Killradio

"I need your opinion like I need a bullet in my head," sings Brandon Jordan on "Pull Out" from Raised On Whipped Cream, the debut album from Killradio. The song's inspiration stems from Brandon's calculated withdrawal from enlistment in the U.S. Navy when he was 17, hence beginning the process of what Jordan now refers to as his "unlearning." "I had plans to be an officer, then I realized our guns point in the wrong direction," he belts out with the guttural screams that have come to define Killradio's sound. "We're connected to society. We're commenting on society and that numbness that you feel after watching the evening news," says Brandon, but war and politics aren't the only things that Killradio finds interesting. "We were brought up on junk food, TV babysitters and disposable pop culture," he continues. "We were Raised On Whipped Cream. How can those realities not end up in our lyrics?" Brandon and Dirty were already writing songs together when the September 11th tragedy happened. "That day was a big shock, but we were more shocked by the way our fear was then used against us." These feelings brought about songs like "A.M.E.R.I.K.A." that find Brandon spitting the words: "A martial law soon taken effect, they stole the right to be defiant while were turning our heads, the informed citizen became un-American for reading a book instead of watching the television/Supporting peace instead of supporting the President." THE NAME... When asked how the group's name, "Killradio," came to be, Dirty is very forthright in saying, "It was by design, it is meant to elicit a reaction, perhaps not the one some might jump to conclude. For us it's more nihilistic... Let's tear it apart and rebuild it again the way it was, when it had a voice and a wider selection for everybody." THE FIRST SHOW... Dirty and Brandon had a bunch of songs written when they were offered their first gig at a local bar in Thousand Oaks (about 30 minutes outside of L.A.). Duke was brought in to play that show. Duke and Brandon had known each other since the age of 14 where they had spent teenage wasteland in suburban garages writing songs together. Brandon had moved away but always stayed in touch. "We were young, but even back then we still knew we had an axe to grind," says Duke. The band members recall that they came within inches of getting their asses kicked after that first show. "That's when we figured it was all gonna go right," says Brandon. And from that point on they also knew they had their drummer. Guitarist Jasten King ended up joining the band about a year-and-a-half later. He'd met Brandon, Dirty, and Duke when his former band played a show with Killradio. Jasten started coming to Killradio shows and when he found out they were looking for a guitarist, he auditioned and suffice it to say, he was great and never left. THE RECORD... Recorded in Los Angeles over a period of two months, Raised On Whipped Cream was produced by Rick Parker at his own Sandbox Studios. When asked to describe Killradio's music, Brandon replies, "Some music encourages you to rest on its shoulders and behave as though everything is ok. We're more like, 'Stand up, get ready and run like hell, because the world is behind you!'" When asked the same question, Dirty simply replies, "Not enough bass!"