San Diego rock band IrRAdio takes its name not from any reference to the broadcast industry, but from a Portuguese word describing a time of day.
Lead singer and band founder Daniel Dasher said he was hanging out with a lot of Portuguese kids in school, and that the word irradio just stuck with him.
"It's a Portuguese word I found that means when the sun first comes up and hits you, and it illuminates you," he said by phone recently.
The band has a new album out, "I Am the Horn," which Dasher said he feels is the band's best.
"I wanted a big sound for this new one," Dasher explained, adding that the first two albums were more exploratory, while he described the new one as "kind of like a Joseph Campbell kind of journey, someone who goes through this journey and becomes a master of themselves."
It's a new lineup for "I Am the Horn," legal and management issues having led to the original membership of IrRAdio falling apart and an album with legendary producer Alan Parsons not coming out.
"The stuff sounded pretty catchy, like Bloc Party and the Killers, (and also) really produced. I never saw any residual, because we were in debt, so I'm pretty sure whatever we made was already used to pay for our legal fees, which were like $40,000. Once you get in the thick of it, and you have your manager, and a money manager and your producers, it's too much.
"We weren't used to that whole business. So I lost 10 songs. I'm not going to use them, because I wrote them with those producers."
Dasher said that after the rest of the band quit in frustration, he moved to Las Vegas for a year.
The current incarnation of the band began when former Transit War guitarist Jim Hughes found Dasher on the Internet.
"He hit me up on MySpace, and said let's get the music going again. Not many people come up and say that to you, so I knew it was something special. Jim already knew this piano player, Andrew Heine. … Rick (Blare), the bass player, was a friend of mine. The drummer, Greg (Sudor), I was playing with him before I left for Vegas, doing some random reggae stuff.
"I met them all in this house in Ocean Beach and we all started jamming. … I told them my situation, that I had all these songs, and asked if they would back me up. They loved the songs, and IrRAdio was reborn." (Reed player Steven Welker rounds out the lineup.)
"With this lineup, the story of the band was taken to another level."
While Dasher was the primary songwriter in the first version of IrRAdio, he said the new lineup is more collaborative in creating new music.
"I'd say I'm like the pizza crust, and everyone else is like the toppings. I come in with the original idea, and then the guys give it their individual touch, what it needs."
With most of the band members having day jobs or taking classes, Dasher said a full-blown tour isn't on the immediate horizon, even with a new album to promote.
"It's really hard to tour nowadays because of money, and everyone's tied down. Right now, the flexibility is weekend shows -- do Phoenix, L.A., then back home."
And while the band members are already writing songs for another album, right now they're focusing on the current release.
"This one just came out three months ago, so we just want to promote this one for the rest of the year."
IrRAdio, with CBot and the Paperwork, DJ Lord Nelson
When: 9 p.m. July 27
Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach
Tickets: $6
Info: (858)481-8140 or bellyup.com
Web: myspace.com/irradio
