Los Angeles-based Radio Ritual invokes the love and loss of magic in Rock n Roll. Five Argentine, Spanish, Brazilian, and Mexican-American musicians, influenced by bands and genres from all around the world, came together by chance to rediscover and reinvent a sound that is undeniably the next movement in Rock.
In day-to-day life, these musicians aspire to be advocates for change, while through their music they aim to champion ordinary people and highlight pressing humanitarian issues. The ever-evolving, current, and timely sound of Radio Ritual springs from an intimate celebration of art, culture, love, and life as well as a need to share and explore the vast diversity of Rock and Roll.
Delivering us an exhilarating live performance at the Gibson Los Angeles Showroom on April 16th, Radio Ritual embarks on a dark journey that embodies hints of psychedelic nostalgia through the enticing soundscape that pairs dominant vocals with propelling musical framework that is steady sweeping the mix with that reverberated concert goer’s thrill.
Through this live set, we get to take in the ecstasy of four hit singles that form their EP, ‘Dancing Dead,’ that the band effortlessly delivers in their natural habitat. Opening the show with the title track “Dancing Dead,” we see just how dynamically the members all work in amalgamation. Conveying a rapid essence that thrives in the atmospheric realm of heavy-hitting passion, we take in the monumental grooves weaved in this record. Juan Carlos Sanchez is the lead singer and provides a smoky vocal delivery that sets flames to the microphone while the musicality that is emitted from the other members coincides with a colossal explosion.
We have to commend the videography that has brought together the perfectly executed scene cuts that give each member their time to shine while showcasing the band as a whole at the Gibson Showroom.
Reigning down fury on those who take a moment to be fully immersed in the chugging guitar riffs of Burton Car and Mac Perez, their mesmerizing and fierce chords to commence “Love Bomb,” has us immediately nodding our head and tapping our toes to the beat. Seeing how the syncopated grooves fall into time in an impeccable manner, the spirit of “Love Bomb,” is something best felt.
Taking the tempo down to the melodic waves of harmonious layers, “Candy at the Core,” produces an almost ethereal atmosphere in various layers that seep through the composition. Honing in on the tight arrangement of drum patterns of Eduardo Baldo that radiate colossal hits to beef up the musical elements, we entrancingly are hooked on the motions brought by both the resonated bass line of Tinu Cer working with infectious to emit an organic flow that freely interchanges with the highs and lows of this rollercoaster.
Coming to the final moments, we are given the concluding piece of this amplified puzzle as we anticipate the vivacious energy we’re about to receive. “Robots Wear Underwear,” is a best of both worlds type record that has us hooked by the song name instantaneously. The perfectly timed pauses that create the high impact drop we antedate all while the sounds delivered are vastly different from the other three songs we had the pleasure of seeing performed live. Closing off a note that leaves us wanting more from Radio Ritual, each member sends a surge of charisma your way with the performance techniques they execute. Radio Ritual is redefining the phrase ‘work hard, play hard.’
When taking in the 'Dancing Dead,' EP as a whole, we recognize the rollercoaster of sounds that make up the avenues weaved throughout the project. Radio Ritual has fun with what they do as they exude an uncompromising quintessence in the sequence of each track, all while not taking themselves too seriously; something that a lot of us could learn from. Each musical element has its own purpose in the resonance delivered allowing the mesmerizing riffs and finger tapping rhythm to stay etched into your mind long after the project is over. Being a perfectly balanced musical concoction, the tracklist has had an immense amount of thought into the way it’s structured for the listener’s enjoyment. You can’t have the upbeat edge without the downtempo poignant hues. All in all, Radio Ritual succeeds at sending us on a sonic voyage of excellence.
The power of this performance had us out of our seats with our eyes glued to your every move! How did this opportunity of performing at the Gibson Los Angeles Showroom come into play?
Thank you very much for having us again! Since we started as Radio Ritual, Gibson Guitar has always been there for us. Our first single, "Love Bomb," released in March 2019, had a video filmed at the Showroom. Naturally, we thought of this stage to perform, we love their instruments and their sound so it was a no-brainer. We want to thank Gibson and everyone involved in our latest Live Stream! If you haven't watched it yet, you can go to our IG @radioritual or our YouTube Channel "Radio Ritual TV" and watch the whole show for free.
Was this your first time performing your EP ‘Dancing Dead,’ live? What was the experience of doing a live but virtual set like compared to a fully packed concert hall?
The band has been rehearsing and writing music throughout the whole pandemic. During this time we connected to a wide audience around the world, fans from Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia,) Europe (London, Sweden,), and the US, who were watching the show at the same time we were performing. We have to admit that it's not the same feeling as performing live to an audience but we are really happy with the response our Live Set had! We think the band is a different monster and there's a lot of energy on our live performances, we are definitely a fun band to watch.
Could you please share a glimpse into what the creative process was like when bringing this EP to life?
We recorded each song during the first few months of 2020, and we chose to release each one of them as singles since the Pandemic did not let us bring our songs to life for a while.
Out of the four songs that you deliver, there is such a free-flowing essence to the way things move. Do you happen to have a collective favorite from the body of work?
Our latest single "Dancing Dead," brought to us a new level of production, recording, as well as mixing and mastering. Throughout the whole song, each one of us has our own part where we stand out and we think that as a band of individuals from different parts of the world, the ability to create something unique as a band and also be able to show our different styles and influences in the same song makes it our favorite collectively. We want to thank our followers, fans and friends for the warm welcome "Dancing Dead" has with its video and on our social media platforms. You guys rock!
What inspired the concept of the four-track EP? What does this say about you as a band?
Our EP is a collection of the different styles and influences that Radio Ritual has to offer to their listeners. In our songs, you can listen to Punk, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Grunge as well as other contemporary and Classic Rock tunes, we wanted to give our listeners a taste of the wide palette of colors this band has to offer.
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