically full and layered, filling the space between them and their audience. A punk attitude is often directed toward school or broken family structures, but for Radkey, their attitude toward life in general is positive.

As movie and video game hounds, they often get ideas from storylines that speak to them. After years of touring, they now build off experiences of their own.

Their latest single, "Games (Tonight)," is an example of Radkey’s knack for forcing people to reflect on common human experiences. They wend their way through emotional complications. They encourage listeners to understand themselves and learn to articulate their feelings. They drive anthems forward with Dee’s baritone vocals kicked up to a higher octave. They take a pop-punk approach similar to Green Day and Blink-182.

With more singles, shows and festivals ahead, Isaiahsays they are likely to release their fifth studio album later this year and hope to encourage people to attend more rock shows.

“We want to deliver a good enough show to maybe change people’s minds about going to concerts and convert average people into concert-goers. Then, maybe rock shows will get a little bit more filled,” Isaiah says. “I would love for people to enjoy big rock bands in a broad kind of way.”

START WITH

Radkey’s song "Seize" and you might hear a drum anthem and tempo similar to that of Foo Fighters’ "Pretender."

PAY ATTENTION TO

Dee’s baritone vocals and bluesy undertone. He quickly switches octaves to keep up with the fast-paced guitar and bass rhythms—which present a powerful solo midway through.

Kendall Polidori is Luckbox’s resident rock critic. Follow her reviews on Instagram @rockhound_luckbox and Twitter @rockhoundlb.