This Radiant Boy (From Philadelphia) January 25, 2005

9PM, 21+, FREE!
$2.00 High Life all night long!

About This Radiant Boy:

Songwriter Mike Guggino's penchant for childlike lyrical abstraction to create outstanding guitar-pop gems, are brought together on This Radiant BoyŠ's new EP, Shakedown at the Russian Disco, which documents five years of creative changes and growth for this Philadelphia band.

This Radiant Boy was formed by Guggino (vocals, guitars) in 1999, with Dan Verechia (guitar), Rick Hass (bass) and Brian "Bucky" Lang (drums). They released their first full-length in 2001, Proud to Be a Chemist (Ides of March / Revelation Records). The band extensively toured the east coast, built up a strong local following and cultivated an ever-rotating cast of bass players. In 2003, Rick Hass returned to the band as a keyboardist; the group gained a permanent bass player in Adam Herndon and added vocalist Jamie Udinson.

The internal wrangling and havoc that line-up permutations can wreak are committed to tape on the song "Rocking Islands." Set against a sea of unsettling guitars and keyboards, Guggino and Udinson sing "Lost on the beach / so far from our friends / I don't know how long," as if to keep both the band and song together.

But oh, it's not all sad songs here! Shakedown is an honest to goodness shakedown of pop music in the span of five songs riff rock stomps of the 70's ("We Can Pretend"), 60's pop nostalgia ("I Miss Ole Miss", 90's indie rock "(I Once Felt) Broken Eyeballs" and wiry dance beats ("Beware the Scabs") that never sacrifice the individual influences of the band, instead elevating them to a new level.

http://www.thisradiantboy.com/