Radical Something brings the Cali vibe

Although they only came out with their first album, We Are Nothing, a little over a year ago, Radical Something has garnered a widespread and dedicated fan base both back in their home state, California, and along the East Coast.

They had a large following at my small New Jersey high school, and I was really excited when I met more Radical fans here in Baltimore.

The group, composed of Loggy, Josh Cocktail, and Big Red, were founded June 13, 2011 and are from Los Angeles.

They have two albums: We Are Nothing and No Sweat, which peaked at #6 on the US iTunes Album Chart. Their music encompasses catchy rhythms paired with strong vocals.

Because they’re still an up-and-coming band, I knew that their Wednesday night show in Baltimore would probably not be as popular as some of their other shows I’ve seen.

However, I wasn’t expecting a crowd size as small as 25 people! That number got even smaller when I realized that a good ten people in the crowd were friends and relatives of one of the opening bands, Floozie.

The doors opened at 7 p.m. at Soundstage, with the first of two opening bands going on at around 8 p.m.

The first opening band, whose name was not mentioned or advertised, announced that Radical Something had called them to see if they could play just last night, because the band had been unable to fill the spot.

They played some pop/rock music to a small, scattered crowd. Half of Soundstage was roped off because of the smaller crowd, but by the time Floozie came on at around 8:30 p.m., while there were still only around 25 people.

Though Floozie had a much more enthusiastic following, their pop, almost teenager-y music didn’t really seem to fit with Radical Something’s vibe.

I felt bad for the main act as they came out to play a nearly empty show following Floozie, but they put up a front of energy and excitement.

They played a number of songs, including their hit single, “Say Yes,” which originally boosted their popularity, “Long Hair Don’t Care,” and “You Feel Amazing”.

When the song “Lemonade” was played, the group asked the crowd to take out their phones and Tweet a line of the song they thought was relatable (I love the lyric, “When life gives you lemons, put some vodka in your lemonade.”) Within seconds, 25 phones were tweeting away.

Despite the poor turnout, it was still awesome to see one of my favorite bands live — I even got to be first row, front and center!

Though the opening bands didn’t meet my expectations, Radical Something definitely has a prominent future.