Ra Ra Riot on Letterman Last Night

Ra Ra Riot performed on Letterman last night, singing one of my favorite songs from the album, "Can You Tell."

Here's the clip, cos the Shimmy Shake is always bringing you the hot freshness. Or something. Whatever the kids are saying nowadays.



Big ups to Evan D and Nate E for sending along the embed code.

Ra Ra Riot at The Black Cat, Live On Your Computer

Went to see Ra Ra Riot at The Black Cat last night, and when we get there, we're treated with the above sign. That's always pretty awesome. You can check out the stream here at All Songs Considered.

I'm always amazed at how I'm often the oldest person in the room at these kind of things. On the way in, a mother was bringing in a small band of teenagers, each brandishing their Sharpie X's on their left hands. But no matter, I was there to hear good music!

The concert was originally scheduled for the Black Cat's Backstage, but I guess NPR must've given them a tote bag or something, cos they moved it upstairs. And for good reason.

It was packed. And that was just for the opening band. The Morning Benders started things off very nicely, a decent group of chaps from Berkley. The cover of Joy Division's Ceremony was rockin, and the rest of their songs were pretty solid. And he had some really great crowd interaction. That's always a plus

Next up was Walter Meego, and I'm not sure where to slot them. I wasn't really blown away, but it was good and danceable. Lots of people were dancing. And loads more people showed up. It was getting pretty packed by then, and there's always the concert jackass who decides that he can somehow scooch his way to the front of the stage.

Anyway, closing it out was Ra Ra Riot, and they definitely lived up to the hype. As you can tell from the stream, it was full of energy. The strings were really amazing live, very rich and very deep. The song "Winter 05" which is just the cello, violin and drummer was probably one of the highlights for me.

All in all, a good show. If they pass through your town, I'd recommend going to see them.

Muchas gracias to Adam R. for joining me at the show last night.

Interview with Mathieu Santos of Ra Ra Riot

Here it is, the apex of our week featuring Ra Ra Riot.

I had the opportunity to send them a few questions, and bassist Mathieu Santos was kind of enough to answer them for me.

Here they are, totally unedited.

Shimmy Shake: The album, The Rhumb Line, is truly fantastic. Tell me a little bit
about the process of getting all that together and what it was like recording it.

Mathieu Santos: Thank you! The album is basically a recorded history of our first couple of years as a band – some of the songs were conceived at our first ever practice, and some of them came together while we were in the studio. Recording was an absolutely amazing process. We worked with Ryan Hadlock at his beautiful studio in rural Washington state, just north of Seattle, where we also lived during the sessions. The studio is actually an old, refurbished horse barn, so there are a lot of high, vaulted ceilings and loft spaces and things like that. We did a lot of cooking and relaxing – it was just an incredibly positive and relaxed vibe, and we’re all really happy with how the album came out.


SS: The buzz surrounding your shows is intense. Every review I've read says a Ra Ra Riot show is just incredible. What do you do to ensure you have a great show every night? What's key?

MS: The key to having a good show is to have insufferably large amounts of down-time throughout the day, so by the time you get to the stage, you can hardly control how happy and excited you are to finally get to do what you want to be doing.

SS: This tour is going all over the place, and again, gotten great reviews at every stop. What have been some of the highlights? Low points? How do you keep it going everyday?

MS: There have been a ton of highlights on this tour! Most recently, we stopped by one of the white-sanded beaches in Pensacola on a day off, which was really exciting for us lot of Nor’easterners who are more accustomed to rocks and boring old TAN sand. We always try to get out and explore a little bit of wherever we are, which helps to diffuse the boredom that can set in at times. Lowlights, as usual, revolve around having our van broken into/damaged/ticketed/towed, but we’re slowly getting used to that kind of stuff.


SS: A friend pointed me to the 'Oh La' remix that you all donated to BarackRock.org. How'd you get involved in that? Any other events planned for Obama before the election?

MS: We’ve known Jack [Dolgen of Maricopa], the site’s creator, for a while – we opened for his band, Sam Champion, at our first ever show, which took place in our manager’s basement! (Our manager was arrested later this night for disturbing the peace.) I think Jack contacted us about getting involved, and we had just recorded some new arrangements for Daytrotter.com. We were particularly happy with how Oh, La came out, and were even more excited to share it with him. As far as other pre-election events go, we plan on continuing to boo loudly at the television whenever we see images of John McCain, and, conversely, high-fiving and doing Arsenio Hall-style arm pumps whenever we see Obama.

SS: Even though you have been getting good solid press, you're still an independent band (albeit an independent band on a major independent label). How do you go about getting your music heard? What's worked and what hasn't?

MS: We’ve toured pretty relentlessly during the past two and a half years, and we’ve always found that to be the most effective and direct way to build a solid, dedicated fan base. It’s really nice to see the size of crowds in each city build over time.

SS: One of my favorite songs on the album is Can You Tell. The character in the song is apologetic at first, but still plays rather coy in the song. I'd like to know what went into that song.

MS: Wes is asleep right now, and so this will have to remain a mystery for the time being.

SS: Another favorite is the Kate Bush cover of 'Suspended in Gaffa." Is she an influence? What other bands are influences for you?

MS: We are all huge Kate Bush fans, thanks to Wes, who first got us to cover Hounds Of Love when we first formed. There was a week last summer during which we were obsessed with Suspended In Gaffa, and during a lull in a practice one day, we started playing it for fun. At first we never intended to perform it live or to share it with anyone, and lo and behold, it eventually made its way onto the album. Other common influences among the six of us include The Beatles, The Police, Talking Heads, U2 – things like that.


SS: What are you currently listening to? What can't you get enough of?

MS: Personally, as far as new music goes, I’m really excited about the new White Denim and Walkmen albums, and I’ve been listening to a lot of The Virgins since touring with them earlier this year. Also, I just completed my U2 collection on this tour! I got the re-mastered 1977-1984 box set, with all the bonus b-side discs, and it is absolutely incredible.

SS: I haven't bought a physical CD in forever, though I do purchase all my music legally online. But I remember going to record stores and meeting bands and how that was an incredible part of the music experience for me. What's your take on the state of digital music?

MS: Digital music is definitely more convenient in a lot of ways, and that’s far and away its greatest strength. However, I can’t imagine not owning physical copies of my favorite albums, and I can’t help thinking that digital music has, in a lot of ways, de-mystified the idea of owning music. Lately we’ve been trying to fit in a lot of in-store performances at independent record retailers*, and it’s great to see the large, enthusiastic turnouts at these stores.

*The stores we’ve played at on this tour are: Soundgarden in Baltimore, Maryland; The Record Exchange in Boise, Idaho; Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas; and Cactus Music in Houston, Texas. If you’re ever near any of these areas, please visit them!

SS: Where do you put the cello when on tour? Do you strap it to the top of the van?

MS: Unfortunately we’ve never had to do this – though sometimes it gets its own seat when we fly to places (and, since the seat is paid for, it actually DOES get served snacks and a meal).

SS: I have no more questions. Anything you want to add?

OBAMA ’08!

Get Ra Ra Riot's album "The Rhumb Line" DRM-free from these sites

Buy from Barsuk

Buy from Amazon

Download from eMusic

Interviewing

I read a great interview with Ra Ra Riot from a few days ago at Captain Melody's Music Reviews.

My interview is with Mathieu Santos as well. he did a great job of answering the questions I sent over.

Teaser

We've got the interview questions back from Ra Ra Riot, and they're good. I'm very pleased they took a little time out from what must be an insane touring schedule to answer them.

I'll post them later on tonight after I run them through my patented media filter, but I wanted to tease it up a bit first.

A few days ago I linked to an amazing version of the song 'Oh La' that the band had contributed to the BarackRock.org project. I asked them about it and this is what I got back

We’ve known Jack [Dolgen of Maricopa], the site’s creator, for a while – we opened for his band, Sam Champion, at our first ever show, which took place in our manager’s basement! (Our manager was arrested later this night for disturbing the peace.) I think Jack contacted us about getting involved, and we had just recorded some new arrangements for Daytrotter.com. We were particularly happy with how Oh, La came out, and were even more excited to share it with him.

There's more to come from the interview, but just wanted to drop a little bit from it, CBS Katie Couric style!

Cheaper elsewhere

I'm beginning to notice that it's much cheaper to go to shows outside the DC area. I keep reading a lot of articles, and it's just much much cheaper.

Anwyays, there's a good article on some background on Ra Ra Riot at the Kitsap (Wash.) Sun. I didn't cover that in my interview questions mostly because I'm totally lame as a journalist (take that six years of journalism school!). I might be able to do some follow up questions, so leave a comment if there's something you want to ask.

Ra Ra Riot Donates a Song for the Cause

I'm going to try and keep politics out of this blog as much as possible, but our first featured band, Ra Ra Riot, has donated a a remix of their song "Oh La" to BarackRock.org .

According to BarackRock.org's website

BarackRock.org started with one song and a desire for change. It has grown into a movement of musicians and artists creating an ever-expanding catalogue of free, exclusive songs, each with its own individual art, meant to inspire participation and donations for the Obama Campaign. These are unreleased tracks and demos, only available here and now, so plug in your headphones and make a difference!

I think you'll really like this song. It's a bit more sparse than the original, with a crazy little piano tinkling over it, and a driving drumbeat.

One of the elements I really dig about this band is the really intrepid and full frontal use of the strings in the music. Their not afraid to feature them way up front, and the album benefits from that risk. This song really highlights the violin playing.

Check it out. I think you'll be pleased.

h/t to the incredible Shelby Miller for pointing me to this!

First Featured Band - Ra Ra Riot

A few weeks ago, a coworker of mine said, "Hey, you should check out Ra Ra Riot."

Am I ever glad I did.

This five-piece band from upstate New York has gotten some incredibly deserved press over the past year for its energetic live shows and solid music chops.

The debut album, "The Rhumb Line," dropped back in August, again to great critical acclaim. It's got a great sensibility about it, with smart lyrics and a really interesting sound (courtesy of the cello and violin).

Over the next week I'll be bringing you more about Ra Ra Riot. If you've got some questions, send them in and we'll see what we can do.

For now though, why don't you head over to their label and pick up their album?