Monday, June 27, 2011

Radical Dads need electric guitars

Radical Dads are a ’90’s-inspired, “120 Minutes”-lovin’ pop-rock band that happens to feature Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Robbie Guertin on drums. They make their Louisville live debut on Wednesday at Zanzabar. LEO spoke with Christopher Diken.



LEO: Radical Dads, your mama is…
Christopher Diken: So incredibly intelligent, caring, and supportive, it’s no wonder you’ve all become so wildly successful and good-looking.

LEO: Are you a pop band? Rock? Experimental?
CD: We are a rock band.

LEO: The cover of your album is very striking. What is going on there? Was that the band’s idea or the artist’s?
CD: Thanks! We like to think of it as a creature emerging from the Gowanus Canal, although there’s a good chance it could be something else entirely. It was the artist’s idea. His name is Michael Deforge.

LEO: What’s it like, having men in the band? That must be weird!
CD: It’s sort of like having more than one fly in your soup.

LEO: Favorite ’90s bands?
CD: Pixies, Superchunk, Sleater-Kinney, The Clean, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, The Lilys, Don Caballero, The 3Ds.

LEO: What is your favorite non-musical work about music?
CD: “The Loser” by Thomas Bernhard.

LEO: Instead of rehashing how you got together – How will you break up, eventually?
CD: We’ll break up when humans deplete all the world’s natural resources, thus making electricity impossible and electric guitars obsolete.

LEO: Know any good jokes?
CD: How many lead guitarists does it take to change a lightbulb? None — they just steal someone else’s light.

Radical Dads with Nerves Junior
Wednesday, June 29
Zanzabar
8 p.m., $5

c. 2011 LEO Weekly