Album Reviews

Red City Radio’s new 5-song EP ‘SkyTigers’ finds the Oklahoma city band moving even further away from their gruff punkrock sound than ever before. Is that a good thing? Meh.

You probably already know ‘If You Want Blood (Be My Guest)’ and ‘Rebels’ from back when they were unceremoniously released early last year. The former of which is the most ‘vintage RCR’ they get on this EP. That is, until the bridge and guitar solo in the middle of the song bring in some 80ies hard rock flavor.

‘I’ll Still Be Around’ starts off like it wanted to be on Garrett Dale’s solo EP, before building up steam and working its way to a strong, organ-enhanced finish. Probaby my favorite song on the EP. The other two new songs however are a little too cheesy. ‘I’ll Be Around’ has wind blowing in the intro that makes you want to roll your eyes at the speakers and guitar solos and background vocals that sound like Mutt Lange came up with them. And then the band pulls out all the stops on the title track, which comes in a little too strong with high-pitched la la la’s, sleigh bells and Charlie Chaplin’s speech from ‘The Great Dictator’.

It’s obvious that Red City Radio have talent up the wazoo. It’s just kind of a shame that they are using it to recreate an 80ies cheesefest. If they keep going in this direction, I imagine it will only be a matter of time before vocalist Garrett Dale rocks spandex tights and bassist Jonathan Knight has a fan strategically placed behind him so his beard can wave around in the most rock ‘n roll of ways.

Track listing:

1. If You Want Blood (Be My Guest)
2. I'll Still Be Around
3. In The Shadows
4. Rebels
5. SkyTigers