I hopped on Danger Radio's van on the last night of The Pac Sun Tour. Within the first 3 minutes of meeting them, we sung almost the entirety of "Ignition [Remix]." Remember that song from middle (or high) school? The boys of Danger Radio are young, goofy, and pretty adorable. They're silly boys who can have fun sitting around cracking jokes or partying through the night, and their songs reflect that.
Sitting in the van for approximately 20 minutes spawned all kinds of random on-running jokes throughout the interview, one starting with the simple question... Why the name Danger Radio? "There was actually no real answer to that, we just made a list and it was one of the options. We decided that we're gonna start just making up an answer to that question... 'It's like when you swish a tomato it makes a sound kind of like Danger Radio. As if that answer wasn't ridiculous enough, Elan chimes in, "It was my first born son's first words. That was 8 years ago at age 11..."
Answers like these caused 2-minute gaps between questions, filled with laughter... During the interview, I complimented Andrew's gloves... "Thanks. New York, eight bucks," he says. For some reason the rest of the band decided to put on their best NYC accents and repeat this line... Some much much better than others. This went on for about a 45 seconds straight. Evidently, quarter is hard to say in a New York accent.
Danger Radio is from the left coast, Seattle, Washington specifically. "It's awesome. All the kids that go to the shows are super supportive of the local bands. To do well in Seattle you're either like a really big band and tons of kids will come out, or you're like a local." Seattle is also the home of Gatsby's American Dream. "I've known their bassist since I was 5 years old. I'm like best friends with his little brother," Elan says.
"They were like a huge influence on us growing up. I went to their very first CD release. To try and get kids to come out they had like free food and these huge posters up... It was awesome. We've been watching those guys forever. I looked up to them; they're like our big brothers. I've watched them grow up in the industry. We watched them progress and now they're kind of doing that for us, they're very supportive. Those guys are the balls." ("The balls" is a good thing.)
"Andrew asked me to play a talent show with me in middle school," Niko says. Some of the members of Danger Radio have been playing together for 8 years. "Andy would come out to all our shows, and finally I was like 'Andy do you want to join the band?'" "We've gone through multiple multiple multiple member changes... Most of which I can't remember or we just don't talk about."
Danger Radio's EP "Punch Your Lights Out" (which has hands on the cover, in which some members thought were flames, I thought they were lights...) has been selling great on Smart Punk. "The EP? Multi-Platinum. We like beat out Kanye the first week. The album is actually doing well since we're such a small band." Why is it called "Punch Your Lights Out?" "Because when you listen to it you get black eyes." "It's the name of one of the songs." "This music packs a punch. I just want to punch lights! I just want to like, punch things. Danger Radio: Punching Babies." "Our next album will actually be called 'Punching Babies.'" "I'd buy it," I throw into the banter.
"We wrote those songs [on PYLO] three years ago. We've actually been selling the same songs for three years. A lot of the original fans have been listening to the stuff, now the new crowd gets to kind of experience this." A full-length album is expected out during Warped Tour around July.
Prior to Punch Your Lights Out, Danger Radio released "The Difference Between Love and Envy" "I was probably like 17, or 18. We recorded that in high school," Andrew says. "It's almost like chronological transition to Punch Your Lights Out. One that was--well actually it was totally planned." This EP came out prior to signing with Photo Finish. "Bad-ass" is how they describe their label. "They're really oriented on being close with their bands. It's like family. It's really cool the intimacy of the label. All the people that work there are really swell. Emphasis on swell." "Pretty much we were shopping our music around; our manager was like let's see if Matt Galle wants to book the band." Galle is the owner of Photo Finish Records and books in the Seattle area. "Galle came out to see us and was like I would actually like to sign the band, and we saw no reason not to sign with such an amazing person."
During the interview, Marvin joins in. I can't blame the band because I'm also easily distracted; I ask if people call Marvin Martian. He says no. "I would have totally called you Martian, I'm sorry in advance... or I guess not in advance." "I would have done something really horrible," he replies. "Would you have punched my baby," I answer. "Your third child with Elan... Marvin would have punched him, because you called him Martian," Niko says in response.
Any last words? "Come to our show and have fun! Bring me Reese’s Peanut Buttercups!" Catch Danger Radio on tour with The Maine and The Secret Handshake in March! [CO]