“Riot Radio”
from the album The Dead 60s
2005
iTunes
The Dead 60s’ drummer, Bryan Johnson, is caught up in the mammoth expanse that is the United States.
A few weeks prior he was submerged in the hustle and bustle of New York City. Now he’s in a burning hot, tarantula-infested RV park a few hours outside of Tucson, Ariz. Either way, he’s a long way from the band’s hometown of Liverpool. Such is life in the realm of rock ‘n’ roll.
For a group that formed a mere two years ago, things seem to be moving along awful quickly. Johnson and company are already embroiled in their second U.S. jaunt in recent months to support their self-titled debut.
The record, a dance-y punk-inflected rocker that wears its influences on its sleeve — the Clash, Talking Heads, King Tubby — has been burning up the American airwaves with its strong first single, “Riot Radio.“ The song features an infectious disco beat reminiscent of the Rolling Stones’ “Shattered,” with a Joe Strummer-like scream midway through that seems like it could have come right off “Sandinista!”
Industry tastemaker, Los Angeles’ KROQ (106.7-FM), grabbed the tune a few months ago, which put the band in the precarious position of having to release its album in the States before its U.K. home turf. “Riot Radio” was issued independently as a single in England a year ago, but it was re-serviced to radio outlets in that country a few days before the album came out.
“The single was doing so well over here that the label decided they had to get it out right away,” Johnson said in his Liverpoolian drawl. “It’s quite overwhelming actually, but we’ve always wanted to tour to America.”
Liverpool’s long and illustrious musical heritage — the Beatles, Echo and the Bunnymen, Frankie Goes to Hollywood — seems to be resurfacing as the antithesis to the mopey ethereal sounds of Travis, Coldplay, Starsailor and the like that have dominated recent British charts. In the middle of it all is the Dead 60s, along with hometown contemporaries the Zutons and the Choral.
These bands seem to be angling down a path designed more for fun than contemplation. The music is energetic and filled with high-hat heavy dance beats trumpeted by soulful vocals, rather than brooding falsettos over waves of dissonant piano and guitar.
“It’s just more appealing for us to make music that people actually dance to rather than just nod their heads to,” Johnson said.