New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The RT's are back with their new single "Need You Right Now". The song is a frenetic, velcro throbber indicative of the sort of new aesthetic heard in their pre-pandemic live sets. So clear was the unfurling of this new, more communal sound from these 5 gentlemen that it inspired a full-on name change, from The Rad Trads to the aforementioned.
"Need You Right Now" is The RT's debut cut under the new moniker, and the kick off song from their forthcoming (fourth) album to be released on Wombat
Squad Records on October 22nd. Patrick Sargent (vocals, saxophone, keys), Alden Harris-McCoy (vocals, guitar), Michael Harlen (bass, vocals), Michael Fatum (trumpet, vocals) and Jamie Eblen (drums) took the pandemic downtime to write a slew of new material and discovered a new, more collaborative creative process.
Says Sargent, "The message we wanna send choosing 'Need You Right Now' as our debut RT's single is that while we're changing, we're still the same band you love, and that we want you with us on this journey."
Cue AMERICAN SONGWRITER's spotlight of the song in their "Daily Discovery" section, which posted today. Harris-McCoy - who penned the tune - recalls in the piece, "I wrote this one while I was subletting a studio space in a little garage in Ditmas Park. I think I'd been listening to a lot of Jonathan Richman at the time, mostly I, Jonathan, and I was smitten by how he seemed to make up all these songs on the spot that were so fresh and funny but also deep. I wrote 'Need You Right Now' in about five minutes just trying to get something out in that way."
The track also got props in this past Friday's installment of BROOKLYN VEGAN's "Songs Out Today."
The RT's are no stranger to the world stage - touring over 80,000 miles including shows in support of Dr. Dog, Modest Mouse, and
Lake Street Dive in 2019 alone, and they're also no stranger to making records - having released their third LP See You Again in November 2020. To this end, the name change signifies exactly how far they've come since their first 5-song cover set at the midtown Uniqlo Department Store promoting a line of jazz t-shirts that doubled as payment.
"Need You Right Now" is out, well, RIGHT NOW and will soon be followed by additional singles to the full album release in October. The RT's have been sharing their joy with audiences across the country as part of their "
See You Again" summer tour, which can report healthy turnouts from the East Coast to the Midwest. Says Eblen, "There is nothing like playing our music together on stage. Audiences all over missed it just as much as we did and it feels damn good to be exchanging that energy again." See remaining tour dates below.
For more information, please visit: https://thertsband.com/
REMAINING "SEE YOU AGAIN" SUMMER TOUR DATES:
AUG 19 THU Yankton, SD
Music at the Meridian
AUG 20 FRI Sioux Falls, SD Levitt at the Falls
AUG 21 SAT St Paul, MN Turf Club
AUG 22 SUN Evanston, IL Space
