Bolton’s teenage tearaways The Radio Addicts return with Before My Eyes, a track that cements everything already rumbling under the surface: youthful urgency, emotional volatility, and a live-ready swagger that feels primed to blow open every venue they walk into. If their debut Scroll My Life Away introduced a band with hooks and hunger, this new single is the sound of a group stepping into their skin.
It kicks off with a statement-of-intent guitar riff—the kind that doesn’t politely enter the room but kicks the door off its hinges—before the whole thing explodes into life. Thumping, floorboard-shaking drums, a rumbling bassline, and a vocal delivery dripping in punk-leaning fervour set the tone. There’s swagger, sure, but also the jittery emotional honesty of a band who know what it feels like to watch life speed up faster than they expected.
Lyrically, Before My Eyes is Luke Cardwell at his most self-reflective. “One day you were born, now the next day you’re forty-one” lands like a snapshot of modern growing pains – that dizzy blend of nostalgia, panic and perspective you get when you suddenly realise the world won’t wait for you. There are flickers of divorced parents, fear of the future, screen addiction, and the uneasy realisation that others might be having an easier ride. It’s raw, cathartic, and written with the kind of precision you don’t expect from a band this young.
Musically, it’s an indie-rock firecracker that pulls from the lineage hinted at in the press release – the anthemic sheen of The Killers, the scruffy edge of The Libertines, and the adrenaline-laced punk of Buzzcocks.
Produced by Andy Dawson at DOA Studio, he has bottled the kinetic energy the Bolton 4-piece – Luke Cardwell (Vocals/Rhythm Guitar) Daniel Wayland (Lead Guitar) Vincent Sanderson (Drums) and Jonathan Wayland (Bass Guitar), that’s been fuelling their live shows — where Before My Eyes has become a set-opener, a sing-along, and a moment fans have been begging to have in their headphones. And no wonder: the chorus hits like a last-chance plea, the “Oh! Oh!” refrain practically built for sweat-drenched festival tents, and the rhythm section never gives an inch.
With vinyls and live shows selling out months in advance, along with their debut single Scroll My Life Away hitting over 15k Spotify streams and frontman Luke meeting Bruce Springsteen, there’s a real momentum building around the band.
But none of that matters if the songs don’t hold up. The good news? Before My Eyes more than holds up. It tears forward with punk-ish abandon, but it’s grounded in melody, heart, and the simple joy of a band chasing something real.
In a scene brimming with hopefuls, The Radio Addicts don’t just look like contenders anymore.
They sound like the band people will be claiming they saw “before they blew up.”
A blistering, emotional, full-throttle slice of indie punk rock.
Before My Eyes is released on Friday 28th November and can be pre-saved here.
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