Features

Static Radio NJ, what to say? They're an explosive bunch straight out of New Jersey and they will kick your ass with their energetic songs. Check out their latest album "" (out on Black Numbers) and go check them out live when you get the chance!

PRT: You guys recently released “An Evening Of Bad Decisions”, an extremely solid album. Can you tell me a bit more about what preceded the release of your first full-length? What have you been up to for the first seven years?

Vic: First off, thanks very much, we're glad you enjoy the album. I guess a brief discography/history of us would have to go a little something like this: We did a demo, gave it to Kate from Chunksaah about a month before our first tour, and she offered to do a 7 inch for us. We were absolutely thrilled, and we recorded the 7 inch, One for The Good Guys, in Tulsa OK with Stephen Egerton (Descendents, ALL, etc.), and it came out in time for our second tour. We did that, and a bunch of other tours. Sooner or later, Black Numbers released it on CD with a few extra bonus tracks. Then we toured and toured and toured. Then we did the full length, and toured and toured and toured more. Which pretty much brings us up to speed.

PRT: The album builds on the short blast of hardcore that was “One For The Good Guys”. Was expanding on your sound a conscious decision or something that just happens after having been in a band for some time?

Vic: Ya know what man, to be honest, I'd like to tell you that it was a natural progression, but i'm not sure anyone would fully believe me since i dont think any band that intentionally changes their sound would admit in an interview to doing so. That is, in fact, the case though, we didn't intentionally change our sound. We played that style of hardcore because that's what we were mainly into at the time. Then we started getting into other things, and just writing other things. And besides, there's really only so much you can do with that style of music in terms of songwriting.

PRT: Listening to your releases, you seem to be playing in a band simply because of the fun of it all. But it did make me wonder if you’ve ever considered being in Static Radio NJ as the result of an evening of bad decisions?

Vic: I think I understand what you're asking. We did start the band in our basements when we were in high school, but I guess you could say we never "grew out of it" because we never stopped loving it, and just got more serious and started touring, etc. An evening of bad decisions comes from the collective opinion of ours that being in the band, in comparison with a "normal" life for people our age, would be considered by most to be a bunch of bad decisions. The decisions to put off college for a few years, if not indefinitely. To work shitty jobs and barely scrape by. I mean we're not all about money or possessions, but ask anyone in an actively touring band, it takes its toll financially, and many other ways. All that kind of stuff is what we're talking about in the title of that, since the record is somewhat of a collection of those experiences, among other things. Don't get me wrong, we have a total blast and love every minute of it, we're not complaining.

PRT: I’ve read that you’re already working on new material. Do you already have an idea of what that’s going to sound like? Even more diverse?

Vic: Even more diverse, yes. We're not going to completely switch it up. Realistically, so far the songs have been coming out different than those on Bad Decisions, but they're not like Blink 182's self titled album.. do you know what I mean? (you can all talk shit about me liking that band, but fuck it. I like them, even most of their later stuff). I'd say it's closer to Saves the Days "Stay What You Are", in that the songs are different, but not like we're trying to be super experimental just for the sake of doing so, and abandoning any kind of integrity. There's still simple catchy stuff to be found.

PRT: For the people out there who haven’t heard you guys before… if Static Radio NJ was the lovechild of two other bands, which acts would’ve had sex and which position were you conceived in?

Vic: Ahh how to answer this question. Again, I could do what most bands in interviews do, and say "you really can't compare our stuff with anything", but 98% of bands that say that are either trying not to say what they know, or are truly oblivious to how obvious their influences are. I would say it depends on what you've heard from us. One For The Good Guys is really kid dynamite, gorilla biscuits type stuff. A lot of talk about the state of the music scene and how ridiculous it is (but what I would consider and hope to be a bit less blatant and repetitive and almost cliche than say, the new h2o album, which I do like anyway). Bad decisions would be some of that, but also more melodic, closer to lifetime and the bouncing souls.

PRT: New Jersey is a true hotbed for amazing punk and hardcore bands. Isn’t it kind of intimidating to start a new band there or is that something that never even crossed your mind when you began playing?

Vic: We're just proud of it really, and it really didn't cross our minds when we started. We really don't see it as a competitions, especially since we don't expect, or even necessarily want to become a band that lives off their music.

PRT: You started out as Static Radio but then had to add the NJ part because of legal matters. What happened exactly and is that a good subject for a new song?

Vic: It's as you would imagine it to be. Do a little internet searching, you won't have trouble finding the source of it's change. *wink* As for a new song, we wouldn't waste the effort.

PRT: You were supposed to play at the Groezrock festival in Belgium last year but then had to cancel the tour. What happened and when are you planning on coming back?

Vic: Well we were in the middle of a 6 week tour. The 2 first weeks were in the UK with our friends The Arteries, which went great. We had just gotten to Germany and played a couple shows with a great band called Tackleberry and we had to stop the tour early. There was a family emergency that had to do with the death of an immediate family member. The only reason I even went that far into detail is so everyone in Europe that was excited for a show, or any promoter, or booking agent, or anyone at all like that, knows that it was the last thing we wanted to do, but it could not be helped. I'm sure everyone understands. Tackleberry and Deny Everything among countless promoters were super super awesome in understanding. However, we did have some people involved in the tour get very upset with us at the time because we didn't really give them proper notification, we just put out a myspace bulletin about it and that was it. This was because that was the least of our concerns at the time. We not only had to get the person involved home immediately, but the rest of us had to go from Germany to Wales with hardly any money at all, in the shortest amount of time possible, where we had to wait for over a week for the next available flight home. That explanation is the least complicated one I could come up with, trust me it was much harder than that. It was probably the most trying times in all of our lives, and if you'd like to know the possible subject for a new song, I'd say the events surrounding that tour would be a good place to start.
Needless to say, we were super bummed about missing Groezrock, and the rest of that tour in general, and we're working out coming back in the spring right now. Keep checking up for that, we should have info on it shortly.

PRT: What else is up for you guys? I think I heard something about an upcoming split 7”?

Vic: We were actually going to do a split with No Harm Done, a great Florida band, but they wound up breaking up. Now we're going to do a split with The Arteries, from Wales. They are an amazing band, and really incredible dudes. That actually isn't looking like it's going to come out until the end of 2010. In the meantime we're writing another full length, and we'd really like to have it out by the end of the year as well. You can get more up to date info on us on the variety of social networking websites that are out today. We just want to thank everyone so much that has had interest in keeping tabs on what we're up to, and thanks so much for the interview. It's awesome when the interviewer actually knows a bit about us and doesn't just ask the stock interview questions like "when did you start, how long have you been a band, who are your influences, etc." So we really appreciate that. See you all in 2010, stay erect!