Radar Bros.

The Radar Brothers are a band from Los Angeles, CA. They have been making amazing records and touring for well over 10 years now. In the spring of 2007, Jim Putnam (guitar, vocals), Senon Gaius Williams (bass), Jeff Palmer (guitar, keyboards) and Steve Goodfriend (drums) assembled themselves in Putnam’s own Phase IV Intergalactic Recording studio to record Radar Bros’ long-player #5 – Auditorium. Auditorium was the first recording session to include the newest addition to the Radar Brothers, Jeff Palmer. Jeff had joined the band for tours in support their last full length, 2004’s The Fallen Leaf Pages. According to Jim Putnam, Palmer brought a lot to the table in the studio, expanding the band’s range and texture. The Radar Brothers got their start in 1994, when Jim Putnam found he had a backlog of songs that really didn’t fit in with what any of his other bands at the time were playing. So he recruited his college buddy Steve Goodfriend to play drums on some demos. Jim and Steve were then introduced to Senon Williams through mutual friends and the Radar Brothers were born. Over the course of 4 records the trio has grown into a quartet that has truly become a band of brothers, their close-knit relationships encompassing much more than just their musical lives. Even as those outside lives have become more and more complex, with the starting of families, various other musical projects and life in general, the musical connections have only grown stronger. As a result, Auditorium is an astonishingly engaging and confident recording, the product of a band finding comfort in themselves and their art, but never failing to challenge each other throughout the process. Musically, Auditorium follows in the Radar Bros tradition of complex yet wistful melodies that evoke the more melancholic side of the American consciousness. While they may very well bask in the hazy, lazy glow of the warm California sun, these songs are truly universal – filled with longing and desire, equal parts hope and despair. As a lyricist, Putnam has always gravitated toward the natural world in telling his tales, but on this particular record he took a slightly different approach. The songs here are much less personal, and instead strive to provide a lens through which to view the life changing events shaping the world all around us: "I always write lyrics about nature for some reason. I guess I’m a nature boy. However, the lyrics on this record are less personal and more about observations on world events. 'Warm Rising Sun' might seem like it's about brush fires or something, but it's actually about the battle of Iwo Jima. 'Happy Spirits' is basically about someone in a position of extreme power, completely isolated from the day-to-day results and circumstances of their decisions. Their reality is completely warped. If they weren’t so isolated, they would probably not make these decisions.” Merge Records will be releasing Auditorium throughout North America on January 29th 2008. What better way to kick off the New Year? The Radar Brothers will be playing a residency at The Echo in Los Angeles every Monday in January (all shows are FREE!), and a full-on North American tour will take place in the spring of 2008, including a stop at SXSW in March. Look out for the premiere of a new video from the Radar Brothers in January 2008 as well. The band collaborated with director Bradley Beesley (“Fearless Freaks”, Flaming Lips) on a video for “When Cold Air Goes To Sleep”, the lead track from Auditorium.