Self described as “suicide pop”, their debut album “Oh Unhappy Bella” is the narrative of a boy and his sombre, twisted journey through love with a girl who never existed -- none of the dark bits removed. “Suicide pop isn’t a glorification of sadness or anything like that,” says Johnny Glass. “These things happen, we’ve all been through something horrible and this was our way of putting that into song through the vehicle of someone else’s story.” 

That story was Sidney’s (Kauffman): “I spent a whole summer doing menial work painting fences and out of that mind numbing abyss has come this whole project, the story, everything.” All the work has been done in the shadow of their redbrick dwelling in a little outbuilding they’ve recreated as an amateur studio. “It’s all we ever wanted, just a little room to play about in and make some tunes,” says Tommy Cowley. “Only this time we had a story and a concept”. 

Utilising the DIY ideals laid down by the punk generation before them, RA! have made a point of making this project an entirely self-made operation. Everything from producing, to mastering, to graphics has all been the work of a select coterie of friends and co-conspirators. And now they’re ready to share this less-than-gleeful project with the world, in the hope that - ironically - it might just put some smiles on people’s faces.

Followers of Gareth Cliffe