May Day call for Radiotones

Apr 28 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

ALTERNATIVE blues outfit The Radiotones are poised to return to their roots with a Perth gig on Friday.

The May Day appearance at the Twa Tams will be a first live outing for the Big County band since they reverted back to their original three-piece line-up of Dave Arcari (National guitars / vocals), Jim Harcus (harmonica) and bassist Adrian Paterson.

Frontman and former Music Scene writer Arcari said the decision to go with a streamlined version of Radiotones had followed on from a successful reuniting of the trio last month.

“Jim and Adrian joined me onstage at the launch of my new solo album back in March,” he explained yesterday.

“Not only did we have a load of fun, but most of the audience were desperate to know if there’d be more shows like that, so now there will be.

“The slimmed down line-up also makes logistics a little simpler for some of our future plans.

“There weren’t enough Radiotones shows over the last couple of years, so we’re needing to up the ante a bit.”

Driven by Arcari’s National slide guitar and uncompromising vocals, Radiotones’ sound owes as much to trash country, punk and rockabilly as it does pre-war Delta blues.

Fans can expect to hear some new songs as Arcari has been busy writing original material while making a name for himself as a solo artist touring the UK and abroad.