Radkey “Green Room” 2020. Little Man Records, marbled green vinyl. Killer hard rock by the three Radke brothers from Missouri.  We picked up this LP after catching one of Radkey’s sets at Mile of Music this past weekend – it was wild!

While clearly the brothers have been together since birth, they formed their band about 10 years ago and have opened for a variety of rock/punk/garage acts like Descendents, The Damned, Fishbone, Jack White and the Foo Fighters. Green Room is their second LP and while the internet categorizes it generally as “punk,” I’d refine that down to more of a comparison to Subterranean Jungle era Ramones for its punk sound, meaning it leans more towards hard rock/metal. The track “Judy” is the best example: big and pretty polished, the lyrics are straightforward and the chorus has a Ramones-lensed 50’s/early 60’s throwback vibe “Judy, Judy, I truly truly love the way…” “Real Deal,” while probably about being depressed, has a pretty funny Ramones-esque chorus: “I’m naked in my bed! Yeah I’m naked in my bed!” and is a punchy punk song. My favorite tracks have a Foo feeling to them: “Seize,” “Underground” and “Suffer” all rock hard, have a big production and a sense of epic-ness. I also really like the album closer, a heavy garage punk cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine” originally by Bill Withers. I have to say, though, that their live performance far exceeds this recorded release. High high energy and excellent rock posturing, shredding guitar solos and killer bass-lines for the entirety of the set. Green Room is good, but too polished and over-produced. That said, I will absolutely see Radkey again in concert.