Teenage Casket Company Radio Hearts Review
Teenage Casket Company
Radio Hearts
FNA Records
2026
For those of you who continued following the almighty Tigertailz through the later years, you should already know the name Rob Wylde and, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll eventually stumble across his earlier band, Teenage Casket Company. If you don’t know them, pull up a seat, grab a beer and let’s dig through the attic for a little while. FNA Records has seen fit to release a proper TCC Anthology spread across not one but two releases, covering damn near every corner of the band’s short but interesting existence. Here we’re talking about the first installment, “Radio Hearts,” and there’s plenty of history packed into this thing.
Before we get too deep into the Teenage Casket Company rabbit hole, let’s also remember that Rob Wylde has gone on to front the wildly successful Midnite City, all while carrying that Tigertailz legacy around with him. So, yeah, there’s some pedigree here.
Now let me be completely honest: I never really spent much time with Teenage Casket Company. Not because I wasn’t interested, but because there’s only so many hours in the day and there was always another record, another band, another CD calling my name. I was a faithful follower of the Tailz, so I knew Rob from that world, and I’ve spent plenty of time with the Midnite City material, but somehow TCC slipped through the cracks.
So, here we are in 2026, and I’m finally getting the opportunity to dig into the band properly. Better late than never, right?
The first thing that needs to be established is that Teenage Casket Company sits much closer to Power Pop/Punk than straight-up Glam Metal, although the Glam influence is present. You can’t scrub that away. There’s also a healthy dose of Pop running through the material, and honestly, that combination works better than I expected it to.
The first disc of FNA’s anthology is appropriately titled “Radio Hearts”, and it brings together the band’s first two releases, “Dial It Up” and the “Eat Your Heart Out” EP. Both originally came out during the early part of the new millennium, which is important when you consider what the musical landscape looked like at the time.
The 2000s were a strange time for Rock music. The old Glam scene had been buried alive, Grunge had already done its damage, Nu-Metal was everywhere, Metalcore was beginning to crawl out from under the floorboards, and every other week seemed to bring another musical trend that somebody swore was going to save Rock 'N' Roll. Meanwhile, guys like us were still digging through the old records trying to find something that sounded like it had a pulse.
Had I stumbled across Teenage Casket Company during that period, I probably would've flipped my lid over them. I just don't remember much from that era grabbing me outside of certain Metalcore releases and the independent underground. Of course, the older Glam stuff was still a huge part of who I was and still is. That's a big reason why I'm still sitting here in 2026 listening to this shit.
And then there’s Rob.
One of the most interesting things about “Radio Hearts” is that this is our earliest real glimpse into Rob Wylde as a vocalist. If you're coming into Teenage Casket Company because you know the guy from Tigertailz or Midnite City, you might be caught a little off guard.
This isn't quite the Rob we're accustomed to. His vocals are snottier here. There’s more Punk attitude, more youthful recklessness and, in places, some vocal decisions that sound amateurish. And I mean that with absolutely no disrespect. In fact, I think it's important to hear it.
This is where the guy started. You're hearing the beginnings of the vocalist that would eventually raise the hairs on our necks with Tigertailz and later develop into the powerhouse we hear with Midnite City. There are moments where I prefer this younger Rob because he's got that fuck-it, let's go attitude. He attacks some of the faster material like he’s got nothing to lose.
And that’s exactly what makes it fun. He still has the melodic instincts, though. Even this early on, Rob understands how to grab onto a vocal melody and squeeze every ounce of Pop sensibility out of it without completely neutering the Punk attitude. That's a talent, and it's one of the things that makes these early recordings worthwhile.
Musically, the band is definitely operating in Power Pop territory, with flashes of Glam and Punk scattered throughout. Power Pop isn't exactly the strongest weapon in my musical arsenal, but Teenage Casket Company makes it work because the songs are actually songs.
The band doesn't spend the entire time trying to prove how fucking talented they are. They don't bury the vocals underneath a wall of guitars. They don't overplay everything just because they can. The musicians understand the songs and, more importantly, they understand where they belong inside those songs. That's something a lot of bands never figure out.
Whoever originally produced this material deserves a round of applause because the arrangements allow everything to breathe. The guitars support the melodies instead of fighting them, the rhythm section keeps everything moving and Rob is allowed to sit right where he belongs in the mix.
As you move from “Dial It Up” into “Eat Your Heart Out,” you can hear the band growing. It's not necessarily a night-and-day transformation, but the songwriting becomes more confident and the arrangements feel tighter. You can tell you're listening to two different periods of the band rather than one giant pile of recordings thrown together. For me, the “Eat Your Heart Out” material is more cohesive in spots, although I wouldn't necessarily call it my favorite section of the disc.
But that's the beauty of an anthology like this. You're getting the journey. You're hearing a band at the beginning, figuring out what they wanted to be, figuring out what worked and, more importantly, figuring out who they were. For fans who discovered Rob Wylde later in his career, that's worth the price of admission alone.
And then FNA throws another skeleton into the closet. There are three demos included here that were originally slapped onto the CDR released at the band's final show. These aren't just random bonus tracks that somebody found in a drawer yesterday. These are pieces of the band's history that otherwise would've remained buried, and you're not going to find these particular recordings everywhere.
For those of you who are already fans of Rob Wylde's later work, “Radio Hearts” is absolutely worth investigating. It's not Midnite City and it's not Tigertailz, and that's precisely why you should hear it. This is the beginning of another chapter, before the voice was completely developed and before the pieces had all fallen into place.
And that's what makes this anthology interesting to me. It's not simply a collection of old songs. It's a time capsule.
And if you want to make the deal even sweeter, FNA is offering “Radio Hearts” and the second anthology installment, “Static Memories,” together for $25. For anybody who digs Rob Wylde, Teenage Casket Company, Power Pop/Punk with a Glam streak or just likes uncovering forgotten pieces of the Hard Rock underground, that's a steal.
Standouts: “Believe In You,” “Down On Love,” “Don’t Look At Me Like That,” “Thank You For Nothing” and “Eat Your Heart Out.”