Radish

Amid the rush to discover a successor to Silverchair, multiple major labels singled out Radish—a Dallas heavy post-grunge trio fronted by 16-year-old guitarist Ben Kweller—as the next major act. Kweller had started playing guitar and composing songs at eight; at nine he submitted an entry to Billboard’s songwriting contest and received an honorable mention. In the following four years he performed with several Greenville, Texas groups, among them Green Eggs & Ham, before forming Radish around age twelve. Drummer John Kent came aboard in 1994 at fourteen, after which the band cut several demos under producer Roger Greenwalt. Following Greenwalt’s suggestion, the trio recruited 28-year-old bassist Bryan Blur and began circulating the recordings.

The tape unexpectedly triggered a lengthy, heated bidding war among labels. Radish ultimately signed with Mercury Records in 1996 and tracked their first album with alterna-rock producers Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie. Following extensive press attention, the debut album Restraining Bolt appeared in April 1997.