Radio America

Radio America still believe in all of it, at least all of the best bits: barnstorming shows, madcap long nights and longer mornings, friends and comrades, poetry and rhymes, and most of all, songs. In recent times, all they've had to show for themselves were the songs. You see, it's been awhile since the original lineup of the group finished off their debut album, "Raise High," for Mother West (October 2006).

And while so much has changed - like, I don't know, two new members entering the fray - the boys have still held their only true ace tightly: the promise of new tunes to write and records to make.

The first new recording that the band has emerged with tells the story a bit. "You Will Pay For This" is a concise, rock'n'roll man-of-war. Produced in the wall-of-sound school of thought by the band with Rob Stevens (Magnetic Fields - "Distortion"), the 5-song EP is the sound of the group's new lineup (Jesse Reno - vocals/bass; Tom Stuart - vocals/guitars; Gabe Wilhelm - guitars/vocals; Robby Van Saders - drumkit) being handed the keys to Dad's Camaro with a full tank of high-test gasoline. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the songs and arrangements - which are dark, melodic, and, err, very loud - are as tightly wound and well-executed as a Swiss watch. From the opener, "Two-Thousand Seven," with its Queens of the Stone Age groove and Bowie chorus vocals, to the T.Rex meets London Calling grind of first single, "27 Octobre," and the battering ram meets McCartney melodies of "The Battle Hymn" and "Nazarene," the new EP is every inch the appropriate successor to "Raise High," as well as its logical extension.

But this is about growth right? In that case, take a listen to the album-closing number "Dead Man Rock." It's the sound of the group in the guise of twilight-lit urban cowboys, riding in and out of the East River sunset. As for storytelling, it seems that somewhere along the line, Radio America, the punk rock band with a Beatles obsession, tripped into a looking glass and re-emerged with "You Will Pay For This" as a four-cylinder guitar band with punk rock roots; ones that it'll never quite be able to shake.