Radio 4: New York calling

The post-punk outfit Radio 4 may sound quintessentially British, but they're from Brooklyn. They want, they tell Steve Jelbert, to be to New York City what The Clash were to London

They may come from New York City, and they certainly don't hide the fact – they called their breakthrough album Gotham! – but Radio 4 are already stars of sorts over here. This week, the Brooklyn five-piece sold out the 1,000-capacity Scala in London, well in advance and virtually by word of mouth, and were ecstatically received. Men nodded their heads and swayed within the confines of their trousers, and, more important, many girls danced to their furiously rhythmic percussion-driven punk-funk assault. As they launched into yet another catchy chant such as "Dance to the Underground", "Get Behind the Struggle" and "Calling All Enthusiasts", the audience didn't just sing along; they worked up a sweat. "We weren't trying to be subtle," the band admit, but Joe Strummer himself would have been proud of that last title. Come to think of it, if you ever liked the Clash live, you'll like Radio 4.

Alongside the still-exotic Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the pensive Interpol, Radio 4 must be the best placed of all the bands to emerge from the fecund New York scene. Not that they reckon such a thing actually exists, despite the heroic attempts of the British music media to present an image of the city where The Strokes hang out with promising talent such as The Rapture and The Liars. (In fact, they're more likely to buy drinks from them – most local bands have to work to survive, unlike in Britain, where huge advances remain the order of the day.)

New York, after all, is a gigantic city, full of discrete scenes. For instance, last year's much-touted electroclash fad means little to Radio 4. "I don't even think any of us have even been to that night. It's not really our thing," says the singer and bassist, Anthony Roman, referring to the fashionable Berliniamsburg, a touch of Euro-decadence in the Big Apple, which for all the hype over here is actually promoted by photocopied flyers taped to downtown lampposts. (You can say what you want about London's club scene, but it isn't short of qualified graphic designers.) "I consider that electroclash takes everything that's bad about the Eighties and... blows it out of proportion." He laughs. "It's definitely more about looking good on stage than being good on stage," adds Gerard Garone, keyboardist.

Although Gotham! was (superbly) produced by The DFA, the crack team behind a clutch of witty and eminently danceable singles, Roman surmises: "They go out of their way not to be lumped in with any particular scene, as it's something that feels like it's going to end very soon. Not that I'm talking for them."

Radio 4 hardly disguise their origins. Do all New York bands eulogise their home? "It's hard not to," says Garone.

Roman expounds: "We were thinking, 'Write what you know', to get a real sense of time and place, like records we liked that did a similar thing. Every time we go to London, every sign we see is in a Clash song. We weren't trying to say that it's great that we're from New York City, but we thought that things going on here could apply to any big city. It was something we talked about."

Battered by terrorism and property developers alike, their home town has changed, even the roughest parts of the eternally crummy (but charming) East Village, where several band members still work. "Once, if you were a white kid, you couldn't walk past Avenue C. Now, Ford [the modelling agency] owns a building there where it houses its models," bemoans the softly spoken drummer, Greg Collins.

"A guy did try to sell me cocaine and Ecstasy on Avenue A the other night," Roman says, in a moment of nostalgic reverie.

"It must have been fake," his bandmates roar. So where did all those junkies and crackheads actually go?

Roman ponders. "I don't know. I know where the musicians went to. Most moved to Williamsburg [just across the East River from Manhattan]."

Roman continues: "Even clubs are in Brooklyn now. In a way, it's better to be in a band here, because there's more space. A lot of people practise in their apartments. You couldn't do that in Manhattan." (Incidentally, that is the conceit of Abel Ferrara's infamous late-Seventies video nasty Driller Killer, in which a lousy punk combo drive their neighbour very insane.) "Sonic Youth are the only band who still practise in Manhattan."

In a world of revivals, Radio4's inspirations are unfamiliar. There's some obvious influence from British post-punk, though: notably, Gang of Four, The Pop Group, Public Image Limited (their odd name is taken from an old PIL song, also used by Alan McGee for his London club night) and the funkier side of The Clash, Roman's favourite band. They know their stuff, too.

"In the beginning, we were pretty influenced by late-Seventies post-punk, something rhythmic with scratchy guitars – Au Pairs, Delta 5, Gang of Four. None of those bands seem to have made more than two records. For us, maybe that's an idea that was never completed," says Roman. "In our circles it's pretty well known, but it is obscure music. Maybe the one band that finished it is New Order. They kept taking it somewhere different for a while."

Radio 4 consciously chose to reflect their surroundings on Gotham!. "We were influenced by sound around us, faceless house stuff where you don't know the artist, and also Talking Heads, ESG, Liquid Liquid, real New York stuff. You hear a lot of percussion in New York, in the clubs and through the walls, a lot of Latin stuff. That's why we got a percussion-player," Roman explains. P J O'Connor is the band's secret weapon, his fierce fills driving the rhythms.

Like any residents, they were stopped in their tracks by September 11. "We were mixing and had an intense discussion about even releasing the record, because so many of the lyrics now had an entirely different meaning," says Roman. "I think everybody questioned what they were doing. But if someone listens to 'Save Your City' and that somehow relates to that event in their mind, then that's what the songs are for. History changes songs' meanings, and that's OK."

'Gotham!' is out now on City Slang. 'Eyes Wide Open' is released on 3 March