Welcome one and all to the latest episode of
Signals from Mars. Episode 451 features the band
Radion. They are from Akron, Ohio. They are a
stoner metal band, a doom metal band. They are
a heavy metal band. This was a really cool interview
with all four members of the band. Enjoy. I'm
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You get questions and polls and daily videos
that I post. Why post videos? I've had people
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oh, you know, you're only posting videos. Well,
I post several videos a day, but I do think it's
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Someone that's listening to this. picks the album
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So that's why I've been doing a lot more interviews.
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for helping set this interview up. And this is
cool. This is all four members of the band. And
I don't always get to interview more than one
member. And sometimes it's super chaotic. I've
been using super way too much during this intro,
but you guys get the picture. Thank you so much
for listening. There's a million other things
you could be listening to or watching too, but
you choose to be here. And that's awesome. Let's
get on with it. Welcome everyone to the latest
episode of Signals from Mars. I am joined by
the Akron, Ohio band Radion, who is about to
release the album Subterfuge. They're nice enough
to wait for me to connect here tonight, so I
appreciate you guys definitely for spending a
little bit extra time here, more than you should
have to, but how are you guys doing tonight?
Good, how are you? How are you doing? Good, good.
Just came home from a crushing defeat in a basketball
game, but that's fine. We'll live with that.
It happens. Yes, unfortunately. But anyway, right
off the bat, you guys are releasing this on your
own label. What are the advantages of working
with your own label as opposed to working with
a big or even a small size label to release your
album? Uh, I would say that there's advantages
as much as there's disadvantages. Okay. Um, but
it, it gives us more freedom, you know, to do
whatever it is that we want, but that comes at
our expense. So that's kind of a disadvantage,
but you know, um, if you want it, you know, if
you want it good enough or if you want it bad
enough, you're going to make it happen. Right.
You know? Sure. And I got to note, too, that
this specific release is actually a collaboration
between our own label and Third House Communications,
which is a small indie label based out of Louisville,
Kentucky. Okay. So it is kind of a collaboration
with another small little label, you know. Okay.
But it's a cool family, a cool community down
there, and they're really great people, and we're
really grateful to be. part of that community.
Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Because I've heard other bands
that are within the, you know, stoner or doom
metal part of the hard rock and heavy metal world
that have ventured out on like bigger labels
and have come back to a smaller label feeling
that although it was great to be on a bigger
label, they just didn't serve the band the way
that they really wanted. the label to in the
sense that they didn't get, I don't know if a
boutique feel is the, is the right way of saying
it, or maybe not even that, but somebody who
knows exactly what the genre is about or what
the sub genre is about, as opposed to just pumping
artists out. Right. I mean, it's not like a,
it's not like what we do is like a, a big ticket
item, like, you know, metal core or, or or something
that's really huge right now i i i i think that's
metalcore i i think like um uh bands that are
like really huge um what is that band where the
dude's gonna do an mma fight while he performs
oh um slaughter slaughter to prevail yeah is
that a metalcore band i i'm Yeah, deathcore,
that's even, you know, an even deeper subgenre
there. We're so splintered within the metal community
that there's a different core sprouting up every
day. Well, that appears, to my knowledge, that
appears to be a hot ticket item right now is
deathcore. You know, I recently purchased a new
vehicle and it came with a Sirius satellite.
right free prescription subscription so i've
been listening to liquid metal and that's all
i hear is this stuff and i was like man these
bands are solid but they all sound the same and
then i was like well somebody probably says that
about our genre too you know so yeah i i hear
you but they seem to be doing really well and
it seems to be up a high ticket item at this
day and age uh 25 26 the bands like that are
are on fire man you know and good for them you
know that's that i'm sure everybody puts in work
so yeah yeah absolutely i think at the end of
the day at least from my perspective you have
to respect what other bands do and if that works
for them then then so be it i mean you guys just
have to keep doing what you feel is right for
your band absolutely yeah Yeah. So you had a
bunch of member changes between Discordian and
Subterfuge. How necessary was that for the band
to move forward and how challenging was it to
find the right pieces to move forward? It was
essential for the band to move forward to where
we're at now. And I'm going to let Derek answer
the rest of that question for you. Well, essential
and the fact that, you know, some of the former
members, we just couldn't do as much based off,
you know, just life schedules and circumstances
and stuff. So as far as like getting out there
and doing more, finding the right people for
that. But so that was essential. But for the
sound to evolve, it became essential to find
this group of people. And it's really loud. uh,
radian to expand on the original idea, you know,
bringing in, um, fresh, uh, minds and just, and
different styles of playing. And, um, it's forced
us to stay within the framework of what radian
is, but also allow it to kind of expand on its
own. It's been a really kind of awesome journey.
Yeah. On, on, on like some, some turbulence along
the way and you know we weren't sure what was
gonna happen and and it all just kind of came
out just beautiful okay and what do you feel
the biggest impact that you guys have felt with
the inclusion of the two new members uh i mean
probably like the like the vocals like corey
i mean he it you can't even compare the two people,
like the previous singer and the current singer.
They're just two totally different things. You
know what I'm saying? And I don't want to say
that like, you know, the other guy is not good
at this or not good at that. And Corey's not
good at this and not good at that. That's not
the case here. The case is that they're just
two totally different things. And what Corey
brought to the table with us just seemed to really.
really work and really vibe and mesh it very
well and help project us forward. You know, that's
my opinion on it, you know? Okay. Was there a
moment when you were trying different people
out that all of a sudden just Corey just kind
of stood out to you? There was like an, Oh shit
moment. This is, this is what we need. I mean,
yeah, yeah, for sure. I, Yes, I would say yes.
And I would also say that, like, you know, Corey
and Derek have been doing bands previously. So
when Derek recommended that we bring Corey into
the mix, they had already been in bands, a few
bands together and worked together, and he already
knew, like, what he was capable of doing. Like,
I didn't know Corey at the time. I just had to
take, you know, Derek's word for it. And, you
know, I trust him, and I value his opinion. So
if he says this dude's going to work, then I
just take that, you know, take his word for it.
I was 100 % confident that Corey was the guy.
So it wasn't even a question in my mind. Like,
oh, I got the guy. Perfect. I've been working
with him for years. He's... dedicated he's got
a good ear he's good at writing like yeah he's
good at singing it's just it wasn't even a question
in my mind and with and with carly with her coming
in i mean her it just kind of all just fell in
place she was like kind of the last little um
piece of the tetris so to speak that kind of
connected everything you know and there were
other people that were you know trying to come
and play bass in the band and she just she just
did a great job like right off the rip so there
wasn't and she was focused and you could tell
that she was working on the stuff she she earned
her position in in this band you know we didn't
hand her anything we just said here's seven eight
songs learn them and she did and she's doing
great and yeah everything just fell right in
in place Cool. And that's kind of a common theme
with a lot of bands that I've interviewed lately,
where the process of bringing new people in has
kind of been through either past bands or bands
that people have toured with, where they've more
or less known what they were getting with that
member. So it's interesting that, you know, because.
At the end of the day, you're going to go out
and tour with these people as well. You got to
know what you're getting yourself into as opposed
to just saying, you know, hey, let's load up
in a van or whatever and just see what happens.
You know, there's got to be some assurances,
you know? Yeah. Well, and it's kind of like,
you know, it's kind of like a job to some extent.
Like if you're going to, you don't want to be
a plumber applying for a drywall. So, you know,
so, so when we, when we entertain bringing someone
in the band, it's your go -to would be someone
that you previously worked with in a band or
something like that, because it worked and they
know what's going on and they can kind of hit
the ground running. You don't have to, you know,
show them everything, you know what I'm saying?
So to speak, you know, I mean, we're willing
to train, but to what extent, you know, type
of thing. Right, right. I got you. So there's
a story woven into Subterfuge. When did you guys
decide to work on what a lot of people would
consider a concept album? I'll let Corey. It
was kind of just, I mean, it was something I
was somewhat already working on, possibly for
another project, because I had a dream one night
that kind of inspired it. And, you know, the
band that I was considering applying it to just
really wasn't that type of band. So I kind of
put it on the back burner as primitive as it
was at the time. But when I got the offer from
these guys and I listened to the tracks, it really
spoke to me in a more intricate way like that.
That's something that deserves like a complex.
story like that but also on the flip side like
i've spent most of my life just writing about
real life and just running out of ways to say
i hate people and you know stuff like that so
giving lending a concept to my lyrics really
helped me discover more imagery and helped you
know just really like push I mean, that's really
it there is having imagery to really describe
and make it so you can almost touch it. And so
I just kind of hit the gas pedal on that and
it just kind of fleshed itself out as I was writing
it from like the loose concept that I already
had. Okay. Did the lyrics come before the actual
music? Did you have that concept from that dream?
Did you listen to the music and then have it
feed into what you were already writing? Or did
you have that already separate from the music?
So I had zero lyrics. All I had was that skeleton
of a story. And they had already had the tracks
recorded. All I needed was the vocals. So I immediately
just started writing and did some very intensive
active listening. listen to what song sounded
like certain plot points to the concept. And
that's kind of just where I started. And, um,
it just kind of unfolded from there. Um, and
like I said, I, I started with one song and then
other ones started. Cause like the first song
I wrote was kind of in the middle of the concept,
but it's because that first song, I heard this
part of the story. in that song itself and then
other songs started writing around that and then
it all just kind of came together okay how much
i mean you just mentioned that you've written
about specific topics and in different types
of ways but how much did 2026 or 2025 factor
into this universe that you're creating with
these lyrics so I mean, at the end of the day,
it is just a story. Obviously there's influences
from current events, but not limited to that.
Obviously there's history and history and history
and history of civil unrest and all of that's
come into play as a, you know, as, as humankind
more than just like what's going on right now.
Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Um, there's, Obviously a
huge difference in the sound and what you guys
are doing on this album with comparison to what
you guys have done in the past. How purposeful
was that when you were going into the album?
Did you start writing already the material before
you started working on the album? And then by
adding the members, you decided to take it to
a different place, maybe to another level, or
was everything already kind of worked out? before
working on the album itself? Well, it goes so
many different ways with that, but a few of the
songs are old. Like I wrote those songs like
years ago. Okay. And then there's a few songs
that Derek and I wrote together. So it's a little
bit, it's a little bit. meshed up as far as the
material and when and where. But once we tracked
everything, as far as the music, it was pretty
set in stone. But then when Corey came in and
did what he did on top of it, it brought a whole
new atmosphere to it. You know, it just immediately,
it just changed everything the way his delivery,
you know, and I'm sure that Derek has a few things
to say about this. this question as well okay
i think over time it's like you're you're creating
layers and uh so some of the old songs are those
initial foundations of it and then you start
layering in new parts and new songs and then
new members bring their take on it and i mean
the the bass tracks were written by a former
bass player of ours And then but they were tracked
by a different bass player who added his spin
on it. And then, you know what I mean? So it's
like we're we're starting to layer in now. And
I think you can really feel that on the record.
I think one big difference for me is and I don't
know if it was purposeful in the moment, but
it started to become clear to me, at least that
the we wanted to kind of play with a little more.
Restraint, I guess, let things breathe to the
point where like the heaviness is kind of like
sitting within itself. Whereas like the other
records sort of do that, too. They dabble in
that, but it's it's not fully expanded on. And
there's a little more drive in a lot of those
records, whereas here there's a lot of like there's
more atmosphere kind of coming from underneath.
And I think because of the layering, that's sort
of started to just become natural and organic
for the record. and it's really uh it let us
allow the record to be what it wants to be rather
than us trying to make the record be what we
want it to be and i think that was a cool approach
yeah that we were actively trying to submit to
the songs while working on these working on writing
this stuff you know we were actively playing
with restraint we were actively doing less we
were and once again we're actively submitting
to the song whatever the song needed you know
what it called for yeah or what it called for
and it really gave the space for corey to put
in some really like just awesome layering of
the vocals and the vocal approach it gave him
the space to do that you know um and bring all
those ideas to the table okay the album also
to me sonically sounds like it's at a different
level from your previous releases Um, it sounds
like a big budget album almost in, in the sense
that it just sounds clear than what you've done
before. And it just, I don't want to fumble with
words here, but it just sounds like you guys
have progressed quite a bit from the last album
in that sense from a sonic sound point. Yeah.
And I, I feel that we, we did, um, Derek didn't
play drums on the previous album and he played,
on this album uh so i mean i think that's where
uh the transition kind of i'm not saying anything
negative about the old drummer or anything like
that because i i think it worked great you know
um but derek and i have this little thing i don't
even know we never talked about it it's just
something that we just jive together you know
and um and and that and the album that you speak
of was recorded right Right behind us. The whole
record was recorded right here in this basement.
Okay. Which I recorded everything and then I
sent it out to Sanford in Chicago and he mixed
it and then it got mastered in Chicago, boiler
room and all that stuff. So yeah, I mean, I think
it turned out good too, but yeah, it wasn't a
huge budget deal. It was literally recorded right
here in this basement. Yeah. One of the benefits
of, we had a lot of time cause we had member
changes. And so we took our time. I mean, this
record's been what, two years in the making at
least. So having that kind of time for a record,
you can really hone in on making it clear and
mixing it down to the absolute pinpoint of every,
you know, hit or note. And you know, that's not
the case with every record. Okay. And I always
ask this, to bands that self -produce their own
music. How difficult is it to be objective with
what you're recording, with knowing that you
want it to be a certain quality, but sometimes
there are bands that record their own music and
release it, and you kind of feel, you know, they
should have worked with somebody else because
there are certain songs that maybe just didn't
fit the vibe of the rest of the album, or maybe
it just didn't sound as good as previous albums.
But again, I think with this album, it sounds
great to me, but getting back to the production
side of it, how hard is it for you to remain
objective with your own music? It's not hard
at all, really, because I think at the end of
the day, personally speaking, I'm not trying
to make music for the masses. I'm making music
for myself. And if people love it, that's a huge
bonus. But that's not the reason. That's not
why I make these records. That's not why we record
this stuff. We're making this music for us. We're
making music that we enjoy to hear and we enjoy
playing. And I think that plays a huge role into
it. You know, because we don't have to be so
objective. You know, we can we can do whatever
we want because we're we're releasing our own
music. We're writing our own songs. We're going
to do it the way we want to do it. And as far
as the production, it's kind of always been a
thing since, you know, I don't ever claim this
to be my band, you know, but I form the band,
but I can't do it alone. So it's not my band.
It's our band, you know, but. But it's always
been a thing in my head is every time I do something,
it's got to somewhat outdo the previous thing,
whether it's the quality of the recording, the
quality of the songwriting, whatever it may be.
I don't want to go. I don't want to ever take
any steps backwards. You know, I'm trying to
I'm trying to step forward here. So everything's.
There's just some sort of mindset that's, you
know, I got to kind of outdo the last thing we
did, you know, or something to that extent, however
you would say, you know. Yeah. You're trying
to outdo yourself, actually. You're not looking
to compete with anyone else. You're just trying
to do. get we're just trying to do what we do
to the best of our ability and we want to grow
as artists and songwriters and musicians and
performers and everything like that so you know
perfect all right um being that you guys are
a band from ohio um Obviously, there are different
cities in Ohio. You guys are from Akron, which
I mentioned before. There's Cleveland, there's
Cincinnati are the ones that most people would
probably know. Is there a noticeable difference
throughout the state with the actual music scene?
Is there different parts of the state that are
more receptive to your music or is it pretty
much the same everywhere? Pretty much the same
everywhere, with exceptions. It seems like the
further south we go, the better we do, especially
in Appalachia, you know, Appalachian area. Yeah,
it's just the further south we go, and that's
out of Ohio, but, you know, it's kind of hard
to say. at our level, you know, we're still building
a, a fan base. We're still working into that.
So the, the majority of our shows are pretty
small and, you know, not well attended or whatnot,
you know? So, I mean, I just is what it is, you
know, we're, we're, we're working, we're working
into building a fan base. So. playing in akron
i mean i've been playing around here for 30 years
almost you know almost 30 years not quite but
so there's people that'll come out regardless
of what band i'm playing in and you know carly's
been in a bunch of bands and people come out
regardless of what band she's playing in um columbus
is pretty cool city you know columbus is a very
supportive of underground metal that that community
down there so people um actively go out and support
shows you know so other places are it just depends
on who's on the bill and what day of the week
it is and where what venue and what you know
you got akron cleveland youngstown columbus Cincinnati,
now Toledo also has a venue doing stuff. So,
I mean, that covers like the whole state. And
Ohio's a pretty big state, you know. So it's
a – we're in that threshold right now where it's
really hard to say. I think no matter where we
play, though, and whatever, no matter what attendance
is, there's always – a good portion or percentage
of people there that are with what we're doing
and really enjoy our stage presence and our songwriting,
especially we always get comments on, especially
from people who have heard the old stuff. We
get a lot of high fives and handshakes over the
new material. So I think receptiveness wise,
we're doing pretty good. Okay. Yeah. And it was
interesting that you brought up, uh the whole
thing with Appalachia there are a lot of bands
that I've interviewed from the Midwest that talk
about how you know um Indiana isn't that far
off or Kentucky or whatever you know they're
with the bordering states that they're able to
tour even though maybe they don't tour within
their home state as much they're able to go down
through certain spots of the states that they
are able to tour and get a decent turnout so
that's kind of cool to hear that you guys even
outside of the state you guys are getting recognition
and people are hearing you guys. And I mean,
I'm just saying the state, but hopefully people
are checking out, um, the singles that you guys
have released so far throughout the entire country
and hopefully throughout the world. Yeah, that
would be cool. I mean, we've, we've toured quite
a bit as a, as a band, like we've never journeyed
out West and stuff and there's still places that
we haven't done, but you know, but we've done
Appalachia quite a bit and, um, And I can honestly
say that we do better out of the state of Ohio
than we do in the state of Ohio. Our hometown,
it's like hit or miss, you know what I'm saying?
But we know we can go to Atlanta and every time
it's going to be killer, you know what I'm saying?
Versus up here, it's eh. You know, it's just
hit or miss, you know, it depends on the venue,
depends on the other bands on the bill. It depends
on all this stuff, you know, whether you can
get people to come out of their house or not,
you know? Right. You guys are doing some shows
around the time that this interview will come
out. You guys are opening up some for some pretty
well -known bands. Can you talk about that? Yeah.
Thursday. This coming Thursday, the 12th of what
month? February. March. We're playing the 12th
at the Grog Shop in Cleveland with The Obsessed
and some cool local bands, The Great Iron Snake.
Basically, it's Red Giant minus one dude. stoner
rock ripping stoner rock band they're just they're
good friends and and it's gonna be a good time
and uh so that's at the garage shop thursday
with the obsessed and then uh friday we play
the cleveland agora with um acid bath midnight
amigo the devil and nunslaughter and uh we've
we've really been looking forward to this show
um it's gonna be it's gonna be quite a spectacle
i'm sure I would, I would, one would just assume
a lineup like that is, and we're excluding ourselves,
like just looking at it, just from the outside,
just those bands, you know, it's quite a, quite
a, quite a deal, you know? So. Good bill to be
on. Yeah. Cool. So where can people go to pick
up subterfuge when it comes out and ensure that
the most amount of money gets back in the band's
pockets? Band camp, our, our band camp or third
house communications band camp. Okay. Everything,
everything comes straight from us or straight
from Louisville. And that's, that's it. You know,
we're still working out some distribution deals
with some other. indie labels and stuff, but
that's not, you know, that's not solidified or
anything yet. So until something like that does
occur, um, yeah, the, the, the, uh, Radian Akron
band camp or the third house communications,
either war. Okay, cool. And where should people
go to keep up with the band? Our social media,
like Instagram and Facebook, our, our primary
platform is Instagram, but we're, we're, active
on on both okay cool uh i do want to appreciate
you guys uh for the time that you've spent with
me today talking about the band and the album
i do apologize again for making you guys wait
but it's all good man thanks for having us yeah
yeah thanks for your time man yeah i mean you're
like what eight hours difference of time or six
i don't know where in europe Yeah, I'm in Spain.
So with you guys switching the clocks, it's five
hours right now. Gotcha. Yeah. Beautiful Spain.
Where at in Spain? Beautiful, rainy northern
coast of Spain. Nice. Our weather is very similar
to like the UK and like the Pacific Northwest
in the States. Gotcha. It is rainy as hell. This
year specifically, it has been very rainy. So
a lot of flooding and a lot of weather -related
issues. Leave it at that. Yeah, it's happening
everywhere, man. It's happening everywhere. Yeah,
my folks are back in New Jersey, and they're
getting hammered with snow. So I'm sure all of
that's come through Ohio as well. Yeah, well,
one day it's three feet of snow. The next day
it's 70 degrees. Then it's three feet of snow,
you know. Yeah, we are. Yeah, we get, for example,
today it was supposed to rain all day. It poured
rain in the morning. Sun came out, started getting
hot, and then it started sleeting and pouring
rain all afternoon. Oh, yeah, there you go. So
we get all that lovely stuff. Right on, man.
Well, we appreciate your time. Thanks for having
us and hope to catch up with you sometime sooner
than later. Absolutely. Thank you guys. All right.
Later, man. Thank you. Bye. You can subscribe
to the show on all your favorite podcast platforms
like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts,
Amazon, and more. Go to signalsfrommars .com
for more information. This concludes our show.