Introduction
Today we have a chat with Athens based modern rock band Deaf Radio! With 3 full length albums already released the band have a plethora of songs to dig your teeth into! Their first two albums had hard rock and stoner vibes, however the latest has more of a electronic edge to it. Having shared the stage with bands such as The Killers, Clutch and All Them Witches. Its clear they are rubbing shoulders with some of the best in the industry!
Take a look at the interview , listen to the brilliant songs and dont forget to follow the band on social media!
Interview
I think it’s important first of all for the readers to understand exactly how you came up with such an amazing band name?
Deaf Radio: First off, thanks for having us. It’s been a while since we last gave an interview, so we’re excited to chat with you.
The name comes from a short story written after a particularly vivid dream. It follows a single mother navigating a world on the brink of collapse, driving away from it with her baby in the backseat.
Overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty about the future, she turns on the radio and stumbles upon an old, forgotten station. A voice speaks through the static, as if from another time and, for a brief moment, she finds solace in the words and music before the signal fades away.
At its core, the name is a metaphor for the importance of communication. A radio is useless in a deaf world, just as a “deaf” radio—one that fails to listen—serves no purpose. If we stop truly hearing each other, we lose the essence of humanity.
This story also became the backbone of the lyrics for Flowerhead, a track from our debut album. Years later, a fan asked if our name was inspired by a mash-up of Songs for the Deaf and God Is on the Radio—both from the legendary Queens of the Stone Age album. Given our influences, we have to admit, that’s not a bad guess either!
Athens or Greece in general would not be the first place on our minds when we think of rock music. That is our faux pas! Can you let us know some local bands that you think are great that we can listen to?
Deaf Radio: Athens has always had a vibrant music scene, but from 2010 onward, a wave of bands emerged from the underground heavy rock scene and made an impact across Europe. Two obvious standout names are 1000mods and Planet of Zeus, both good friends of ours (we’ve toured using Mods’ legendary van while also the guitarist of Planet produced two of our albums).
Beyond them, there are plenty of incredible Greek bands worth checking out – not from Athens necessarily. Naxatras from Thessaloniki, a superb psychedelic group, and Villagers of Ioannina City blending heavy rock with traditional Greek folk elements.
You have shared bills with some amazing bands such as (The Killers, Clutch, All Them Witches) which bands other than these would you say had the biggest lasting effect on you?
Deaf Radio: Each of us would probably give a different answer, but if we had to find common ground, it would be with some of the modern rock heavyweights. Bands like Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Joy Division, early Arctic Monkeys, recently Fontaines DC, IDLES, War On Drugs and many more.
From your 2017 album “Alarm” the song “Backseats” really took off! Would you be able to go into a little detail about the song, what inspired it?
Deaf Radio: You touch a sensitive string here! Backseats is a song close to our hearts, and it’s often how we close our live sets. Lyrically, it dives into the tension between rebellion and resignation, escapism and self-destruction. The feeling of drifting through life without ever taking the wheel, even when no one else is driving.
The chorus had been floating around for a while, but the song really came together when we naturally landed on the outro in the studio. Fun fact: when we first played it to someone we trusted, they told us the two vocal lines in the outro didn’t make sense musically – luckily, that time we ignored the advice!
Throughout your back catalogue (and in some instances) within individual songs, the vocal styles can be dramatically different. How important do you think it is that people who are lucky enough to be able to sing use their full range?
Deaf Radio: We always think long and hard about our vocal lines. It’s probably the element we spend the most time perfecting, as it dictates the entire direction of a song. We like exploring different vocal approaches to match the mood and intensity of the music, which is why you’ll hear a lot of variation across our albums.
Another factor is that in few songs, our guitarist takes over lead vocals, which adds an extra layer of diversity to our sound.
Your most recent album from 2022 “Arsenal Of Hope” is quite a bit different to the two that preceded it. Why is that?
Deaf Radio: The lockdowns played a huge role. We couldn’t go to the studio, but for the first time in years, we were all in the same city, after being separated between Athens, London, New York and elsewhere. We had to bend the strict lockdown rules in Greece just to meet up (many funny stories there), and in that process, we naturally started exploring new sonic territories: synths, electronic beats, and a different kind of atmosphere.
We know this shift may have been a challenge for some of our older fans, but based on the feedback over the years, most really embraced the evolution.
Our favourite song of yours is “Dance Like A Reptile” from your 2019 album “Modern Panic”. I guess our question is exactly how do we dance like a reptile?!
Deaf Radio: Haha! Probably something like this?
Jokes aside, it’s a tune that we really enjoy playing live and it’s a must in our soundchecks. We actually have our own choreography of it! Now if we had to define the “reptile dance,” we’d say it’s all about instinct, letting go without second-guessing.
Also, you may know that some reptiles, like our little friend in the video, actually use dancing (or head bobbing) as a form of communication to signal dominance, attract mates, or acknowledge others. So in a way, the essence of communication, not just in humans but across species, pops up again, tying back to the meaning behind our name.
When touring out of Greece what do you miss the most about home?
Deaf Radio: Honestly? Not much! We actually have this running joke among ourselves—every time we do something a bit too luxurious for a touring band, like splurging on a fancy dinner or staying in a nice hotel, we say, “Yeah, sure, it’s the tour we came for.”
If anything, what we truly miss is sleep—and maybe just having a few more tour dates. Since we still juggle day jobs alongside the band, our touring schedule is more limited than we’d like. If we could change one thing, it wouldn’t be coming home sooner—it’d be staying on the road longer!
The vocals at the start of “Animals” are incredible! Would you mind breaking down that song for us a little and letting people know what the song is about?
Deaf Radio: Thank you! The intro vocals were something we really wanted to stand out, and we’re glad they made an impact. “Animals” is one of those songs where everything seemed to click during the writing process.
It’s all about the raw, instinctive nature of love. A reflection on how, in its purest form, is the most genuine and unfiltered emotion, unencumbered by societal expectations or the “right” way to feel.
Love should be heard in its true, unapologetic form, without being diluted by modern-life’s “how-to-love” guides or external pressures. It’s a celebration of freedom with all its complexities and imperfections.
Finally , do you have anything you would like to tell fans directly?
Deaf Radio: We’re currently working on our fourth album, finalizing the composition of one last track and diving into pre-production, with plans to hit the studio in April. We absolutely can’t wait to share the new songs with you all. The sound is going back to our roots, but with a much more mature perspective, both lyrically and musically.
We’re aiming to hit the road again by the end of 2025 to tour the new album, so we ask for just a bit more patience. We promise it’ll be worth the wait! Thanks for sticking with us—your support means everything.
All rights to the songs used in the interview are retained by Deaf Radio. This site claims no rights over them. The images used were provided by Deaf Radio and were taken by Stathis Kalligeris.
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