Story and photos by Josh Denmark
Florida has pumped out many good bands over the years: Against
Me, Further Seems Forever/Dashboard Confessional, Hot Water
Music, Anberlin, Iron & Wine, Less Than Jake, Underoath,
New Found Glory, Mayday Parade, Yellowcard, and There For
Tomorrow. While those bands are good (at least in my opinion)
we cannot forget that Florida also unleashed Creed, Matchbox
20 and Limp Bizkit.
So where do the Tallahassee natives of Go Radio fit in?
I’ll give you a hint; it’s not the latter list.
I went to check Go Radio out when the came to the Paradise
Rock Club in Boston on the Fearless Friends Tour along with
Mayday Parade, Every Avenue, Breathe Carolina and Artist
vs. Poet.
Go Radio is made up of former Mayday Parade vocalist Jason
Lancaster, bassist Matt ‘Burns’ Poulos, guitarist
Alex Reed, and drummer Steven Kopacz. I sat down with the
band and we talked about how they signed with Fearless Records
in January 2010 and how they had just finished recording
their first full-length album, Lucky Street. Matt was saying
that they had to work hard to get signed to Fearless, it
was not just a given that they would be singed because Jason’s
former band are also signed to Fearless. They had to prove
that they were good enough to be signed and I can safely
say that after I witnessed their live show, it was a smart
decision by Fearless to sign them. They also told me about
a fan that wrote a song from Jason’s perspective about
something personal that happened in Jason’s life,
it was funny and a little creepy in a Dateline: To Catch
a Predator way, but you can tell their fans really care
about them.
I could tell right away that the guys from Go Radio were
different from the other bands that they might get lumped
in with due to the pop-rock style of their music. If there
is one thing I cannot stand it’s when a band looks
and sounds like they put more effort into their haircuts
and how they look than their music. Bands like: All Time
Low, Fall Out Boy (mostly Pete Wentz), Breathe Carolina,
Cute is What we Aim For, the Ready Set, White Tie Affair,
Panic at the Disco, My Chemical Romance, Tokio Hotel, Boys
Like Girls, Never Shout Never, We the Kings and I hate to
say it but you can now lump Green Day in with these bands.
You may disagree with me about Green Day but everything
after Nimrod sucks and that is about the time they started
doing their hair and wearing guy-liner. Billie Joe now looks
like Justin Bieber’s grandpa. Needless to say, Go
Radio had no guy-liner, no bang-flipping haircuts and no
ridiculous looking clothing. These guys took the stage and
did what they were supposed to: play the hell out of their
music.
Go Radio took to stage and played the best 30 minutes I
have seen in a long time. I’m pretty sure the crowd
wanted 30 minutes more. I haven’t enjoyed an opening
band that much since I saw the Rogers Sisters open for the
Hives in 2006. They played mostly songs from their EP Do
Overs and Second Chances, which was also released on Fearless
in April 2010. Go Radio is amazing live and I judge bands
by how they are live, nobody wants to pay money to see a
bad sounding and boring mess. Luckily for Go Radio fans
they got their moneys worth and then some. I’m glad
they did because Breathe Carolina and Artist vs. Poet were
100% refund worthy. Jason, Matt, and Alex all know how to
work a stage and interact with the crowd. Steven sits quietly
at his drum kit ferociously keeping their tight knit songs
together.
Breathe Carolina sounds like they took leftover trance and
rave beats from the 90’s, mixed in some guitars, added
some clean vocals and some screamo (why not?) and then called
themselves a band. They have a super nauseating song called,
“Diamonds”, although to get a the full effect
you have to watch the absolutely horrid video that goes
with it. They are pretty much the worst but at least their
hair looked good.
Artist vs. Poet is as generic as a band comes and rather
boring to watch. They did look very good flipping their
bangs out of their face and I’m not sure what they
touched more, their instruments or their hair.
Every Avenue is really, really good. I could write more
about them but I have written about them before and this
is about Go Radio and a little bit about how much I loathe
Breathe Carolina.
Mayday Parade is very good also. The crowd loved them and
they brought Jason out for one of their older songs and
the crowd loved that also.
As soon as the show was over, I realized that once again
I witnessed an opening band that should either be headlining
or at least co-headlining. This is a huge problem I come
across all the time. How can a real band like Go Radio be
playing before the likes of Artist vs. Poet and Breathe
Carolina? I understand why Mayday Parade and Every Avenue
played last, it is because they have been around the longest
and up to this point have probably sold the most records.
I know there is some sort of science as to who plays when,
but in my eyes it should be the best and most talented band
should play last, I do not care about who has been around
the longest or record sales. Record sales are based on what
people are buying and sometimes what people are buying sucks,
case in point: Breathe Carolina.
Go Radio makes you forget that there are other bands playing
after them. When those other bands are done playing they
make you question why Go Radio opened and did not headline.
Was Go Radio the best band on this tour? Absolutely. Is
Go Radio the best band from Florida? Time will have to tell
on that one, but in my mind they have good shot.
Lucky Street was released on March 1st.
Go Radio kicks off their first headlining tour, the District
Lines Tour, on May 5th in Little Rock, Arkansas. They will
be supported by: Sparks the Rescue, This Century, and Select
Start.
Like the t-shirt says you can, “Go Radio or Go Home.”
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