Getting to Know… The Radio Broadcast | Interview

For the 29th interview in the ‘Getting to Know…’ series, Houston duo The Radio Broadcast, provides insight on their unique brand of electronic dance rock.

After a brief hiatus, The Musical Hype returns with another ‘Getting to Know’ interview! After getting the goods on Brazilian metal band High Moonlight in March 2019, we return with a Houston, Texas electronic dance rock duo, The Radio Broadcast.  Safe to say, The Radio Broadcast is a pretty tight-knit duo, comprised of Michael Heilman and Kristin Heilman – see what we mean by tight-knit? From The Radio Broadcast, we learn about the genesis of the collective, the goals, and what’s forthcoming – ‘coming down the pike’ as some like to say.  Without further ado, here is Getting to Know… The Radio Broadcast – Interview #29.

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype (BF): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes The Radio Broadcast distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

The Radio Broadcast (TRB): You can expect to feel rewarded and fully entertained. With our music being very diverse, there is something there for most everybody. We are always told by fans and other musicians that it is really cool to see us create the tracks live right there in front of them. Something that a lot of other electronic artists are not doing. The energy projecting from the stage will keep you moving the entire time. As soon as the bass drops TRB comes alive.

Between Kristin’s bouncing and crawling around on stage and Michael’s non-stop flow of body rockin’ dance rhythms you will be sure to have a good time! Not only will our music and energy keep you entertained and dancing, but our stage performance will as well. We understand that we are performers and there is more to performing than just the music. We have put some time and dedication into creating some pretty cool visuals from massive arrays of led lights and lasers to mesmerizing graphics on led screens and a 3ft by 10ft led “TRB” marquee. We are constantly coming up with new ideas for stage setups.

BF: Sounds like quite an exciting experience! Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did you’re the Radio Broadcast form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

TRB: We met in a tattoo shop in 2005 and started playing music together in 2008 and formed TRB in 2009. Michael grew up playing drums in punk bands and Kristin grew up playing the piano but at the time when we met neither of us were involved in anything musically. We had both wanted to create our own punk band but realized after purchasing a guitar neither of us knew how to play nor had the time or patience to learn so we stuck with what we knew, drums and keys. Early on we really didn’t have any main goals. We were exploring sounds and equipment and discovering what we could come up with. Over the years our sound and style has changed along with the overall setup of the equipment we use. Our style is always evolving

BF: Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

TRB: Right now, we are working on building our online presence. We are also working on some video and photo editing along with the new musical material. A lot of background prep work for the future but the future is unpredictable. You can plan now for what you think is to come or what you think shall happen, but you never truly know what to expect until you are in the moment. But as for the future we have many thoughts as to what we would like to happen but nothing solid as of now. We do have a tour planned for later in the year, but we do have dates yet.

Of course, we dream about touring and playing big festivals for thousands of people. What musician doesn’t!? We have several goals short term and long term and they may not be Big Goals to some, but they are of value to us and they are realistic. We have goals set for new stage lighting, new merch, new transportation, and a bigger online presence with more content. A nice dream of ours is to be able to make a suitable living creating and playing music traveling the world to be able to connect with people through music. One of our biggest dreams is that of a booking agent.  Yes, we are capable of booking our own shows and tours and we have been doing so since the beginning but with us being an electronic group booking can be a bit more difficult when it comes to bigger events.

BF: Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

TRB: We will have to say INNERPARTYSYSTEM and Crystal Castles are our two biggest musical influences. We love the DIY approach IPS takes when it comes to stage lighting and we love their heavy and raw electronic feel. With CC they come across sort of mysterious. We love their punk attitude in the electronic scene. We really like their lo-fi, gritty electronic sounds.

BF: Ah, the fun stuff. What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance? Feel free to be creative.

TRB: During our 2016 tour we were really looking forward to playing and staying in Chicago. We had already played a couple dates and just drove the longest part of the trip from KC Kansas to Chicago. Kristin had booked us a bad ass hotel down town in the city and we were so ready to pull in and rest up for a couple hours and be able to get cleaned up as well.

We pull up to the hotel get some things unloaded from the van and then set off to park the vehicle. We ended up driving around for over an hour just trying to find a place to park a cargo van. The van was too large to park in a parking garage. We then realized if we were to actually stay the night in this beautiful hotel in down town Chicago we would have to leave the rented van with personal belongings and all of our lighting and music equipment unattended outside in a random parking lot 4 blocks from where our hotel was. Uh what!? Yeah that’s not going to happen.

We ended up parking the van for a couple hours so we could get some rest and cleaned up before our show later that night and we were not able to stay the night due to parking issues. We were a little bummed out, but the safety of the van and our equipment was more important.

BF: Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

TRB: Our favorite song to date that we have created is “Broken Dreams.” The sound and feel of that song is something we have been striving for. You will be hearing a lot more of that style on our upcoming full-length album that will be released later in the year.

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