Radioactivity / Watermelon

Sunday, October 4 · 12:00 AM

Empty Bottle · Chicago, IL

Doors: 6PM / Show: 7PM / 21+ The cast of Radioactivity reads like the credits to an all-star lineup of Texas punk and garage rock royalty, including members of The Marked Men, Mind Spiders, Bad Sports, Wax Museums, The Reds, VIDEO, and The Novice. Jeff Burke is one of the most distinctive songwriters in the punk rock underground, and these songs will sound instantly familiar to any fans of the aforementioned. Radioactivity's first LP was rightly hailed as a sort of sequel to The Marked Men's remarkable run through the first decade of the millennium, and while Silent Kill bears the unmistakable hallmarks of that band's tightly wound "Denton sound," Radioactivity can now lay claim to a sonic territory of their very own. Burke's distinctive hooks dig as deep as ever, but the scope of his vision has expanded. Although the twelve songs on Silent Kill abide one strict rule--providing garage punk pleasure at all costs--Radioactivity bend that mandate in myriad ways. Breathless ragers like "Battered" and "No Alarm" are as fleet and raw as anything in the combined canon of Radioactivity's members, while mid-tempo heartbreakers "Way Out," "Connection" and "Where I Come From" find Burke and company opening up their sound to let in a little tenderness. And then there are songs like "Not Here" or "With You," which enact perfect unions of melody and kinetic energy. Admirers of Burke's legacy will be not only satisfied, but pleasantly surprised