Rad Skulls—a cross-state punk band made up of seasoned musicians from southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois—just dropped The Seeing Rad 7 Inch, a short release featuring a cover of Minor Threat’s Seeing Red and a new original, Slow Skulls. The digital version is out now for free on Bandcamp, while the physical 7” is still to be determined.
The band includes drummer Pat Schramm (Latterman, Tender Defender, Bridge & Tunnel), guitarist Andy, second guitarist Matt, vocalist Joe (also of Clementine), and bassist Sean, with roots spread from Madison to Rockford and DeKalb.
They’ve been working with a limited schedule—roughly two hours a week together—but manage to keep things moving using shared drives to exchange demos and ideas remotely. “We don’t have the time to sit as a group for hours on end trying to put songs together,” Pat explains. “By the time we get together we’re all familiar with a new idea so we can focus on tweaking it as a group.”
That DIY efficiency carried through to the recording process, with vocals tracked in Pat’s basement and feedback loops run remotely. It’s also how the new release came together: “Wanting to strike while the iron is hot, Pat came up with the idea of covering Seeing Red, recording an original and calling the release Seeing Rad,” the band says. The artwork—featuring their skull logo over the classic Minor Threat imagery—is a direct nod to their influences: “It’s our way of paying respect to the past while putting our own spin on it.”
On Slow Skulls, Joe aimed to capture the idle heat of adolescence. “The lyrics were kind of inspired by my time growing up and listening to punk/emo records with my friends,” he says. “There’s something pure in an old sedan cab full of pilfered cigarette smoke and kids with silly hair and jeans two sizes too small. There’s something elemental about that that I needed to capture. I hope I did that.”
Rad Skulls first released a demo in November, with New Noise Magazine calling it “chuck full of everything I love about punk rock.” Punknews.org described it as “fast melodic punk reminiscent of the early aughts,” and Thoughts Words Action noted how “the raw intensity of each track takes listeners straight back to a time when punk was both aggressive and unapologetically catchy.”
The band is now writing for a full-length, expected later this year. While their physical 7” is still in the works, the release got a boost from an unlikely punk mascot—Tony Hawk, aka “Lord Rad” himself, made a short hype video in support.
As Andy puts it, “The general vibe of Rad Skulls is that you’re never too old to keep doing what you love.” Three out of five members are in their early 40s, with families, full-time jobs, and group chats filled with talk of sparkling water and home improvement. But they still carve out time for what matters: “I had given up on the idea of being in a band again,” Andy admits. “I’d spent the last decade writing half songs and pretending they’d ever be something.”
