SXSW Music: For 3 Teenage Brothers, It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll

AUSTIN, Tex. â€" Radkey’s tour bus is the family minivan, a venerable 2000 Plymouth Voyager with the nickname Harvey Dent because of a deep dent in one side that was never repaired.

The band members, three teenage brothers, all sleep in the same bedroom at their parent’s modest home in St. Joseph, Mo., because a second bedroom has been converted to a rehearsal studio.

“They are all self-taught â€" it’s just crazy,” said their father, Matt Radke, who manages the band when he’s not doing his day job at Walmart. “Less than three years ago, Solomon and Isaiah couldn’t play their instruments. They have worked so hard. They have made a crazy leap forward.”

The band landed a gig in one of the official showcases at the South by Southwest Music festival here when Mr. Radke sent in some MP3s of their songs to the festival’s bookers.

Many of the bands who get attention at the festivalalready have booking agents and publicists, and quite a few have recorded debut albums, either on their own or with a label. But there are scores of others, like Radkey, who come to the festival on a shoestring budget in hopes of furthering their nascent careers. They pool their money, eat frugally and sleep on floors, all for the chance to play for critics and talent scouts.

“We wanted to do something to where people would figure out who we are,” said the bassist, Isaiah, who is 17.

When Radkey (the band’s name adds a y to the family name for pronunciation’s sake) took the stage behind the Shangri-La club here on Friday, there was little immature about their sound. They play hard-driving rock and pop-punk, with intricate guitar and bass riffs. They got hooked on music, they said, through their father’s record collection and cite influences like Nirvana, the Ramones, the Misfits and the Foo Fighters.

The lead singer and guitarist, Dee Radke, 19, possesses a rich baritone a! nd delivers the songs with conviction, while Isaiah plays bass and sings harmonies on most songs. Solomon, a slight 15-year-old, has a light but sure touch on the drums. They write songs about teenage angst, the racism they have felt and even their love of animé comics. “Whatever pops into our heads,” Dee said.

The band has developed a following in Kansas City and Lawrence, Kan., where they have regular club dates. Last year, they played the Afropunk Festival in New York and, as a result, were invited to record an EP at Wreckroom Studios in Brooklyn.

Matt Radke said he and his wife, Tamiko, who works at Target, home-schooled their sons because they thought the public schools were lacking. They have also supported their sons’ ambitions, squiring them to weekend gigs at clubs where they need a legal guardian to enter.

Isaiah said that he and his brothers had been insulated from many of the aspects of high school that might distract them from their musical goals, like drugs, alcohol an teen romances.

“We don’t drink, we don’t do drugs, we don’t have chicks, we just do music,” he said. “It doesn’t sound very rock ’n’ roll but its fun anyway. We are the weird guys out of everyone.”