The quickest songs on “Circles” are full of people going nowhere. They run around town, replay old memories, wait too long and keep returning to the same thoughts until whatever comfort was there has worn off. Radio Weekend put all of that into six compact guitar songs built around immediate choruses. The band keep moving while their narrators remain stuck.
The Seattle four-piece did not begin with a concept EP in mind. Once the songs were together, guitarist and backing vocalist Josh Boelter noticed that most of them occupied the same emotional territory.
“We didn’t set out to make a concept EP, but looking back at ‘Circles’, a lot of the songs seem to live in the same emotional space: nostalgia, heartbreak, longing, anxiety, replaying old memories, chasing things that are already gone, trying to move forward while still looking backward,” he said.
The music gives those thoughts somewhere lively to go. Joe Dickerson’s vocal lines stay conversational, backed by sharp chords, quick melodic guitar parts and choruses that turn up without a long introduction. Josh fills the spaces with lead lines and vocal harmonies, Ibrahim Muter’s bass keeps the verses moving, and Brandon Jacobs plays the drums with the directness these songs need. The guitars are clear enough for every hook to register, though the record never gets polished into softness.
Radio Weekend describe their ideal territory as an imagined FM dial where punk urgency and power-pop songwriting share the same frequency. The reference points are easy to hear: Buzzcocks, The Undertones, The Cars, Cheap Trick, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, The Ramones and The Vapors. The point is not to reproduce one year, city or record collection.
The band take emotional directness and conversational writing from Buzzcocks. Cheap Trick offer proof that a large chorus does not need to lose its attitude. The Cars are there in the economy of the arrangements, while The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers connect urgency to something more grounded. From The Vapors and other late-70s and early-80s punk-pop bands comes the idea that a melody can be bright while the person singing it is having a fairly bad time.
“A lot of our favorite bands were great at making songs about uncomfortable feelings sound exciting instead of depressing, and that’s something we were consciously chasing here,” Josh said.
“Back to Yesterday” sets that idea out. It is the EP’s clearest nostalgia song, written from the point where remembering has turned into repetition. The narrator wants to rewind time while already knowing there is nowhere to rewind to. Its forward pace does not resolve the thought. It only allows it to be sung louder.
The title track takes the problem further. “Circles” is about movement without progress, where running, searching and thinking create plenty of activity but no real change. The verses sit on heavier power chords before the chorus opens up, though the emotional position remains the same.
“It’s about motion without progress: running, searching, thinking, chasing, but never actually getting any closer to where you want to be,” Josh said.
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“Rather Be Lonely” could easily be mistaken for the defiant song in the group. Its title sounds like someone has finally made a clean decision and walked away. Radio Weekend see it differently. The song arrives at the point where waiting for another person has become worse than being alone, but there is little satisfaction in that conclusion.
“The title sounds defiant, but I don’t think the narrator is really celebrating anything. It’s more resignation than triumph.”
That distinction keeps “Circles” away from neat emotional victories. These songs may have choruses ready for a crowded room, but the people inside them do not suddenly gain perfect clarity because the band reach the final chord.
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“Can’t Slow Down” is the EP’s most anxious moment and one of its most immediately enjoyable songs. Its lyrics stay close to the body: shaking arms, spinning thoughts, a pounding heart and someone running around town without finding a way to settle. Nothing needs to be translated into a grand metaphor. The discomfort is already physical.
“It felt right that one of our most fun/catchy songs was also one of our most uncomfortable emotionally,” Josh said.
“By My Side” is the exception. Where the rest of the EP deals with loss, waiting or uncertainty, this one is about loyalty and stability. Its optimism is modest, which suits a record that spends most of its time distrusting easy answers.
The sixth song is Radio Weekend’s cover of “Number One Again” by The Last Ones. They chose it because of its simplicity, energy and melody. It fits naturally among the original songs, partly because it follows the same rule as the rest of the record: get to the point, keep the arrangement clear and leave enough space for the tune to carry the feeling.
The different routes into these songs begin with the musicians themselves. Joe’s background is rooted in classic punk and power-pop writing, particularly Elvis Costello, The Clash, The Jam and The Ramones. Josh brings punk, hardcore, rockabilly, indie rock and a lasting enthusiasm for almost anything that might appear on a Rhino Records compilation of 1970s or 1980s music.
Ibrahim comes from melodic punk, alternative rock and indie music, with Hot Water Music, Lagwagon, The Notwist, Silversun Pickups and The Cat Empire among his reference points. Ibrahim also has a PhD and a background in the orgcore scene. His basslines push the songs towards their choruses without demanding much space for themselves.
Brandon, who recorded the drums on “Circles”, developed his playing through metal, pop, classic rock and years in cover bands. His listening stretches from Metallica and ZZ Top to 1980s pop. Christian Johnson, the band’s current drummer, comes from pop punk, emo and post-hardcore, with Bowling For Soup, Boys Like Girls and Architects among his influences. The band credit him with bringing greater consistency and precision to the current live line-up.
That mix has made Radio Weekend unusually easy to place on bills without giving them a single obvious category. They regularly play with Seattle punk bands including The Scoffs, The Disorderlies, The Snubs and Dumdums, then move across to power-pop shows with The Cheap Cassettes, Rad Max and Small Yards.
Other pairings have been less predictable. Radio Weekend have shared stages with Russian horror-surf band Messer Chups, country-flavoured indie rock band Hutchie and garage rock’n’roll group Denim Denim. Different audiences tend to pick up different parts of the band, whether it is the punk tempo, the guitar leads, the harmonies or the straightforward structure of the songs.
“Different crowds seem to connect with different aspects of what we do, which has been fun to watch,” Josh said.
Across their first three years, Radio Weekend have played Seattle rooms including El Corazon, Chop Suey, Darrell’s Tavern and the Kraken Bar & Lounge. They appeared at the 2025 Seattle Pop Punk Festival and have supported Agent Orange and The Zeros. Those shows were useful less as an encounter with punk history than as a reminder that well-written songs do not need their original decade around them.
“The thing that stuck with us wasn’t nostalgia so much as realizing that great songs just keep working regardless of era or scene.”
The first two digital singles also travelled outside the local circuit. Faster and Louder wrote, “If you like big hooks, catchy choruses, and lots of melodic lead guitar, Radio Weekend is a band you need to be watching closely in the months ahead.” Phoenix FM in Australia picked up the band as well, with Rock Bottom DJ Mick Griffin calling them “bloody marvelous.”
“Circles” was recorded and mixed by Michael Springer at Peel Studios, then mastered by Scott Von Rocket. Josh and Radio Weekend handled the artwork. The EP line-up consists of Joe Dickerson on vocals and guitar, Josh Boelter on guitar and vocals, Ibrahim Muter on bass and Brandon Jacobs on drums.
Brandon’s final show with Radio Weekend took place on 2 November 2025. Christian joined at the end of that year and played his first show with the band on 10 January 2026. He appears in the current press photographs, while Brandon remains the drummer heard on the EP.
The band are planning to enter the studio, likely in November 2026, to record their first full-length LP.
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