08.19 A wknd w/ Red Sun Radio

The band on spicy noodles, Spiderman 1 (& 2!) and their Friday-night rooftop show at The Tea Factory

Aug 19, 2022

While as a New Yorker, some fears make sense — vehophobia (fear of driving), atychiphobia (fear of failure) (LOL) — and others might make your life prettaaaaay difficult — enochlophobia (fear of crowds), musophobia (fear of mice/rats) — we beg you, at least for this evening, to abandon any sense of acrophobia (that’s fear of heights) and head to the infamous Tea Factory, where BK band Red Sun Radio is combining DIY attitude with a healthy amount of altitude and throwing a show on their roof TONIGHT.

Now, as anyone who’s attended one of these things knows, there’s nothing like a rooftop show: the wind in your hair, the sun in your eyes, the tiny temptation to spit off the side of the building onto passersby below (JK DON’T DO THAT) … and primarily the sense of awe, gratitude and mayyyyybe a smidge of superiority you get from living in a cool city where cool people are doing cool stuff and getting to enjoy one of those magical moments where you’re like, DAMN, I really live in Brooklyn!

Of course, the guys of Red Sun Radio are no strangers to this particular type of open-air performance. Back in October 2020, they dropped a video of a rooftop session filmed at Sear Sound for their song “Suicide Watch,” which we featured on BdBK back then and have proceeded to watch/listen to at least a hundred times since.

And last weekend, nearly two years later, we finally met Red Sun Radio IRL at the Saturday-evening show they were throwing at The Tea Factory, where DUMMY, Holy Vulture, The False Alarms and RSR played sets on the ridic sick roof that opens directly from one of the bandmate’s bedrooms, and we not only got to see/hear them in action but were able to admire their organizational skills while waiting in line for the bathroom and taking in the dates and to-do’s listed on their many whiteboards—

Including one, in particular, we appreciated:

We love dudes that respect a deadline. And that brings us to the next point, which is that Red Sun Radio has oh-so-kindly provided an inside look at their personal weekend plans plus some killer ideas for how to properly enjoy the next few days—

Starting, of course, with tonight’s show featuring Trip Villain, Uncle Skunk, The Living Strange and, of course, a set from your hosts themselves (which, btw, will also serve as an excellent preview of what you’ll get in a more traditional—and ground-level—setting when RSR hits the stage at Mercury Lounge with Stranger Waves and A Very Special Episode on 8/22 - tix here).

DM the band for address, or else prepare to deal with the worst fear of them all…

FOMO, of course. Catch ya on the roof~

[BUT FIRST: PRESS PLAY]

FRIDAY

Ken works his boring desk job while Sam, Teddy, and Sean slowly set up for the show we’re hosting on our roof at The Tea Factory tonight. The other bands on the bill start to load in around 4:30pm. We open our apartment to the public at 5:30pm, but naturally we’re somehow barely ready for that. Music starts at 6:30pm and goes until 10:30/11pm. After, we party and spin records till we pass out.

SATURDAY

We wake up late and hit the 24-hour deli across the street for a quick BEC. If so inclined, we’ll take a walk over to Brooklyn Record Exchange and replenish the vinyl. Spin some more records at the casa - get a good bool going because tough decisions will need to be made tonight. Will it be George Clanton, Washed Out, and Neon Indian at Knockdown Center, or the tried and true Juan Maclean at Good Room? With much deliberation, we may decide to divide and conquer, but whatever happens, the odds of us meeting down the street at Abe’s for a nightcap are high.

SUNDAY

The international day of recovery. More BECs or SECs. Naps. Electrolytes. Kombucha. Spiderman is on Netflix, it’s the one with Toby Maguire. Watch it. Hell, watch Spiderman 2 while we’re at it. After a hungover movie marathon, it’s now time to ingest salted broth and spicy noodles and rice at Mao Mao, a delicious Thai spot on Broadway. On the way back we stop at Ornithology Jazz Club to top off the weekend with a whiskey or three. Hell, maybe Ken and Teddy will get enough liquid courage to put their technical prowess on display at the open jazz jam… it would be a great warm-up for our show at Mercury Lounge with A Very Special Episode and Stranger Waves the next night.

Itinerary above written + submitted by Red Sun Radio. Follow the band at @redsunradio, buy music on Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists now!

Feature image provided by the band.

MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS

ALPHAVILLE IS BACK, BABY! Max Pain and the Groovies’ Kallan Campbell and David Johnson recently revealed that they bought, revamped and reopened the place, and we can’t wait to get back. Go pay a visit and please give them BdBK’s regards.
Less than a month ‘til The Wavy Awards! Now in its second year, the NYC-based music awards show, supported by The NYC Mayor's Office of Media, is an “awards show celebrating women, LGBTQ+, non-binary, artists of color, talent who identify as having a disability and allies.” The event takes place on September 10th at The Abrons Arts Center and includes a red-carpet reception, a ceremony with live performances and, most importantly, an after-party. Check out @wavyawards for a list of noms, find out more about the Wavy Awards on the website and grab tix here. Catch ya on the red carpet~
BdBK faves Monarch. are celebrating one year as a band next Friday with a show at Piano’s where they’ll also be shooting a music video. Get tix—and then get famous—here.
Our friends at Totally Real Records are celebrating Do More Good Than Bad Day with a $5 tape sale and donating proceeds to CancerCare. Scoop some good stuff up here.

RELEASE RADAR

New(ish) stuff from local (+ occasionally, once-local) artists we love, listed in no order whatsoever:

“Sweeter Than Strychnine” // Lizzie No

Happy Now // THICK

Watch It // Imaginary Tricks

“Hart Street” + “Nightwalker” // Cape Francis

“Plume” // Deep Wimp

“Backwards” // Stranger Waves

“Too High to Cry” // Johnny Dynamite and the Bloodsuckers, Vandal Moon

“Parties” // Pamphlets

IT’S HAPPENIN’

Here’s a look at the events we’ve got coming up. Mark your calendars and come hang!

9.6 BOOK RELEASE-DAY EVENT presented by WORD Bookstore: Sam Sumpter x Rich Weiss of Bloodless Management w/ a Q&A + performance by Atlas Engine (free!) at Saint Vitus - RSVP HERE

9.13 STRONG LITTLE SONGS 5 @ BdBK HQ ft. Nara’s Room, Jackson Dockery (of Mary Shelley), The Bird Calls and Arlo Indigo - DM for address

+ PLZ SAVE THE DATE for two very special book-release shows (TBA): 9/17 and 10/8.

A LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK

Leading up to the 9/6 release of Bands do BK — THE BOOK (avail for pre-order here), we’ll be dropping in *short* snippets from the 18-chapter ~manifesto~ that’s equal parts Brooklyn guidebook (by bands), oral history and music-fan memoir.

In honor of Alphaville’s reopening:

Zach Ellis: Alphaville is always going through weird shit, but we’ve played there probably more than anywhere. It’s always been a classic spot for us.
Tarra Thiessen: It sort of became a living room to me. I felt like I was playing at Alphaville like, twice a weekend. I feel like there was a six-month period where I was only playing at Alphaville.
Lydia Gammill: It’s a big sort of staple Brooklyn scene venue. I remember it sort of, when it first was opened, it was like, the continuation of Alaska. When I was coming up as a young musician, Alaska felt very people in the in-crowd. People were obsessed with Alaska. It stressed me out because it felt like a high-school situation. There was nowhere to sit or stand. You had to pick a herd really quickly.
Alphaville sort of opened up as the venue brother or sister of that bar. And I think it had better seating, but it also sort of did serve to be like this quad for the Bushwick scene, for better or for worse. Sometimes you’re comfortable, and you’re like, I know everybody, and then other times you’re like, I’m on somebody else’s turf, and I just want to eat some tater tots in private. But it was nice. It was fun to sort of, as the band progressed, to feel more and more at home.
Patrick Phillips: I worked at Alphaville the last five years…
I really like working in the venue aspect because it’s all so connected. When the bands are playing, you can ask the other bartender to cover the bar for twenty minutes and go back there, and I just love that. I just loved being close to the music, and I loved the do-it-yourself atmosphere, and I really found joy in touring bands coming to town and, you know, hooking them up with some drinks or some food here and there.
Bands from out of town, you know, they come to New York, and they’re like, “Holy shit, I’m in New York. Like, we’re here,” and you can just kind of sense that excitement. So I don’t know, for me as a bartender, I would just want to be kind to musicians, because as a touring musician, you just kind of wanted that same kindness. You’re tired, you’re broke, you’re showing up in Baltimore, whatever it is, and just like a couple free drinks, and a little food and a little kindness goes a long way.
Vram Kherlopian: I feel like that’s one of those places where I’ve seen just three people in the audience and like two hundred.
Tine Hill: You never know what you’re gonna get.
Vram Kherlopian: The shades of Alphaville. It’s just really funny. I’ve gone to see my New Jersey friends’ bands playing there. And I’ll get there and it’s like, me, and they’re like, “Hey audience of Vram!” You know it’s like, yup, we all have been there.
Patrick Phillips: I watched the band BODEGA, who are friends of mine, play their first shows there and just grow and get better and bigger crowds. Even on our new record, I wrote a song called “Hole In The Wall” about the Alphaville experience. Just being close to the music and being able to see bands just kind of come together and work out their kinks and grow. I liked being on the ground floor of that. That’s just a very Brooklyn thing to me.