Artist info
Genre
Indie, Rock
Sounds like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VGNQqDf9qY
band members
David Orr (Guitar & Vocals), Robbie Carlyon (Bass & Vocals), Mark Henman (Kick, Snare, Hats, Toms, & Lots of Shiny cymbals)
Influences
, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b88z4RbxQ8o
Website
Bio
Typically, punk rock isn't exactly renowned for its maturity, but Numbers Radio are about as far from typical as you can get. While their songs may possess the kind of energy the punk rock genre is reliant on – and pack it in spades – these guys approach their brand of aggressive music in an altogether different manner. Track back to the mid-noughties and you’d have seen the three members of Numbers Radio flexing very different musical muscles. Guitarist David Orr and bassist Robbie Carlyon have been mates since their teenage years and creative collaborators for most of that time as well. In the years preceding the formation of Numbers Radio, these two guys were involved in a myriad of different musical endeavours both together and apart. Orr's love of guitar drew him to studying jazz and becoming obsessed with learning more about harmony and composition, while Carlyon turned his hand to recording and production, and over time building his own professional home studio. The pair became extremely proficient across a number of genres – Jazz, Funk, Blues, Ska Punk, but felt to often restrained by rules and unable to play with the kind of passion they knew they had to inject into their musical pursuits. They decided to go back. Back to the music that got them off while skating through the streets of suburban Brisbane in the mid-90s. Back to the days where their scratchy Ramones and Dead Kennedys tapes jammed into boom boxes ruled in a world by the iPod. Back to what made them want to pick up guitars in the first place. Enter drummer Mark Henman – a member of Resin Dogs and Afrodizziact who was filling in for a single show. Henman was playing hip hop most of the time, but he brought to it a very different perspective. His heart also lay with punk rock; the music of Green Day, Blink 182 and Rancid – and the breakneck drumming of Tre Cool, Travis Barker and Brett Reed. During soundcheck at this fateful gig, the three musicians casted aside the music they were intended to perform that night and fixated on a jam of Sepultura's Territory; the chemistry was awesome. They met up to jam the next week and the results were so promising that they had no interest in waiting around to get something on tape. “We didn't care if it wasn't the most hi-fi sounding thing around, we were gonna do it as cheap as we could,” Carlyon says of that first session. He was about to set off for China and wanted something down before he left; a quick negotiation session with old friend Jeff Lovejoy ensued and the band, after promising $300 and loan of Carlyon’s recording gear, set up in Lovejoys garage and scattered throughout his house, eager to smash out this exciting new material. One long day there and a follow up session at Carlyon’s house birthed 14 tracks, five of which would end up on the band’s self-titled debut EP in 2008. It’s about as DIY as you can get. Since then the band have let their music and incendiary live performances do the talking. They've been added to high rotation on triple j, they've played Homebake, they've supported everyone from Birds Of Tokyo to The Bronx to You Am I and have recently signed to Shock Records. And now they're ready to kick things up another gear with new single White Light, the first single from their forth-coming album due in May 2012. The song sees the band at their most mature, melodic and considered, but they're not straying from those roots which made them what they are. Hell, the song was even recorded in the very same house as Orr and Carlyon had their first practice as teenagers. The band went into Lovejoy’s Blackbox Studios to record White Light, the same studio they recorded their debut LP Acquiring Satellites (2009) and its follow up EP Final Day (2010). But something wasn’t quite working with this song. “The general consensus was that the Blackbox version of White Light lacked some of the spark and energy of the preproduction session at my place,” Carlyon explains. “So it turns out that not only was White Light entirely recorded at my place but the actual song you are hearing is the first ever rendition of the song... I mean we'd never even jammed it before! We just put it down for something to do – half an idea Dave had going on in his head – and he literally called all the changes as we went. It's the first and only take!” They captured the moment perfectly, and it couldn’t be topped. Numbers Radio's key lies in their consolidation. They’re a punk rock band who don’t take themselves to seriously, sure, but one who know how to play. The energy with which they attack their brand of incredibly melodic hard rock is unstoppable, but the proficiency of their playing adds a whole new dimension. Their knowledge of such varied musical conventions is used to their advantage, they have the spirit of punks and the chops to make the music hit right where it ought to. Punk rock means different things to different people. It’s about not obeying formulas, about questioning the preconceived notions of any given sound and any given scene, it’s about passion and it’s about being unique. Given their disparate musical backgrounds, Numbers Radio are as unique as they come. Here is what some have had to say… “Numbers Radio demonstrate a Children Collide-esque ability to transform their uncomplicated power pop into something edgy and interesting in the live arena.” Fasterlouder.com.au VIC - Sept 2010 "Wholly unpretentious and crunchingly aggressive, the Final Day EP is the next thrilling instalment in Numbers Radio’s ascent to Australian hard rock throne” Rave Magazine – Oct 2010 “The trio are showing just how far their live show has developed over the last year as they seamlessly link songs with expansive breakdowns” Time Off Magazine - June 2011 “The Brisbane three-piece was a tight unit. There were shades of glam and plenty of Datsuns-styled high-octane guitar riffs and shuddering ryhthms to pack a real punch" Drum Media Syd - Sept 2010
Featured Artist
2008
14
Jul
NUMBERS RADIO
(- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VGNQqDf9qY ,
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b88z4RbxQ8o ,
- Heavy , ...
Brisbane, QLD
NUMBERS RADIO consists of three guys who play punk skate rock with a heavy feel, but not in a conventional way, no double kick, no marshall amps, just a raw three piece with a couple of combo amps.
Describe your sound:
The sound of Numbers Radio has very much come from our influences and life experiences. We are really just doing what comes out, and playing what we want to hear. I think there’s definitely a underlying punk skate rock vibe going on, I mean that’s what we grew up listening to, so that imprint will probably always be in there somewhere. The band can really get a nasty tone, getting a heavy feel, but not in a conventional way, no double kick, no marshall amps, just a raw three piece with a couple of combo amps, I think that’s what really gives Numbers its sound.
What is your music making process?
We come up with a riff, melody or some lyrics that evoke some kind of feeling or attitude, then we figure out if it sounds like us. If it does, we run with it and try to keep it as close as possible to the pure feeling or attitude that the original idea had invoked in us. We sometimes write fairly technically but we try to keep it as listener friendly as possible, being tech for the sake of being tech is not our trip. The vibe and the groove is paramount.
Tell us about your live gigs.
A Numbers Radio show is explosive and powerful. We play long and hard and when we come off stage its like, shit where did all that time go..? Like wow we just played for an hour and a half. Our record sounds pretty good but it is nothing like the real thing. Numbers Radio has really been a big learning curve for all of us, because it’s such intense music its easy to get almost too into it, a Numbers set is a bit like a boxing match, you need to pace it out, I think even the first few Jams we had, we felt like we need to be checked into the nearest hospital at the end, or at least bring out some oranges at half time!
You've only been together for six months, what were you doing before this?
Dave - The bands only been together 6 months but some of the tracks we play were thought of a long time ago, they where always tracks that just didn’t fit with any of the bands we were playing in at the time, so we’d find ourselves putting our idea’s down on the home computer or even tape recorder and filing them away in the Vault. I think the Vault just kept telling us it was time to be opened! Rob - Our drummer Mark was busy with The Resin Dogs, Afrodizziact, his other numerous side projects. Dave and I where busy with Hip Pocket and other things. I am a sound engineer and Dave lives and breaths guitar, teaching guitar and working in a guitar shop part time. We were just doing what we do but separately, now we are doing what we do together and loving it.
We hear your first jam together got shut down by the cops, tell us more.
Dave - Yeah well we normally always Jam at our bass players house, and for sometime the Jams that have gone on there have been fairly low key, until a Numbers Radio jam was finally organized. See myself and Rob used to play in few punk rock bands years ago, but the last few years we have been playin’ the local Brisbane funk and Jazz circuit , so getting the chance to play some heavy ass shit with an animal drummer like Mark was just too much fun, I remember Rob saying “This feels like the first time I was allowed to watch an R rated movie!” We played hard and fast, yeah then the police came. Now we Jam at these cool rooms in West End called Urban Hum, we can hurt our ears all we like there, and we don’t get in any trouble for it.
What have you got planned for the future?
SO MUCH! We have just been working so hard, and loving every minute of it. We just finished our first self-titled EP which is 5 out of the 10 tracks we recorded in the Garage of local producer Jeff Lovejoy, it turned out great! And in the space of a week MGM and Valley Trash Records jumped on board to help us release it, then the next thing we know we received an email about Triple J rotation for our track “Come On”. That was a good week!! I feels so great when hard work pays off, and people outside the band believe in it as much as we do. As far as the future, The EP’s official Release date (In stores and Digital) has been set to August 9th , so we will just be working, gigging and starting to organize a Tour to support the record. All the tracks from the EP can be heard on www.myspace.com/numbersradio
Australian music is?
I think we’ve always really original and inspiring music comes out of this country, even locally here in Brisbane there is some really cool shit going on, and a real sense of community about it to, I mean that’s the way scene is created, a bunch of bands looking after each other. Its funny in the Mall recently they have put a bunch of plaques on the walk way, like the Hollywood stars, there’s one for Powderfinger, Regurgitator, Keith Urban, Bee Gee’s, The Go Betweens, then at the end one for local legends Blowhard, that makes me proud to be from Brisvegas.
NUMBERS RADIO AT VALLEY FIESTA
Numbers Radio rockin' out Numbers Radio rockin' out Numbers Radio rockin' out Set list Street Stage Crowd
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the debut ep from numbers radio is damn strong for this unsigned brisbane band, and this track is a standout from it. it keeps building up and up and the vocal hook is a killer - turn it up!
the debut ep from numbers radio is damn strong for this unsigned brisbane band, and this track is a standout from it. it keeps building up and up and the vocal hook is a killer - turn it up!
Review
I would have LOVED this when i was 15 or 16. Not to sound like a snob but I prefer something a bit more daring these days, but it's not meant as a slight, those after some straight-up rock with a slice of punk will dig.
I would have LOVED this when i was 15 or 16. Not to sound like a snob but I prefer something a bit more daring these days, but it's not meant as a slight, those after some straight-up rock with a slice of punk will dig.
Review
Snappy, dirty and with more than a little Mess Hall influence going on... this is a great song. The vocals lift the song from being too heavy/dirgy and there's a great energy to "Come On". Onya's.
Snappy, dirty and with more than a little Mess Hall influence going on... this is a great song. The vocals lift the song from being too heavy/dirgy and there's a great energy to "Come On". Onya's.