Interviews

Interview w/ The Radar Cinema

By Stoney ⋅ January 7, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

With band members scattered on opposite ends of the state and a sound that defies simple explanation, progressive rock band The Radar Cinema are hardly your typical area club band. Featuring drummer Eric Parton (ex-Daze of Haze & The Company), bassist Nick Laws (ex-The Sixth Hour & Autorock), guitarist Will Duckworth and vocalist Mikel Hutchings, this quartet’s mix of experience, ingenuity and heavy work ethic make them one of the bands to watch in 2008.

LL - So first off. How do a couple of musicians living in Augusta end up in a long-distance musical relationship with two musicians living in Atlanta?

EP- That could be my fault…
MH- I was trying to put the project together and Eric got in touch with me. Eric was attending college in Atlanta but lived in Augusta, and he knew Will, then later Will found Nick.

LL - According to Nick this distance has prompted you guys to come up with some clever ways of making up for only being able to get together once a week for actual rehearsal.

MH- It’s difficult, but we’ve made it work for us. We record practice and all listen during the week. It’s a constant process of self-evaluation where we’re listening to unfinished tracks and always trying to make them better for next week. Even though we have less time, it’s more productive.
EP- Because we have the recordings to listen to, it gives each of us a chance to perfect our own parts and make the overall product as good as it can be.
NL- Plus we’ll have a huge collection of recordings for our boxed set in 10 years.

LL - Does this online communication come into play when song writing as well?

MH- Yes and no… we write individually and then bring it together on Sundays. We can send each other sound files and then work on them at practice. It’s interesting that we can send each other an idea and it might be interpreted differently by someone else, which can be good in some cases.

LL - On first listen Radar Cinema has a very unusual ethereal sound. Sort of like a mix of 80’s UK pop band like OMD and 90’s prog rock. Am I even near the ballpark with this description?

EP- Hopefully we’re leaving our music open-ended enough that everybody can have their own perspective on it and draw different things from it.

LL - Is there a concept of some sort behind the songs of the Radar Cinema?

MH- Lyrically there are some political concepts but mostly I write about the human condition based on personal experience and what I observe in modern society and how we deal with technological advances and still have these old ideas.

LL - Now Radar Cinema was actually together prior to Nick joining in July. Why the lineup change and how did it change the band dynamic?

MH- Our former members had some other commitments and we wanted to be more serious about it. Will knew Nick from work and he joined about three weeks before our first show. I’d say that the sound has become more driving and heavier. The band has better chemistry now.

LL - The new lineup debuted at Arts in the Heart of Augusta last fall. What has been the progress since that first show?

WD- We’ve played other shows and focused on recording.
MH- We’re also constantly working on new material.

LL - Getting off subject for a minute it’s been told that Will has an insane amount of guitar pedals. Now be honest, does he REALLY use them all?

MH- Yes, he really does.
NL- Come to a show and see for yourself.

LL - So this pedal fetish is not making up for any male insecurities Will might have?

NL- Come to a show and see for yourself.

LL - Any other interesting band idiosyncracies?

NL- We’re all pretty particular people. Will and I play Scrabble every Saturday. Mikel is a good cook.

LL - Listening to the songs on the bands myspace, in particular “Well Wisher”, I find it astonishing that The Radar Cinema is actually Mikel’s first band. Is that true? Any other type of musical experience growing up?

MH- I grew up with more of a theatre background and some operatic training. I do have some musical background, but this is my first serious music project.

LL - So what kind of plans do you guys have for 2008?

MH- More songs, more shows… visually we’d like to put more stuff into album art, put together an EP, maybe a video.
WD- We’ll work on the production side of the band.

LL - Thanks guys! Any chance of me preordering a cd?

NL- I’ll make sure you get one, Big Sexy.

The hear The Radar Cinema for yourself visit http://www.myspace.com/radarcinema

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