The Radio Addicts | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I love it. Let's Party Like it's the nineties. The band is the Radio Addicts, and we've got I think we have Luke Luke.

0:05 Speaker 2: Are you there? CANi Suami amidios. Hello, Matt, How are you good?

0:10 Speaker 1: How are you doing?

0:11 Speaker 2: I am very very very very good, Matt. Now that I'm on your show, Matt, I'm feeling incredible right right now. Thank you so much for having me on.

0:20 Speaker 1: Oh that is wonderful. I appreciate that validation and it's good to hear. Now. Is it just you? Are you the only band member with.

0:27 Speaker 2: Us well so far, yes, as me and Daniel in England. We've just been sitting at our medzams and stuff like that, so we're all very very very tired. But you know what, Matt, I've not given up.

0:41 Speaker 1: Matt.

0:41 Speaker 2: I knew that it was your show and I would not miss this for the world.

0:45 Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Wow, you're making me feel great. Well, thank you, Luke. I appreciate that. I appreciate you guys very much.

0:49 Speaker 2: Welcome, my friends, very welcome.

0:52 Speaker 1: Love that song. Let's Party Like It's the nineties, And I'm old enough to remember what it was like to party in the nineties. To the accepent that I did actually party, which wasn't very much because I'm not a partier. But but I mean, let's start with the obvious question though, So what what's what's that about? I mean, uh what? Or I guess it's obvious what's it about? But what was the genesis of that track?

1:14 Speaker 2: What?

1:14 Speaker 1: Uh? What made you want to write that?

1:17 Speaker 2: So? I remember being in school and I was in history class, and I have these notes where like I'd get bored, but I get so bored that I naturally just sow now, and I remember feeling so bored, so I just went, you know what, I want to party. I want to go out with my friends. I'm sick of doing this. I want to just have a good time. And then the let's party like it's the nineties bit just hit him up my mind. And then history class was where I wrote the first ever chorus of that song, where it's like, let's party like it's the nineties.

1:51 Speaker 2: So so it was all about me stuck in school, me stuck in real life and wanted to leave real life. And now the best night as humanly can.

2:01 Speaker 1: Very good, very good. So it sounds like the song came pretty quick. So was it. I mean, did you literally write the entire thing during history class or did you just get the chorus and you got the rest of it later.

2:11 Speaker 2: So when history class, I got the chorus, and then after that I went home. I had some lovely McDonald's when I got home, some lovely chitten nor dirts and fries. And after that I sat down and then the verses just came straight at me.

2:26 Speaker 1: Oh interesting. Interesting, by the way, so I mentioned I don't know if you were listening, but I mentioned at the top of the show. So I have a very close friend who is British who tells me that McDonald's is very different there and that it's much higher quality than in the United States.

2:40 Speaker 2: It is, it is, It is no offense. But I had been to America. I have been to what was the world's biggest McDonald's in Florida, and I must admit the English one I don't I don't want to say it's more fancier, but like they put more efforts into the meals, which I don't really know. I mean, like McDonald's standards isn't quite high, but I must admit the mule quality duels a lot better. So no offense. To the American viewers. But if this, but if British McDonald's like made to want or to would come to England, then absolutely go for it.

3:23 Speaker 2: Turn over and try our onus. But dot donald's is it's absolutely lovely, very.

3:28 Speaker 1: Good, very good. Yeah, we eat a lot of Maybe I shouldn't say this. It's a very patriotic holiday in the United States, obviously, but we we do it a lot of a lot of garbage. It is July fourth, yes, yes, and I and I did say at the top of the show. And because I have all all UK artists on the show today, which I did not plan it that way. It's just how it worked out. But so so you're the you're the first on the on the roster today.

3:54 Speaker 2: But God bless God bless England and God bless America.

3:58 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, well, you know, I mean, obviously, uh, you guys, there have been a huge influence in our music, you know, without the you know, we talked about the British Invasion, British invasion bands, you know, all those bands that help shape American music. So we owe you that.

4:16 Speaker 2: Well, you are very very welcome. We're welcome. She's not Paul John Ringo and all those huge of those well almost in America. Oh wait, sorry, not right. So in England, jely to Thought is a bit different here as July to Fort Fair is actually celebrating so one year anniversary of Oasist coming back, so for all, it's like National Oacist Day here. So kidding, I'm celebrating. Now.

4:49 Speaker 1: How do you feel about Oasis? They're one of my favorite bands? But you know when I when I talk to people from uh that that side of the pond, shall we say, I get mixed reactions. Some people are kind of sick of them, and some people love them obviously, I mean, how do you feel about Oasis?

5:04 Speaker 2: I mean personally for me, they're one of the most influential bands on the planet. And the thing is, what I find is that people who say that, oh no, I don't really like Oasis have only listened to Underwall and called it a day like if you actually go into the details, and obviously like I was there when they're told the UK and and died from Manchester, but but I went to London, which is like I sit hour drive to them, and I generally a bursted it into tears my song live it was one of the greatest days of my life.

5:36 Speaker 2: So were people who say they don't like Oasis. I guess they're a bit like posers in a way, well like don't pretend to know stuff, but really listen to to Underwall and and and don't know Batnanda. So if if not truly listen to them, go into their back catalog, listen to the master Plan, which is all their B sides, yes, and truly get into them. As no offense to people who don't like Oasis but actually listen to them, it's incredible. I agree, Yeah, at least that's my thoughts on it.

6:10 Speaker 1: My My my favorite Oasis song is Aquies, which, as you know, was the B side.

6:14 Speaker 2: Oh well that was actually the song set I started cry not actually no, no kidding the song. I was like, yes, no, love it, yes, it's actually opening, and just burst into TEMs. That was the actual on that side, crying on.

6:28 Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. Was that on the reunion tour that they did over there or was that before?

6:34 Speaker 2: Yes it was, yes, it was. It was the second song van the set list.

6:40 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah, oh that's awesome. I'm so jealous. I've never seen them, never seen them live, so So what artists influenced that song? That's party like it's the nineties, Like did you have were there any particular artists that you had in mind, like maybe nineties artists or artists from any time period that influenced the song or did the song just kind of form in your brain and and it came out how it came out?

7:03 Speaker 2: Well, I think it's a it's a bit strangers obviously in my brain, like sometimes it does, it does just flow out. But there's a brick. But there's a British band called the wan Bats and they have a song called Let's Dance the Joy Division, which is basically like Let's Party like the nineties, but ten times better and so like, so like I was listening to that and I was like, Wow, that's great and the song sort of feels like if the wan Bats and the Buzzcocks had kids and then that kids could perform like Robbie Williams.

7:37 Speaker 2: Like that's the kind of vibe like the song of gives So yeah. To be honest, the music that sort of inspires me is sort of like more modern music, like like Love of Life. I tried to think of some American bands which with which like have inspired me, like Tie two to like I Love like they're like my did did different alter. But like, the British indie scene at the moment is incredible. We've got bands like The Roys and Club the Key, so you've probably never ever heard of, but there should be so much bigger as they are incredible.

8:12 Speaker 2: So the music that's bagging the most is like the New Ones. It's almost like it's almost like we're all friends and we're all like taking our ideas for each other and turn it into our own. So the song sort of came from like my brain just wanting to be partying and ah, so just all of the modern new music that's out now.

8:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. I imagine it gets a good response live too. People probably sing along.

8:38 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, I mean, like I remember, it was like a few days be before the song that actually came out, we played a gig and obviously we'd be teasing it for like four weeks with the course and stuff like that, and people and people started like proper sending it back to us, And to be completely honest, I pried like life an absolute baby. But when it happened, it's never ever happened before. Yeah, and and yet honestly, it was just one of the It was honestly just one of the greatest moments of my life and that I can never ever ever thanks that those people who changed that good you know.

9:16 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's you know, I'm a musician, and I know that it's when when you see people reacting to your music and jumping around and whatever, that's that's obviously very validating. But when they actually know the words and they start singing or they learned the words because obviously you can learn that chorus uh pretty quickly, you know, and they're so engaged and involved in it that they're actually singing along. I mean that's that is an incredible feeling, no doubt, no doubt.

9:39 Speaker 2: Uh So, well, my ego got boosted somch I mean I went from like being Lapatini's kid to acting like Liam Gallagher and like ten steps like Maido went from zero to a thousand and then came straight down again. When we played I was on and no one knew the word it was. It was just such a great moment.

9:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. Are you us playing a lot of shows?

10:02 Speaker 2: Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, Like we're Honestly, I love being in this band so much as every weekend almost we go out and we play outside of our hometown of Bolton, which I know for some people sounds sounds like the norm, but really it isn't. Like we have lots of friends and musicians who we are in Bolton who like once a year they might go to Sheffield, which is like in our to to hour try from Bolton, Judjo Joe, just your American listeners, and it's incredible, Like we make new fans, we meet new people, and we actually have our biggest head headline show at a venue in Manchester called the Death Institute, and we're so close to selling out and that's going to be like a really big party for us.

10:50 Speaker 2: So every week weekend we're playing in new cities, new places and making new friends. And it's the best job in the entire world. And I cannot be more grateful that on this earth, I'm given this life to do this job and it's the best feeling ever and I wouldn't change it for anything. So every week it's constant gigs and gigs and I'll love it.

11:15 Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome, that's fantastic. And how long have you guys been around, because I know you're very young, right, has this band has this spand been around for long or is it relatively new?

11:25 Speaker 2: I mean it depends what your early classes knew was we've been technically if we've been around for two years, but we released that first single last year, so I would say that definitely in the Bolton scene in our hometown, we've been around for a decent bit. But I think to some people, like two years are still quite new. Yeah, So I think it just depends what you define you as. Yeah.

11:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, did the sound like when you when you formed the band? I mean did the sound come together pretty quickly? I mean, as it changed in that short period of time or did you sound like you sound from the beginning?

12:01 Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, it has changed. I cannot watch some of those old videos really. I mean like I mean, like we used to do like ten Green Day covers in one set, and I was like, what we're doing? So like people who sort of say like, oh, no, you're born with talent, You're not. You need to work on that talent, like like yeah, So, like we've worked hard and we've tried to like craft our own humique sound. There's a lot of bands. Oh, I want to sound like the Rolling Stones, I want to sound like t X two.

12:32 Speaker 2: But like, we don't want to be the second Green Day, we want to be the first radio addicts. Yeah, and that's all we want to be. So yeah, it's definitely taken work, Like you have to work to find your sound. If it comes naturally, then I envy you so much, as it's taken a lot of hard work to try and find our sound.

12:53 Speaker 1: Right, right, And where does the name come from? By the way, the radio addicts, I mean, you know, I don't know if there's a story behind it, or if it's there is.

13:01 Speaker 2: A story behind it, my friend story behind it? Right, So my mom, right, I love her obviously, so so, so so much. But in the car she listens to this radio station. Now I won't say the name of this radio station, but it is not good, Like, honestly, it's utterly terrible. It's the same ten pop songs on loop and then they have Throwback Thursday and stuff like that, where it's just another of those same pop songs repeated on loop. And honestly, it's it's honestly awful, right, And so like when I formed the bands, like I don't in my mum's car and I was like, oh, not this radio station again, And in my mind I went, I really wish I could be addicted to the radio.

13:49 Speaker 2: And they went, oh my goodness. So it was almost like like you know how in like Disney Channel movies, so they have like light bulb moments, it's like really dramatic like that. Oh yeah, you know, I want to read it to the radio raisers. That's it. So yeah, So that's how the name came.

14:10 Speaker 1: It's such a cool name. It's it's such a cool name. It's it's almost surprising that somebody didn't already have it, you know, but that's great, thank you. Yeah.

14:19 Speaker 2: Well, well the radio is so is is so important and that's the reason why like like like streaming music is good and we get like a bunch of music at our fit fit fingertips. But I don't want to lose radio, like genuinely now that I found like my favorite radio station like yours, Matt, like like like I don't want it to go. It's why I'm always on the radio to doing interviews. I'm always about local radio station. I'm what was listening to to Radio X in Manchester is I don't want these radio stations to go.

14:57 Speaker 2: They're so important and people don't really lies how much of our lives are made up from radio.

15:03 Speaker 1: Absolutely, uh, you know. And there's some people who thought that radio would be dead by now, you know, because that's technology, you know, because of streaming and podcasts and everything. But it's still thriving. It's definitely changed, you know, and and obviously the radio has had to adapt, you know, like like all the shows now, like this show for example, obviously we're you know, we're on live on FM radio in our area, but we're also streaming, you know, and then it goes up as a podcast, and but you know, you just it's just a matter of adapting.

15:30 Speaker 1: But but I agree with you radio is very important.

15:33 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Like one thing I found with like radio stations is that like it's now like listen online or watch online now, yeah you have to type in the website and with some life, which I thought was quite cool. But yeah, I don't want river radiostever. It should not be become a niche. It should stay mainstream. But that's just my opinion obviously.

15:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent, and obviously I'm biased, but I don't want all this to go away over but yeah, no I don't. I don't think it's going anywhere. So I want to ask you about so in a in a moment, we're going to well, after we wrap up our conversation, I'm going to play another song from yours. I'm gonna play this song, Scroll my Life Away, at the conclusion of our our conversation. But oh absolutely, this is another great song. But I want to know more about this song and what inspired it, because it sounds like it's very uh you know, I take it as as kind of a critique of of because obviously this is a global problem, not just in the US, but there as well.

16:35 Speaker 1: You know, people kind of addicted to their phones and social media and all of that, and and scrolling. You know, we call it doom scrolling. I don't know if that's the term you use over there, but.

16:45 Speaker 2: Definitely that is that is not just just just marm scrolling is in England in the UK, don't worry, it's the same.

16:58 Speaker 1: So I mean, I I ssume that's what inspired the song Scroll my Life Away.

17:03 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Well, the thing is is that, like I remember one time I was a bit younger, but but I was in like a restaurant and I saw like three tables of like families, and like all of them had liked these like four year olds and these big iPads and these big cases holding it up. And now just like just scrolling and watching videos and like tapping the streams and not like getting invested into real life. And then and then and then like more I looked around, I saw teenagers strolling. I saw that you had to order on a screen, and I was like, what what what, what's like happening and stuff like that and now and I was just like and I'm stunned as obviously, like when the phone first came out, no nobody thought thought it would be this big.

17:52 Speaker 2: And there are positives to the Internet, like like like the raids have grown because of the Internet with new fanst class the Internet. But it's it steals time, that's the main thing. It steals time from younger kids to live their life. And it scares me on how much it's changed and how much worse it's sort of getting so strong. My life way is sort of like me just venting on what is going on and with the there's nothing interesting anymore. But it's almost like a character almost going like like there's nothing interest anymore.

18:31 Speaker 2: I've done so much, I've stroll so much, there's literally nothing, like my brain's fried. It's so it's sort of like it's sort of like me voicing through a character, what is going on here? Come on, let let's sort of stroke, grow up from a touch some grass, go outside. Yeah, like it's sort of just don't come on, guys, just grow up a bit. Come on in that opinion.

18:56 Speaker 1: Well, it's to your credit to you know that that because I know you guys are young, that you know someone your age, uh perceives that, and and because you know it's easy for me to see it, like because I'm I'm Generation X. My generation was the last generation to really kind of grow up without the Internet. And so so I remember, I sort of remember. It's almost kind of surreal remembering life pre Internet. And don't get me wrong, I love what we have now. You know, I don't so much of what I do I wouldn't be able to do without the Internet.

19:25 Speaker 1: So and I love that I can access music, you know, easily, and every everything about it is wonderful. But but yeah, you do see you see people with their heads and their phones, you know, or or a common problem here is I'll be uh, I'll be at an intersection and uh, the light will turn from red to green, but the car in front of me isn't moving, and and you know, a few seconds. You know, I'm a patient guy, so I'll give them a few seconds. But then I end up having to hank that horn because and I know what it is.

19:50 Speaker 1: They're looking at their phone.

19:52 Speaker 2: Oh oh yeah, oh, that issue is also here Inland's my my friends, not to not worry mate. In England it's the same thing. Yeah, like like white people on their phones while driving, like, come on, there's a road in front of you. There's traffic lights in front of your like, what are you doing? Yeah, come on, yeah, that is she was also here in England.

20:16 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no doubt. Well, look, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us, and.

20:22 Speaker 2: You, Matt, just let me come on and let me speak with your new audience. It's utterly incredible than you have admit. I'm so grateful that. Thank you, Matt. I really appreciate it.

20:33 Speaker 1: Oh oh, absolutely, very glad to do it, and we'll definitely do it again in the future and in a moment. We're going to please in a moment, we're going to hit that track. But before we let you go, one other thing. Where's the best place to go online for people to keep up with everything that the Radio Addicts is doing.

20:48 Speaker 2: Oh okay, so online on everything. It is at the Radio Adepts. So that's on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, it is at the Rage of Adepts. No spaces, oh wonder stores, everything is lowercase at the Radio Addicts. You can find tickets, videos, interviews, everything there. Oh yeah, And we also have our our website with which is the Radio Addicts dot com. And and that has our merch on there as well and exclusive photos and videos. So at the Rage ights on on social media and on our website, the Rage Lives dot com.

21:30 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, very good, very good. Well Luke again, thank you so much, my friend. We will definitely do it again in the future. We're going to hit that track, so we'll let you go for now. But happy So what do you call it there? Happy Oasis Day? What do you called your life for it?

21:45 Speaker 2: It is Happy Oasis Days Day, Happy fought for July to our American friends. But it's Oasis Day.

21:56 Speaker 1: It's day all right, Happy Oasis day, my friend. All right, Luke, thank you so much. We'll talk again soon. You gotta take care, bye bye, all right. Wonderful. That was Luke from the Radio Addicts And right now, as promised, this is another great track and again you know, enjoy the social commentary of it. This is called Scroll My Life Away and the band is the Radio Addicts.