The Radio Addicts On the Making Of “Before My Eyes”
Punk Head: “Before My Eyes” is about how quickly life passes, which is a surprisingly reflective theme for such a young band. Was there a particular moment that made you stop and think, “Wait, we’re growing up fast”?
The Radio Addicts: One moment when we felt like we grew up so fast was when we finished recording Before My Eyes, we were all like “wow we’re at our second singe!” Realising how fast time has gone in this band, we have managed to do so much in such a short period of time, this is only beginning. Last night we just supported the legendary Space Monkeys at The Deaf Institute who were celebrating 30 years since they were signed to Factory Records. We want to playing massive shows in 30 years time and having up and coming bands support us then. Sometime it all feels like a dream, we have been so lucky. It’s all chaos, but we love it!
Punk Head: Luke, you’ve mentioned that “Before My Eyes” is often the opener at your live shows. What does that moment feel like when the crowd starts singing it back to you?
The Radio Addicts: When the crowd sings the songs back to me that I wrote I always get a bit emotional. I remember when our debut single “Scroll My Life Away” came out and we were on stage at The Met and the crowd started singing the whole song back to me and I was singing with tears in my eyes like wow! People are singing my song that I wrote! It’s one of the best feelings on planet earth!
Punk Head: There’s a real Brit-rock lineage in your sound — The Killers, The Libertines, The Buzzcocks. Are you consciously carrying that torch, or does it just leak into the music naturally from what you love? How do you balance being inspired by your heroes with making sure The Radio Addicts sound like you?
The Radio Addicts: I think it just comes naturally to me. Indie-rock is the main genre of music I listen to so I think it naturally that sound just comes to me when I’m writing. Because it’s me who is writing songs I don’t feel like I really need to balance being inspired as it will always sound like me and you can always tell that I’ve written something. It’s great at the minute as Daniel, Jonathan and Vincent are bringing more and more to the writing process now and with that will come a wider range of influences and styles.
Punk Head: You’ve called this band “everything” to you — what’s the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for the dream so far, and has it been worth it?
The Radio Addicts: One of the biggest sacrifices we have made for the band is time. We all have lives outside of the band but we give up lots of our time to: practice, play live or record it takes a lot of time to be able to do all of that but we make that sacrifice as we love what we do and it is really everything to us.
Punk Head: The EP’s title MMXXV feels like a statement, especially with it marking the year you took off. What does that number mean to you personally?
The Radio Addicts: It definitely means something to me. Last year was when we started and we were really young practicing in a lounge and playing a gig every 3 months to now in 2025: having a Manchester headline gig that sold out in one week, our debut vinyl EP selling out months before it is due to hit shelves and having our songs that we wrote getting all the attraction and praise that it is currently getting all in one year. It means everything. It’s special. We are lucky, blessed, something, I’m not sure, but we are properly grateful! At last night’s show there was a storm, there were no trains, no buses, roads were flooded and trees were blown over, going outside was frankly daft! But The Deaf Institute was packed!!!
Punk Head: Do you feel like your generation experiences nostalgia differently, more immediate, maybe, because everything’s online?
The Radio Addicts: I think it’s definitely different, people are making different types of memories compared to past generations as people in my generation have made happy memories from playing online with friends or can remember watching a certain YouTuber when they were younger and if that makes them happy then I’m happy, as we shouldn’t criticise someone for being nostalgic and having happy memories online. We are different and we all have different opportunities. As daft as it sounds now, my gran told me she had sugar sandwiches when she was a girl, it sounds nuts now!!! Maybe in fifty years bands playing guitars will seem daft and a waste of time as there will be an AI music generator that could reproduce any band ever, in your front room as a hologram. Like it says in “Before My Eyes” time is flashing before my eyes!! Who knows what the future holds, but we will have some fun finding out. First things first though, please head over to Spotify and play our songs on repeat so they think we are a big deal - ha ha
“Before My Eyes” is coming out on November 28th, 2025.
