THE RADIATORS: NOLA STILL RADIATES

By Chris Clark

The Radiators

From the depths of despair, The Radiators push on. Over the last 28 years, they’ve become one of the hardest working, most road tested rock n’ roll bands in the country. They have endured almost three decades of performing music professionally to an ever-increasing number of eager fans from the Bayou to the Heartland.

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans, the Crescent City is now on the road to recovery. While media attention has shifted to North Korean nuke toting dictator Kim Jung Il and President Bush’s various political debacles, the world should not forget about the devastation Katrina wrought. If you never made it to New Orleans pre-Katrina, it’s truly a shame. From the Creole culture to the gumbo to the jazz clubs of the French Quarter, N’Awlins is a city of life – a city so unique you just have to experience it first hand to truly know what it was all about. Today, it is still a place like none other in America, but that’s not such a great thing. Yes, the city still thrives in places, but entire areas, such as the Lower Ninth Ward and all along the damaged river levies, still lay in ruins over a year later.

Luckily, New Orleans still has its culture. Maybe it’s the stubborn inhabitants that refuse to leave their storm-damaged homes. Maybe it’s the centuries of cultural traditions that lay around every corner. Don’t ever forget, New Orleans is still New Orleans, and it will take a lot more than Katrina to defeat it.

JamBase caught up with two musicians who help make New Orleans what it is. We spoke with The Radiators’ Dave Malone and Reggie Scanlan to discuss the city’s past, present and future, the band’s new album Dreaming Out Loud and why New Orleans will never die.

JamBase: So let’s begin by talking about your new album, Dreaming Out Loud. Tell me a little bit about the recording process. Why did you choose to do it in New Orleans?

Reggie Scanlan: It’s the first studio thing we’ve done in a long time. It felt like we had to do it in New Orleans, to make a statement. We don’t really talk about that stuff too much. Everything just fell into place in a really short period of time.

Dave Malone: We were determined to do it there. We wanted to work with Mark [Bingham] in his studio [Piety St.]. The studio wasn’t five minutes from the Lower Ninth Ward. Driving there you could see parts of the city that were just ruined.

JamBase: Is the album a true nod to what The Radiators are all about? Is it characteristic “fish head music” [rock music influenced by New Orleans rhythms] with a noticeable Southern fried vibe?

Reggie Scanlan: We recorded the album really quickly. We went in, did all the tracks, and mostly just overdubbed vocals to maintain a live fell to it.

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Baudoin & Malone – The Radiators by Susan J. Weiand

Dreaming Out Load is The Radiators definitive studio recording to date. The album confirms the band’s status as one of the premier music acts to come out of New Orleans in some time. It’s full of colorful nuances, glistening guitar work, intricate instrumental interplay, and rich vocals. Due to the band’s consistent and well-balanced line-up over the years, they possess an incredible knack for knowing each other’s next move. Dreaming Out Loud comes off impeccably smooth. It sounds like the majority of tracks are first takes, which isn’t far from reality.

Mark Bingham’s production further solidifies the album. By allowing the band to show off their multitude of eclectic assets – Dave Malone’s slick rhythm guitar, Scanlan’s sultry Delta bass, Ed Volker‘s delicate keyboard dexterity, Camile Baudoin‘s slippery slide, drummer Frank Bua propulsive beats – Bingham let them create an album true to its N’Awlins, Professor Longhair inspired roots. Malone’s compositions shine, written perfectly for Volker’s opulent tone. On Dreaming Out Loud, Malone writes in a variety of styles. There’s Robert Johnson gritty blues, foot-moving funk, voodoo swamp rock, and journeyman jazz. The common thread is the bittersweet belief that New Orleans will return to its former glory.

Ed Volker – The Radiators by Susan J. Weiand

JamBase: How do Dreaming Out Load and your other studio albums compare to your legendary live shows?

Reggie Scanlan: I have no idea. We’ve never repeated a set in 28 years. Whatever happens at our shows is as much of a surprise to me as the guy standing in the back of the audience. At worst, at least it wasn’t the same as last night. The music is going to change every time it happens. People come to see us to be surprised, and they will be. [New Orleans] audiences are very open-minded about stuff. It’s a great place to try out new things.

Dave Malone: I don’t think we’ve ever followed a setlist all the way through. If Ed makes a left turn, we’ll just follow him. We have this instinctual thing. Of course, you do fall on your face now and then. There’s some pretty wacky stuff – goofy lyrics, double entendres and party stuff. The song is the bottom line for us. We’re really proud of our songs.

New Orleans is not like anywhere else. It’s like a little foreign country within a country. Oh God, everything just gets under your skin and into your bones. There’s a rhythm in the air in New Orleans, even the kids walking down the street are musical. -Dave Malone on what life in New Orleans is all about

Photo of Dave Malone by Robert Chapman

JamBase: I want to ask about New Orleans as a culture, both pre and post Katrina. How has daily life changed?

Reggie Scanlan by George Weiss

Reggie Scanlan: The whole vibe of the city has definitely changed. It’s overwhelming to have your city and your house totally destroyed. That, in itself, is pretty overwhelming. This one was totally different. It impacts everybody’s life. The Uptown area and following that strip along the river is pretty much okay. But once you leave that area you’re in no man’s land.

Dave Malone: Now there’s this swamp feeling, like you’re in a giant William Faulkner novel. Some neighborhoods were hardly touched. Those peoples’ lives just go on. Where I lived, you couldn’t even get a pizza delivered. I didn’t see any bodies floating around. Seeing what happened, and more importantly, smelling it, you’ll never forget it. It gets to you after awhile. People break down. You’ve got all these knuckleheads robbing and killing each other. Humanity’s gotten weird. It’s tough.

Reggie Scanlan: We grew up listening to Fats Domino and Professor Longhair. They were the background soundtracks to growing up in New Orleans. We figured growing up that this was how everybody lived.

JamBase: Reggie, what do you want The Radiators lasting legacy to be? How do you want the band to be remembered 20 years from now?

Camile Baudoin by Robert Chapman

Reggie Scanlan: For the songwriting, that we were a good band that had a great song writer and we liked playing together a lot. I think Ed Volker is one of the best, underrated songwriters on the scene.

JamBase: In the grand scheme of things, the inside view looking out, what has Hurricane Katrina and the devastating aftermath done for the people of this city? How will it rise again?

Reggie Scanlan: You’re seeing a very grassroots approach. Things like Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest are really important for people to have. It’s made the locals here much more militant about maintaining and making sure the culture here stays alive and keeps on going. When 80-percent of the city gets more or less destroyed it’s going to be hard for anything to be the same again. It’s going to take five years to just clean the mess up.

[As Scanlan explains, he offers a brief side note that maybe in 15 to 20 years, the city will restore a large portion of its former glory, not the one to two years the Federal Government and Bush Administration proclaimed shortly after the disaster.]

The Radiators

Reggie Scanlan: What’s most overwhelming is the government didn’t do anything. When I was a kid, you knew everybody on your block. Then, after Katrina, that basically got lost. Now, you have to do a lot of stuff on your own. Neighborhoods are now starting to put themselves back together on their own.

JamBase: What about events like the Jazz and Heritage Festival and Mardi Gras. Were these beneficial or hurtful for New Orleans and its inhabitants?

Dave Malone: The city needed that injection of fun and happiness. Frankly, a lot of us were mortified that it would not happen. Bruce Springsteen, God, he delivered just an amazing set. We needed some uplifting.

JamBase: What’s the best aspect of life in New Orleans? What is life in N’Awlins all about?

Dave Malone: New Orleans is not like anywhere else. It’s like a little foreign country within a country. Oh God, everything just gets under your skin and into your bones. There’s a rhythm in the air in New Orleans, even the kids walking down the street are musical.

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Whether or not the city of New Orleans will return to its past splendor remains uncertain. What’s clear is Hurricane Katrina and the disastrous effects it had on the city and its people has not daunted the spirit of those who remain. It will take years of coming together as a community to rid the city of the after effects like crime and excessive garbage. The Radiators help the rest of the country, and the world, realize that though The Crescent City is down, it’s certainly not out.

JamBase | New Orleans
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