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“This band is about getting back to a time when there was no pressure involved in making music,” explains vocalist and guitarist Jim Suptic, “just friends having a beer or two, hanging out in the garage, and making music that’s really fun to play. That’s the genesis of this band.” RADAR STATE has an impressive indie rock pedigree that includes Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids, The New Amsterdams), Jim Suptic (The Get Up Kids, Blackpool Lights), Adam Phillips (The Architects, The Gadjits), and Josh Berwanger (The Anniversary, Berwanger). It’s unsurprising that their sound is guitar-driven and hook-laden, reminiscent of vintage Lookout Records pop-punk.

Their debut 7” is slated for a September 2017 release, but you can already listen to the inaugural track “Spinning Wheel”. It hits every highlight a music lover could want. Kicking off with a dual guitar attack, the track features Suptic on lead vocals singing about being "lost and lonely", with a palpable sense of yearning. It's emphatically backed as Berwanger and Pryor join in on the chorus. "The hardest part / Is knowing where to start / We're pickin' up the pieces together" are lyrics only too appropriate for these times and can just as easily be heard as a plaintive cry for togetherness in a divisive world as being about a broken relationship.

The 7” includes two more tracks. “Double Speak” is fast and furious, but accented by Pryor’s melodic lead vocals in a way that fairly much epitomizes pop-punk. An AC/DC-style breakdown in the middle sees Phillips’ drumming and the guitars playing off one another, back and forth until the song speeds back into life, before Pryor sings that “humanity is worth the fight”. “DRUGS USA” is the perfect distillation of the band’s sound: a three-minute pop song led off by Berwanger’s vocals, before it features all the vocalists working in three-part harmonies over an insistent riff. It’s powered by propulsive, steam-train drumming, and anchored by a bass-led breakdown, with a chorus that instantly lodges itself in your brain.   
 
In the meantime, fans can pre-order their forthcoming 7” along with t-shirts, pins, and patches. Grab a bundle here: https://radarstate.merchtable.com/