Becoming a famous musician is a dream that many kids have while growing up. But in the Tri-Valley area, a group of high school students are trying to make this dream a reality.
Cal High seniors Joe Marchuk, Kyle Tom, and Monte Vista senior Phil DeLuca started the band Devil’s Angels back in October 2008 during seventh grade.
Their original bassist was senior Warren Goodson, who later left the band because he had issues making it to practices, located in Walnut Creek at the time.
Devil’s Angels found their current bassist, Ygnacio Valley junior Conor Boal, and later renamed themselves Rundown Radio.
Rundown Radio now consists of Tom on lead guitar, Marchuk on rhythm guitar, DeLuca as the drummer and lead singer, and Boal on bass. Tom, Marchuk and Boal all sing background vocals as well.
With their practices now on Thursdays and Sundays in Danville at DeLuca’s house, their dedication to the music is obvious.
“I always try putting the band above most things on my list,” DeLuca said.
In 2009, Rundown Radio won the Hayward Battle of the Bands. Rundown Radio won their second Battle of Bands in 2011 in San Mateo.
The awards helped grow the band’s reputation.
“We started to get recognition in the paper and getting called to do more gigs,” Marchuk said.
The band entered yet another Battle of the Bands in 2013, this time hosted by Deli Radio at Dougherty Valley High. They earned first place again, as well as a recording session at 9th Street Studios in Berkeley as part of their prize.
The recording session was used to record some of the vocals for their first EP, “Chasing Signals,” which was released in December and features the band’s two most popular songs, “Shot of the Gun” and “Nothing to Lose.”
They started recording their EP in LA last summer at Sunset Sound Studio and Stagg Street Studios. Prior to this, DeLuca went to LA and got to meet with the vice president of a record company who introduced him to a producer.
“My dad’s friend gave me [the VP’s] contact,” DeLuca said. “So I sent him music. He wanted to meet up with me, so I went to LA to meet with the VP of Rhino Records and he turned me to the producer and told me to contact him.”
“Chasing Signals” is now available on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.
“We have physical copies with us all the time and sell them for only $5,” Tom said.
Other Rundown Radio merchandise is also available at their shows. Shirts are $12 and a shirt and a CD together are $15.
The band considers themselves rock, but that doesn’t mean that they limit their influences to one particular genre.
“We’re influenced a lot by classic rock and metal,” said Marchuk, mentioning bands such as AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Rush as influences.
As they’ve grown as a band, their own musical style has grown as well.
“We all love listening to the classics like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones,” Boal said. “But we also like 80’s rock like AC/DC and Judas Priest. But as we have developed as a band, we have also developed our own unique sound.”
The songs on Rundown Radio’s EP had a strong hard rock/metal influence. Most of them opened with a guitar riff or bass solo accompanied by drums.
While “Chasing Signals” may be the band’s first EP available to the public, the band said that they also had a few small demos from before.
“We recorded two to three demos at Redhouse,” said Tom. “It was an awesome experience but you pay for what you get in one day’s work. Going from recording everything in one day to recording over four days is amazing.”
Rundown Raido plans on playing its next show in March when the band returns to the Deli Radio Battle of the Bands to perform as a previous champion.
“We’re trying to get other high school bands to participate,” Tom said.
Although they are a self-managed band, a lot of help comes from their very supportive parents, who help plan shows and sell merchandise.
“Each of our parents do something to help the band,” Tom said.
The band played a series of gigs last year, many of which included their former bassist, Goodson, who serves as Rundown Radio’s official fill-in bassist.
“I’ve played about 20 to 40 shows with them,” Goodson said.
The band’s latest gig was on Feb. 9 at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. The show marked the first time the band performed in Berkeley.
Aside from playing in their own band, the members are also musically involved at school. Marchuk plays in Cal’s jazz ensemble and Tom in Cal’s jazz band. Boal plays in Ygnacio Valley’s jazz band and DeLuca is a part of Monte Vista’s choir.
As far as future plans go, the band has decided that after Marchuk, Tom, and DeLuca graduate this year, the next year will be dedicated to playing as many shows as possible.
“It’s hard to say right now due to the fact that college is around the corner,” DeLuca said, “but we’ll see where it goes and keep making music.”
Though the future is unclear for Rundown Radio right now, it looks bright for as they continue to venture onwards into their upcoming musical careers.
“We all love music so I’m sure we’ll be involved in it in the future,” Boal said, “whether it’s this band or with something else.”
