Radio Berlin: Transmissions From The Here and Now

One need’nt look any further than Spin magazine or Gideon Yago to recognize the continued impact of any number of late 70s and 80s “new wave” bands, because whether they sound like them or not, they’ll be name-dropped as the key reference to a significant number of up and coming bands in the post-millennium. MTV “buzz” bands are labeled as this century’s Joy Division or Echo and The Bunnymen because of their penchant for skinny ties, and it isn’t going to be long before some synth dance band borrowing from New Order lands themselves a Pepsi sponsorship.

Having spent my childhood and part of my adolescence in the 80s, I recognize that it was a decade of chaos, danger, sex, Reagan and The Cold War. Thank God it is over, right? But it was also a decade of dark and resonant music (though honestly I was more interested in Belinda Carlisle and Depeche Mode than Love and Rockets or Bauhaus at the time). While those same inspirations probably exist as a muse blowing in the ears of today’s underground, is probably isn’t fair for the music media to overload its reviews with these loosely-based, sloppy comparisons.

That said, writing this introduction has been near impossible. I don’t want to pigeonhole Radio Berlin, a band who’s been compared with everyone from The Psychedelic Furs to The Cure, because the aren’t your typical over-hyped “buzz” band (as MTV would have you believing these comparisons mean). For me, listening to Radio Berlin conjures the sweaty, fluorescent lights of decades past more vividly than all the rest. And while their hooky, mature sound, ability to isolate specific feelings (detachment, isolation, doubt and even hope) through lyrics and composition, and to generate enough magnetic energy to keep me coming back (enough to have already spun their forthcoming record, “Glass,” several dozen times) likens them to ground-breaking forefathers, Radio Berlin are achieving all of this in the here and now. So I guess all I can say is that Radio Berlin has me floored and excited about what they’ve achieved and will continue to achieve in the here and now.

I have no doubt that Canada’s Radio Berlin will generate a maddening buzz that sweeps a frenzy over the music media and hipsters. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you, my friends, aren’t so jaded that you miss them. Because I’ll stake the lot of my Depeche Mode tapes and throw in some Joy Division BBC sessions for good measure, if Radio Berlin aren’t the kind of band deserving of all the attention and nervous anticipation a hungry, discerning and creative listener has to offer.

Interview conducted via e-mail by Tim Anderl. Pictures provided by Radio Berlin.

Names: Jack Duckworth (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Lyndsay Sung (Roland, bass)

Bettawreckonize: Who are Radio Berlin, what instrument does everyone play live, and how long has everyone been in the band?

Jack: I'm Jack Duckworth and I play guitar, keyboards, and bass in one song as well as sing. I have been in the band with Chris Frey since its beginnings back in early 1998. Brad McKinnon plays drums and synth percussion and Is the new guy, only really being in the band since July of this year and is doing a smashing job!

Lyndsay: I joined the band about two years ago now. I was visiting my friends in Montreal and it happened to coincide with when Radio Berlin was playing there. I guess at that point they were looking for someone new and one or all of them had seen me playing in my now defunct new wave fantasy metal band. So, their roadie at the time asked me if I would be at all interested in joining them. So when everyone was back in Vancouver I jammed with them once and they asked me, "So, are you in?" And I said, "Uh, okay." I didn't really know any of them too well at that point except as people I'd see out at shows and would say hi to and stuff. Now they're like my BROTHERS man! It's pretty great. They're certainly very good people. I now play the Roland and the bass live. It's fun because I can move around a little more with the bass when performing. Like I can turn around and stuff. I'm not nearly as active as Jack or Chris on stage. Not unless I’ve had some "sparks."

BW: Can you quickly clear up a rumor that your last drummer, Josh, left the band because his old band, The Black Halos, are reforming? And, how is the new guy working out?

LS: Oy. Josh definitely was never in the Black Halos! That was this other dude Rob... Josh was the RB drummer for many years and he left to pursue his other band Jerk With a Bomb full-time. Our new drummer, Brad, came to us like a dream. He's a great person and the raddest, most enthusiastic drummer you could hope to fatefully find. We're all very good friends with Josh, so it's nice because I still get to hang out with him.

JJD: We played one show with Rob and at that same show we signed Brad on to playing with us. He plays in this other band called Fuck Me USA and his style and stuff really fit with what we're doing. Brad is a rad drummer and totally on the positivity tip as he's down with going out there and playing and touring as much as we are. We couldn't have been luckier!

BW: What do you think are the major differences between being a Canadian band and being one from the U.S.?

JJD: In terms of stylistic and aesthetic approach most bands are molded due to their local environments and their own personal aesthetics, as opposed to being swayed into certain directions due to their nationalities. A lot of bands in Canada are doing similar things that a lot of American bands are doing although I personally find a lot of more mediocrity in the majority of
Canadian bands, and perhaps Canadian press and audiences being more prone to accept mediocre bands. That in turn leads to a group of bands that put out some really great and in-your-face material as a reaction to that. There's some really cool bands from the Vancouver area alone that I really like. In terms of music business stuff up here there's more support from arts and culture organizations for funding etc, one common example being FACTOR, which provides funding for recording, touring, or album promotion to a large amount of Canadian indie groups that apply for it. Other than that the only difference I can see is that Canadian bands touring their own country will find it a huge pain in the ass due to the country's expansive and awkward geography.

LS: Well, whenever I think of a band as being "Canadian,” I think of their fans. I imagine these fans as being associated with the British Columbia hemp movement and wearing cat-in-the-hats with Canadian insignia all over it. So being thought of as a "Canadian" band per say has some bad associations for me. As far as differences we might experience being from Canada, I guess getting over the border's always mildly irritating and sketchy. It also feels like perhaps we have to work harder for our cred in the U.S. too or something. Maybe because of the associations I mentioned above... or because some people don't grasp that Canada isn't an ice dome way the hell up north. We get snow like once a year in Vancouver; it's very mild. although, that said there has been a lot of commotion from Canada lately. The Canada commotion. Bands like the Red Light Sting, or even triple H (Hot Hot Heat).

BW: What do you think Radio Berlin's greatest accomplishments have been over the last several years?

JJD: Well, we've actually been around since early 1998 so that's about five and a half years now (yikes!). If anything I'm pretty stoked that we've persevered for this long despite hold-ups and setbacks that kind of hindered band activity over the years: labels that have released recordings of ours and then subsequently dissolved, leaving albums generally underpromoted and in limbo: coming home from sketchy tours with no money. We knew that our original drummer Josh Wells was leaving us around two years ago and until his recent departure band activity got really fucking slow as we knew it would be difficult to find someone we got along with and was into what we were doing (and more so a good drummer!) so we weren't doing much for a year or so. Other than that we've worked really hard writing songs to the best of our ability and putting our heart and soul into the records we do so that's pretty much an overall good feeling for us.

BW: Did you make the decision to release your latest record with Action Driver based on Jack's interactions with them as part of A Luna Red?

LS: that certainly played a role in it I think! Jack had such a good experience with Joseph at Action Driver and he has so much confidence in us as a band. It's kind of mind blowing how supportive he is of us, and at this point he's never even met us...yet, the support has been really encouraging I think. We are all very eager to help him make his money back.

JJD: We did shop Glass around to other labels unsolicited but no-one really picked up on it - I guess we weren't buzzworthy enough or something - hahaha. We didn't really give it to much of a push in that department as at that point Joseph totally flipped over the record and put in a very firm offer to do it. He did an amazing job with the SLMZK record that A Luna Red did that I completely had faith in him that he'd do an excellent job doing Glass and I'm sure the other Radio Berlin members can agree. He's got keen business sense, experience in promotions and getting it out there, is generous in funding the band and with him being employed at Lumberjack Distribution has access to cool perks that benefit us and the label in the end.

BW: Is anyone else in the band in other bands and what challenges has this caused Radio Berlin in the past?

LS: Everyone has other projects going on but there are no major conflicts I don't think. Everyone's priority right now is definitely Radio Berlin which is rad. It's nice that everyone is on the same page as far as stokeage goes. Maximum stokeage!

JJD: I play in A Luna Red as well and when there is time I play with my friend Andy from The Red Light Sting in a band called Heavy Party which is really fun although that project has been dormant for a while due to my hectic schedule. Chris is currently playing bass in Destroyer (Merge Records) who have been touring regularly. After this upcoming Radio Berlin tour he leaves for Europe with that band for a few weeks. Lyndsay has a multi-media synthesizer soundtrack project called Night Nurse who does semi-regular installations in Vancouver. Brad also plays drums in our friend's punk-funk unit Fuck Me USA who are good times.
Yeah - doing so much has definitely dampened Radio Berlin in the past year or two. There was a point where it seemed pretty dead due to that, and mainly with Josh leaving and everything I lost steam with it. Plus over the last couple of years there's been this huge resurgence in new wave/post-punk bands in America and it's kind of overwhelming to try to stick to your own interests in doing that sort of music when it's so in vogue right now and be sincere about it. So for that reason alone I got reactionary against it and was more into being noisy and nasty with A Luna Red. What brought me back into getting into Radio Berlin again was my love for playing with the people in the band and we did write some really cool songs together. I like the music and it does something for me. That's reason enough.

BW: What major style differences, in recording, production, composition and aesthetic can we expect from Glass?

JJD: On Glass the songwriting spanned over two years from around the summer of 2000 to fall 2003 so there's not a planned cohesion to the song composition but it worked out rather well in the end. At this point there's some songs on there we are likely not to play as often at this point. I find the composition a little more fractured and angular and more playing around one another. I like how it sounds for that reason. There's a gamut of things we wanted to try musically and production-wise on the record. We recorded the record with our good friend Colin Stewart who has done most of the Radio Berlin stuff as well as stuff for A Luna Red and Destroyer. He's super comfortable to work with and us as a "band" kind of crosses over into us as a "production" team so we kind of have full control on how the record is gonna sound rather than being a bunch of dumb musicians at the mercy of an engineer or producer. We recorded Glass in a big warehouse in the suburbs of Vancouver so you can hear that hugeness on the production. Basically a lot of "tender loving care" was put into that record and it was totally fun and comfortable to make as well.
As for aesthetic I find that the boundaries have become a lot more loose and undefined than they have been. We have so many inspirations and references as individuals to this band: musical, and non-musical.

BW: Where did the thematic ideas for Glass come from?

LS: I imagine the thematic ideas came from the way we as bandmates and our friends live our lives. Trying to live a life that's meaningful, vital, artistic and political amongst a lot of crazy shit. Chris used to live in a very downtrodden and troubled neighborhood of our city, the downtown eastside of Vancouver. the title of the album Glass comes from Chris's lyrics in the song “D.E.S.” I think the song is about different modes of survival.

BW: The lyrics to the song "A Suitcase" really surprised me. Everyone in the band seems to be so involved in independent music, and other creative endeavors, like Jack’s web design stuff, Wax Museum, DJing, other bands and here is this personal song about lethargy, indifference, or just giving up hope. Am I reading this wrong? If not, who is the narrator and what brought this
sentiment on?

JJD: Well, especially at this point in our lives, lethargy is from where we're at! We all as individuals are extremely involved creatively and productively, whether it's work, music, or other things we do like film, video, DJing (which I haven't done in a while by the way - that one sort of got axed off the priority list), etc. The lyrics for "A Suitcase" are not so much personal to me so much as observational of what's around me. I've been in that state before, staring out from the dark side of the coin so to speak and trying to climb out of it. There were some bad times in my life a few years back and that's somewhat of a commentary on those times and how I dealt with them, but also how I see other people viewing themselves and their surroundings. Sometimes the outlook can be frighteningly negative and many people not necessarily aware of that.

LS: Jack is a bizarre mixture of being so super goth and so super comedy. He's comedy goth. The hardest working, most talented comedy goth that I know. I think the goth sentiment seeps out more in his songwriting and design work than in the way he carries himself on a daily basis. He's a pretty funny good times kind of guy.

BW: You (Jack) and Chris are credited with the photos and design of Glass's artwork. How important was it to you to be involved in this side of the record? Did you do the design work for Sibling and The Selection Drone too?

LS: All of us partake in some sort of artistic medium besides playing music. Jack is a designer, Chris is a photographer, I like to make films and videos. It makes sense that the aesthetic of the music would extend to the album artwork, and that we as musicians could best replicate the mood of the music in the artwork.

JJD: Well, I do a lot of design work, not only for Radio Berlin, but A Luna Red as well. I also do design for some local record labels like Ache and Global Symphonic and U.S. labels like Action Driver, etc. I also do freelance design work as my job. I've always felt that the imagery and presentation were pretty important to the music and I have a fascination with music-related design and album packaging. Usually the Radio Berlin formula revolves around a striking, clean, design around Chris' photography. I'm also stoked that we've managed to use a nice serif font on Glass, a typeface less and less used nowadays. Actually, I think the new Radiohead coincidentally uses the same font (or very similar).

BW: Having seen the success of bands like Interpol, Kenna, Hot Hot Heat is seems the pump is really primed right now for a band like yours who has a lot of retro-leanings? Does commercial success intimidate you? Do you see Radio Berlin moving in this direction?

LS: I don't think we could ever say NEVER, but I think we really want to try and stay in the indie music realm. I think it's certainly possible to be a successful band in the independent-leaning record industry, in the sense that people are into your music, you can tour all over and have good shows and you could potentially make a living doing it. Although, I imagine we'll always be doing our other stuff too--design, photography, film, etc. Anyway, I don't even think we could be commercial if we wanted. No one's going to play our songs on "popular" radio! They're too weird!

JJD: It's certainly interesting what can happen over five years in the world of music. When we first started it was like four friends playing some music we were into that was a nice departure from the bog of hardcore/emo/indie rock bands and imitators that were around us. We had played in such bands for a while and wanted to try something else. There weren't that many bands at the
time that were kind of doing the same thing so it was exciting for us. We toured numerous times, playing everywhere from clubs, arcades, crusty punk houses, you name it. Then a couple of years into all of these hype indie bands started popping up everywhere, sporting garage rock and new wave on their sleeves. It was totally weird; kinda cool though. I don't know at this point. I know we've been getting more attention than we've ever had and weird biz people contacting us. I really like the idea of supporting the indie business people like ourselves that can create an existence for themselves. I can't really say we'd refuse anything as I've never really been in that position where you're up that high in the music world, but I know where our hearts lie and what we kind of want to do.

BW: When people ask me to describe your sound I find myself referencing 80s bands. But, there is too much sentiment and thought that goes into what you guys are doing to write you off as some sort of band that rests on their references. What other bands, or outside references really have an affect on Radio Berlin as songwriters?

JJD: It's kinda funny as a lot of the bands I listen to lately are for the most part very different than the bands people tend to associate Radio Berlin's sound with. A lot of people are generally pretty lazy in referencing the music and for the most part are unfamiliar with it. There are so many more bands and groups now and then that are overlooked or unknown about that probably may have had more influence on us than the obvious. That and even with the band's composition over the last little while I actually find my self less and less using those reference points for anything. Any musical references at this point tend to be obscure snippets and bits here and there, retro and contemporary, whether it's something totally out of context like a beat from a modern R&B, dance type track to strange themes in music composition. I still like that people compare us to like Joy Division and Wire and stuff, but at the same time we've been doing this for a while now and there's so much more to explore musically. At this point I'm actually finding the stuff we can write with this band for now and future more expansive and exciting than it's ever been. I'm really
into rhythms and backend when writing music as well as sonic dissonance.

As for musical influences: it's strange, some of the stuff influencing Glass and even the newer stuff since then would be like the guitar sound of a band like Lake Of Dracula or something; maybe the synth composition of a band like DAF (an amazing electro-punk duo from early 80's Germany) or maybe shredding noise-rock like the more recent Primal Scream stuff or something. So much here and there. It's really hard to avoid being influenced by anything now in a time where we are all for the most part oversatured in music as it's around us everywhere: in the media and with our peers and friends playing music as well. For the most part we've grown up on punk/hardcore/post-punk so by a default that's gonna reflect in the music.

BW: You are planning extensive touring this fall. Are you touring with anyone, and where will the tour take you?

JJD: Yeah! We've got some insane touring plans for the fall and beyond, but it's about bloody time at this point. This first, fall tour that we are engaging on takes us on 5 or so weeks throughout North America; mainly the U.S. with a number of great, different bands here and there: Trans Am, Ted Leo, Kill Me Tomorrow, Semiautomatic, Broken Spindles, The Cinema Eye,
Audion, Party Of Helicopters and so on so forth. After that we're going out in December for a few weeks, then North America again in January/February 2004 and then Europe in March. We are ambitious, yes.

BW: For someone who has never seen Radio Berlin live, are there certainties that they can come expecting?

JJD: Lot's of guitar pedals and synth gear, cords everywhere, me dancing around like a highland dancer, Chris staring at me and the audience like a frozen robot, Brad frantically keeping rhythm on the drums, Lyndsay shakin' a leg playing keyboards and bass, strange, confusing stage banter, bad humour. I dunno, it's kind engaging I guess. We all have definite unique personalities that come out on stage. And as much as we like to put on a show we also like to get comfortable with the audience and loosen them up a bit as we all know that audiences nowadays tend to be a tad frigid and uptight.

BW: What is the most spontaneous moment Radio Berlin has ever had during a live performance?

JJD: Definitely the most memorable performance has gotta be Halloween 2000 where we played with The Red Light Sting, Three Inches Of Blood, and Hot Hot Heat and the room was twice over capacity or something full of crazy looking costumes. We forgot the keyboard cable at our practice space so we hotwired the keyboard onstage by wrapping two bare wires around the prongs and sparks were flying etc. We played and we literally had to lean back into the audience to hold back the – I guess mosh pit - hahaha. Josh, our old drummer, was dressed like a giant chicken and had dropped a quantity of acid before playing. He told me afterwards it was like watching some else play drums. That was one fucked up show. Dustin from HHH had one of the best costumes, being dressed like a member of Suicidal Tendencies.