New Jack the Radio Song Chronicles a Journey of Self-Discovery

The Raleigh, NC-based rock act Jack the Radio recently debuted a music video for “Creatures,” a song that features soul singer Tamisha Waden. The Tom Petty-meets-Drive-by Truckers title track from their newest album has an animated music video.

The album, released July 10, has a comic book, Jack the Radio: Creatures Anthology, accompanying it. 

“The artwork for the video was plucked right from the pages of the comic book that’s based on the album,” says singer -songwriter George Hage in a press release. “The song is based off the classic story of A Christmas Carol, and the video, like the tale, captures Jack on his journey of self-discovery as he is faced with his past, present, and future. The song is about finding peace and balance in the world and Jack’s quest for that balance.”

The idea of the comic book was born from Hage’s passion for art and design. He’s not only created artwork for Jack the Radio but has also done work for Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), American Aquarium, and festivals such as Hopscotch Music Festival and IBMA’s World of Bluegrass.  

The collection of “cosmic-country-fried sci-fi short stories” centers on a character named Jack the Radio and includes comics and pinups from more than 30 professional artists from around the world.

“Jack confronts creatures both real and imaginary on an extraordinary visual rollercoaster created by some of the comic world’s finest artists,” says director Justin Zimmerman. “Jack emerges triumphant and reborn… and the lead singer of the best band around to boot.”  

Creatures follows the band’s first single, “We’re Alright” (featuring Tamisha Waden), a song about the “increasingly polarized state of our country” and “the desire to reconnect and support each other regardless of our cultural or geographic differences,” a theme that hits home with Hage who grew up in the South as the son of Puerto Rican and Lebanese parents.

“I was exposed to a lot at a young age with my family speaking a combination of English, Spanish, Arabic, and Armenian,” he says.  “I knew I was different to the other kids I went to school with and because of this I experienced the good and the bad, the love and the hate in people.  My hope now is the same as it was then that our country’s differences must be what brings us together.”

Recorded at Warrior Sound in Chapel Hill, NC with engineer Al Jacob, Creatures also includes “Trouble” (featuring Jeanne Jolly), which was just featured on the Visit Raleigh website, “Getting Good” (featuring Lydia Loveless) and “Don’t Count Me Out,” a song about an unlikely hero saving the day.

Over the years, Jack the Radio has shared the stage with the Avett Brothers, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Cold War Kids, George Thorogood, Rayland Baxter and American Aquarium, and its music has been featured in several commercials, films and TV projects.

The band has been through numerous lineup changes since forming at North Carolina State University in 2005.  

“Through all the years with Jack the Radio, the one through line has really been a shared drive among a group of friends to create,” says guitarist Danny Johnson. “The anticipation and excitement we all have for Creatures is really reaffirming. And putting these songs out into the world and letting people find their own meaning in them feels like just the beginning.”

Photo Credit: Brett Villena