Skip to main content
One of Portland's most exciting new local bands, Radiation City, is about to get a gentle push closer to some well-deserved recognition this coming fall. The entrancing pop outfit has signed with Tender Loving Empire, and will be re-releasing their debut full-length The Hands That Take You on the label in September. For the savvy music nerds here in the city, you like already have a copy of the album sitting among your cassette collection (the band has already released it via Apes Tapes) and have already fallen in love with their dreamy combination of bossa nova, soul and pop from the '60s and modern electronics. We're so in love with it, in fact, that we had to know more about it. So, I cornered three members of the band - Cameron Spies (guitar/vocals), Lizzy Ellison (vocals/keyboards) and Matt Rafferty (bass) - at East End for a slightly tipsy conversation soundtracked by fellow Apes Tapes band Rico All The Time who were performing in the other room.---
How did Radiation City get started?
Cameron: Lizzy and I were working on a couple of different projects. Soap Collectors and Spesus Christ to be exact. And we always had this desire to make this combination of music we loved: Brazilian jazz like Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, '60s soul, '50s pop standards. We really wanted to make music that was an homage to that.
Lizzy: It more as like a hobby as opposed to, "Let's really try to make this succeed!" Let's just do this because we love this music. Kind of like a guilty pleasure but in the best way possible. I think I've been writing music like this for a long time but never had the means to make it sound as it does now. I think it's Cam and I coming together and combining our influences. He's mainly electronic and beat-driven and I'm analog singer/songwriter-driven. I've always wanted to bring that element into my music and this was the perfect way.
Cameron: I don't know if that's entirely true. You weren't opposed to it becoming a serious thing.
Lizzy: It wasn't the intention. We had two projects that on their own could have succeeded in their own right. I think it was talking to enough people who were, like, "You need to just focus on one thing and see what happens. Doing three things you're spreading yourself too thin." I think you came to the Apes Tapes release show at Holocene last year. We actually released the EP that night, a split with Your Canvas. It was this under the radar thing. "If this doesn't go over well, it won't matter because nobody knows about it anyway." But we started getting really good response from it. So, well, shit, let's put out a full-length and see what happens. We don't have to invest too much because we have these other projects that we're relying on.
What do you think it was about this band and your sound that has captured people's attention so much?
Cameron: It's because it takes the best qualities from each of our respective backgrounds and combines them. And once we brought Randy [Bemrose, drummer] and Matt on board...a good band is such a hard thing to achieve because there are so many things that could go wrong. Having all of our various talents combine in such a way was the perfect combination of things...
Matt: And it worked out incredibly well. I would love to be in Spesus Christ and I would also love to be in Soap Collectors. It seems like this is the best of both worlds and it is so much more opportunity for growth and for creative collaborations.
Lizzy: It's familiar yet it's not. I think people like familiar but they also like something new that they can grasp on to. It's a lucky happenstance where we unintentionally started making this music but all the good things about it are easily understood by the listener.
How has it been with the new members in the band?
Cameron: The next record which we're working on already; we had our first recording session all together. And there was this nervous moment of, "Is this going to work?" It totally worked! It wasn't entirely a surprise. Working with Matt just having him in the band...it's that perfect situation where you find these people that are just right.
Matt: It took me a while to realize that. I'm notorious for quitting bands. I've quit every band that I've ever been in. And I told these guys that the first time we met. Randy knew that so when he called to see if i wanted to play bass in the release show, he said the magic words: "Do you want to play for one show?" I learned the songs and listened to the record and thought, "Oh, wow, this is really good." It grew on me like a virus. But i was still...on the fence 'cause that's my nature. It was Lizzy that called me out one day: "Look, buddy, shit or get off the pot. And I was, like, "My god, she's right." I love this band and this is something that I feel so great about.
How did the Tender Loving Empire signing come about?
Cameron: They loved the first album and got in touch saying that they wanted to work with us. They were looking for a record to release in the fall, so we met with them just to see if that schedule would work. But our next record wasn't going to be ready until the fall. So we went our separate ways. We were on tour and they e-mailed us again, and said, "We really like what you're doing. Can we meet with you again?" They told us they wanted to re-release this record because it's already out and it will be ready to push to PR.
Matt: For a long time we were on the fence about it. It was so early and so fast. And it's in our nature to be like, "Ah, let's think about this." There's always that notion that something way better will come along. At the end of the day we decided, "This is great. Let's do this. Let's take advantage of this opportunity."
Cameron: We love these guys. They're so positive and doing good things. The only trepidation is if we do it ourselves, we have the ultimate control. Especially doing the label ourselves and seeing how the business works.
Lizzy: They're such an anomaly. Not that I know a ton about various labels but their reputation is so incredible in this town. Pretty much after we signed everyone we know was, like, "If you were gonna sign with a label in Portland, it should be TLE." It's not just about business with them. It's about helping something beautiful grow into something bigger where more people can have access to it. There's no smoke and mirrors. It's so legit.
How has the writing and recording for the new album been working now that you have two new bandmates to work with?
Lizzy: Personally I was scared that the intimacy of the first album would not carry over to the next album. Due to so many reasons. mainly the fact that Cam and I are in a relationship and so many things that happened last year...there was a time capsule in that album. But the intimacy and the emotional level is equal to or greater on this next album. Everybody understands that this is really really important. This isn't just making another album or being in a band and being cool. It's an emotional outlet and therapy and we all need it.
Catch Radiation City live at Holocene on July 14th, and as part of the PDX Pop Now! Festival (they're playing at 4pm on July 24th).
WWeek 2015