The Radio Dept. hopes to stay on our side

Manila, Philippines - These days, rarely do you encounter bands these days that create music just for the sheer love of it. Lately, many breakthrough acts have failed to leave a lasting impression in the industry, disappearing into oblivion faster than you can say “fluke.”

Which is why it’s quite refreshing to witness a rising indie pop band like Sweden-based The Radio Dept. receive much praise from experts and fans alike despite their obvious apprehensive take on their growing popularity worldwide.

“’Making it’ has never been in our schedule. We just want to make music,” vocalist-guitarist Johan Duncanson explained at the press conference here just hours before they hit the Hard Rock Café stage in Glorietta 3 last April 20.

Certainly not new to the music scene, The Radio Dept.  conceived in 1995 and later re-formed in 1998, with present members Duncanson, Martin Larsson (guitars) and Daniel Tjader (keyboards)  released its first studio album “Lesser Matters” in 2003. After “Pet Grief” in 2006 and a series of EPs in between, the trio came out with “Clinging to a Scheme,” which caught a more widespread buzz as it eventually broke into the US Billboard 200 chart after its 2010 emergence.

Riding on its snowballing international recognition and amidst the discharge of their “Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002-2010” compilation early this year, the band has recently busied itself with touring around Europe, North America and Asia to finally play live for the fans.

Clinging to a Scheme (from left: Tjader, Larsson and Duncanson): “‘Making it’ has never been in our schedule. We just want to make music.”

“We really didn’t (know) that so many people listened to our music so we were really happy about that. It was a pleasant surprise and we feel really lucky. But that’s just not touring America. Just going anywhere, really, being able to travel and play our music is amazing,” Duncanson added.

Needless to say, the group has expressed their intention to remain in full control of their musical direction, which has become one of the main struggles of indie bands after they gain much attention from critics and the listening public in general.

“Indie has always been about integrity. And I wouldn’t mind if we sold a little bit more records because it’s hard to make a living as a band. But we just never want to compromise what we do in any way to get there. You know what I mean? So I guess why we want to keep things small is because we want to be able to control every aspect of the band,” the singer noted.

At the moment, The Radio Dept. is enjoying the trip (“One of the best things about being in a band is to be able to come to a city like this and to play and we’ve wanted to do that”) and we certainly won’t hold it against them if their next album comes out a little later than we’d hope for. Even then, we feel contented knowing they’ve been trying their darnedest to stay true to their music in spite of the looming outside forces. “A lot of people are trying to tell us what to do. It hasn’t affected us yet, I think. But we’re always scared (that) it will. It’s a concern of ours,” Duncanson adds. After all, we can only hold our breaths, at least until the guys make a final stand against being “monopolized by big business.” Until then, our minds are at peace.