A Q&A with Radio Aftermath

Made-to-mosh post-punk, from Leeds – here’s Sam from Radio Aftermath

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
Our latest track’s called ‘Cup of Coffee in the Big Time’, and it’s the angry little opener to our upcoming EP. It’s basically a cathartic way to scream out our frustrations about being a band in 2022.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
In a word, COVID. Sharing ideas, jamming songs out and collaborating in general is trickier when you can’t be in the same room!

What do enjoy most about producing your own material?
We produced ourselves with our drummer Jack Craven doing the mix and master. I think producing everything ourselves just gives us the chance to tweak and tinker away at the tracks at our own pace. Jack’s a fuc*ing amazing producer as well. And he’s dead handsome, so he certainly brings a lot to the group.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
We live to gig. So ideally, we want listeners to think, “sh*t, I’ll go see them next time they’re playing”.

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
A lot of our tracks have started with the humblest voice note recording of an idea, and we’ve gone from there. Other songs, we worked on together in person, there really is no fixed blueprint.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
If you ask any of us that you’ll get a different answer! There’s so many to choose from. We’re all kids of the 90s who had Kerrang on a lot, and I reckon you can hear a lot of that in our music.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
Oh, we’ll play anywhere that’ll have us. Maybe nowhere too dictator-y, so… sorry to our North Korean fans. We’d love to do a Japan tour because there are some incredible bands out there.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
I’d say Cup of Coffee is a good litmus test. It’s got all our angsty bits and it’s full of riffs. It’s what we open our shows with, and it always pops off when we play it.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
It really boils down to “Make more songs, play more shows.” Once our EP is out in August, we’ll already be getting our next one ready for 2023, and in the meantime, we’re hoping to tour the UK again with some great other bands.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
See you in the aftermath.

For more info visit: linktr.ee/radioaftermath