Formed in 2006, at Syracuse University, New York, when Milo Bonacci (guitar) met Rebecca Zeller (violin) in an electronic music class, and invited her to join his new project. Zeller introduced Alexandra Lawn (cello) and friend of Bonacci, Mathieu Santos joined on bass. John Pike was a well known drummer on campus, and through mutual friends found himself, along with his friend Wesley Miles (vocals, keyboard), at Ra Ra Riot’s first practice.
From January-May 2006 the band played every attic, party, and venue in Syracuse, while also touring extensively with the likes of Tokyo Police Club, Editors, and Art Brut. Unfortunately the band tragically lost their drummer when John Pike died in June 2007.
After an incredibly difficult summer, the remaining members of Ra Ra Riot spent late 2007 in the studio with producer Ryan Hadlock (Gossip, Blonde Redhead, Islands) recording a full-length album and in 2008 the band took to the road, opening for The Cribs and on a headlining tour of the US.
The Rhumb Line is their new album and CDX caught five minutes with cellist Alexandra on the band`s day off from touring with Vampire Weekend.
CDX: Hi Alexandra, so you’ve over here supporting Vampire Weekend. You formed in 2006 and were soon picked to play at the CMJ festival in New York, how important was this for you.
Alexandra: It was quite a pivotal appearance for us. Up to that point it was more fun, then after the showcase we started getting approached by people wanting to manage us and stuff, so we knew we had to start taking things a bit more seriously.
CDX: Ra Ra Riot have a slightly less orthodox line up than your usual run of the mill guitar bands. When you write songs do you write together as a group or do you start with the guitar parts then add the string parts after.
Alexandra: It’s usually a collaborative effort. A song could either start from a guitar line, or from the violin. The strings are definitely not a post production thing though.
CDX: You’ve toured with quite a few bands do you have a favourite gig or tour.
Alexandra: I can’t speak for the rest of the band by my personal favourite was when we played the Iceland Airwaves Festival in Reykjavik.
CDX: How’s the tour with Vampire Weekend going?
Alexandra: We are on two days in but last night (The Forum, London) was great, we were very well received.
CDX: So you’ve got the LP out and are doing the European and US tour, so what’s next for Ra Ra Riot?
Alexandra: Well we’ve got quite a lot of material for the next album which so hopefully we’ll get into the studio early in the New Year. After a Christmas break.
`The Rhumb Line` is out now V2/Barsuk and go to http://www.myspace.com/rarariot for details of their European headlining dates as well as shows with Vampire Weekend and Los Campesinos!
Nick Foster (View Original Article)
The road to `The Rhumb Line`, the debut album from Syracuse-based band Ra Ra Riot has certainly not been an easy one. Their journey started smoothly with rave reviews at festivals such as South by Southwest, but they were hit in June 2007 with the tragic death of their drummer, John Pike, who was found drowned in Buzzards Bay. The band decided to continue and the songs on the album, full of imagery of death and the nautical (a rhumb line itself is a method of nautical navigation), take on a new level of poignancy, especially on the centre point of the album, `Dying is Fine`, which borrows lyrics from an E.E. Cummings poem (`dying is fine [...] I wouldn`t like death if death were good`). These images, haunting and symbolic as they seem to be, were in place before Pike`s death, Pike himself having writing credits for this song along with four others. And so to the songs themselves...
`The Rhumb Line` kicks of with `Ghosts Under Rocks`, undoubtedly one of the highlights of the album with its eerie bass and plucked violin notes introducing the song gently before it bursts in to one of the most engaging choruses I`ve heard for a long time. On songs such as `St. Peter`s Day Festival` and `Winter `05` Ra Ra Riot show their ability to handle the gentler ballads. Part of their appeal is the string section, composed of violin and cello, which introduce an orchestral sound, enhancing the sombre feeling on the album but also delicately lifting the mood at the same time. At various moments these strings seem to be gently understated and, at other moments, such as the previously mentioned `Winter `05`, they are thrust to the forefront. The penultimate track is a cover of Kate Bush`s `Suspended in Gaffa` which comes close to, if not succeeding in surpassing, the original.
The album`s strength lies in the ability to express often depressing, and even morbid, subject matter while remaining light, airy and joyful on the surface. They seem to have come from the Morrisey school of music where depressing themes are ultimately of the life-affirming kind - rather than the giving up all hope variety. The band deserve every bit of credit for carrying on in the face of such adversity and, as a result, they have created, half intentionally, half coincidentally, a lasting tribute to their band member and friend.
Adam Gibby (View Original Article)
Strings always help enhance songs (unlike say a saxa-mo-phone which just makes honking noises and should almost never be used ) so it`s lucky for `friends of Vampire Weekend` Ra Ra Riot that they have their own ready made string section built into the band dynamic.
That said, although the strings help push the song along nicely, it`s the melody and singer Wes Miles vocal vulnerability that help make this the best release this week.
Hopefully Ra Ra Riot will share their friends success in the New Year as, judging on the evidence of this single and recently released LP `The Rhumb Line`, they deserve it!
Nick Foster (View Original Article)
I was pretty hooked on this song from the first time I heard it. Opening with delicate string arrangements led by a perversely pulsating bass line, `Ghost Under Rocks` develops into a steady yet bustling verse which, in turn, erupts into a leg-twitchingly busy chorus. Ra Ra Riot have achieved something far too rare in mainstream indie – a song that`s wholly unpretentious, and catchy enough to be heard on alternative dance floors. When reviewing their debut album for CDX, Adam Gibby said Ghost Under Rocks "bursts in to one of the most engaging choruses I`ve heard for a long time," and I couldn`t agree more.
Ash Carter (View Original Article)
