Imala sam čast napraviti interview sa basistom američkog indie rock benda iz Brooklyna Ra Ra Riot. Pogledajte šta kaže Mathieu Santos o njihovom prvom albumu, turnejama i što rade dok ne sviraju.
orginal interview made by: Petra Zegnal
How did you came together as a band?
We all met while attending Syracuse University together - but actually, none of us really knew each other before the band formed, which I think is kind of unusual. Assembling the band was Milo's idea - he spent the better part of his winter vacation in December of 2005 recruiting most of us via the internet. He and I were in a band together briefly before that, and when that fell apart, we decided to keep playing together. He knew Rebecca from a class they had together, and she knew Allie from a string quartet. It all kind of came together like that, and we all finally met each other at the first practice.
You have cool name. Can you tell us a story about it?
A friend of ours in Syracuse had actually come up with it, but she didn't have a band at the time. We, on the other hand, had just formed a band and needed a name, so we borrowed it for our first couple of shows around the campus with the idea that we'd come up with something later. Of course, we never got around to doing that, so in the end I guess we sort of accidentally appropriated the name.
You just finished your tour. How was it?
Our last tour was a lot of fun - it was our last tour supporting our first album, and I think everyone feels like we went out on a high note. There were great crowds at every show, and having the chance to watch our tourmates Princeton and Maps & Atlases play every night was incredible.
How was is on tour with Death Cab for Cutie?
It was great - by far the best opening slot we've ever had, and one of the best groups of people we've been on the road with. We got to play in a lot of great venues, and Death Cab's fans were very gracious and supportive, getting to the shows early enough to catch our set night after night. And the band members themselves - just wonderful people. We can't thank them enough for bringing us along with them.
What do you think about indie rock scene right now?
There's a lot of exciting stuff going on. There seems to be a shift heading back towards expertly-crafted songwriting and arranging, which is very exciting, and I feel like a lot of bands are finding interesting ways to balance classic pop sensibilities while moving forward and making sounds that are very new.
Can you tell us something about your first album The Rumb Line?
As you said, it was our very first album, and we recorded it exactly two years ago in a beautiful, rural studio north of Seattle with a great guy named Ryan Hadlock. Being a first album, it was basically a collection of songs from our live set (we'd been playing for about two years at this point), a couple of new songs, and a cover. It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot about recording and producing and all that. I think we're all pretty proud of it, and we've gotten a lot of mileage out of it.
What inspired Ra Ra Riot's songs?
Well, we first formed to play at house parties while we were at school together, and so that idea informed the music a lot and is an important part of our development as a live band. Musically, our individual influences all seem to be represented, and as far as lyrics are concerned, you'd probably have to ask Wes(vocalist) about that.
How does the audience accept you when you play somewhere for the first time?
We've been lucky - over the past couple of years, we've built up a pretty solid, loyal fan base, and we try to meet as many of them as we can during our travels. As for first impressions, it really depends on where we are. Sometimes it's surprisingly good, and sometimes it's been a lot more difficult to get our footing in a given city.
What kind of relationship do you have with your fans?
We've been lucky - over the past couple of years, we've built up a pretty solid, loyal fan base, and we try to meet as many of them as we can during our travels. As for first impressions, it really depends on where we are. Sometimes it's surprisingly good, and sometimes it's been a lot more difficult to get our footing in a given city.
What do you do when you are not playing? Any hobbies?
When we have a break on tour, we usually like to get out and do some sort of outdoorsy activity. We used to bring all of our bikes on tour, and though we don't have room for them anymore, we still try to explore as much as possible. Lately we've been to Yellowstone, Big Sur, and the Grand Canyon. When I'm at home, which is rare, I like to read a lot, ride my bike, and paint when I can, and, above all else, watch hockey.
What are you plans for future?
We're in the midst of recording our second album right now, and then we're all heading home for the holidays. After that, we'll have a lot of down-time, which we're all looking forward to, and then the album will come out sometime in the spring or summer in 2010, and we'll start touring and touring and touring.
If you could pick one band to tour with, who would you pick?
U2!
What do you think about Rachael Cantu covering your song “Can You Tell”?
It's always cool to hear someone else's interpretation of your work. I think we were all surprised and flattered.
Can you share with us any funny story from tour?
Each of us have our own set of van keys, but we somehow recently managed to lock ourselves out of it while it was running right after our set at a Polish festival in Michigan. It was late at night, and the festival was soon deserted and the scene started to get a little weird. The AAA guy who finally came to help us had actually been to a show of ours a couple of days before! Luckily, we made it back to the hotel safely and for some reason decided to rent the new Transformers movie. There is no moral to this story.
Sjedim. I gledam u prazno. Kako početi? Kako početi a da ima smisla? Kako opisati glazbu koja govori sama za sebe? Ponekad i najbolje stvari nemaju smisla. Baš kao i ovaj uvod. Krenut ćemo onim školskim putem – od početka.
The XX je četveročlani bend nastao daleke 2005. u zapadnom djelu Londona. Kao školski kolege u Elliott Schoolu počeli su svirati zajedno. Prvi album su izdali ove godine. Pitate se zašto su čekali toliko dugo? E pa zato jer oni danas imaju jedva punih 20 godina. Romy Madley Croft i Oliver Sim su vokali, no Oliver svira i gitaru i bass u bendu. Baria Qureshi je na klavijaturama i gitari dok Jamie Smith ima ulogu samplera, a zadužen je za beatove i bubnjeve. Prvi nastup bend je imao ove godine na Reading and Leeds Festivalu kada su malobrojnoj publici podijelili majice s “X” logom kao zahvalu što su ih došli poslušati. Trenutno su na turneji sa Florence and the Machine, a idući mjesec kreću na svoju samostalnu turneju. Svoj prvi album jednostavnog imena “xx” izdali su 17.8.2009.
Kako zvuče? E to je zanimljivo pitanje. Kad bi me netko to pitao u 4 oka, odgovorila bih u svom stilu – oni jednostavno- zvuče. No ako baš moram etiketu na njih zalijepiti onda bi rekla indie rock+ dream pop. Dream pop, to bi bio čak najbliži opis kako zvuče. Uz njihovu glazbu i stvari poput “Basic Space” i “VCR” možete sjest i u mislima otploviti daaaleko. Iz njihova zvuka možemo ih usporeditsa bendvima poput Young Marble Giants, Japan i Glass Candy. Zanimljivo je da su album producirali oni sami, odbili tako producenta poput Dipla.
Dvije gitare, bass, bubnjevi, ritam mašina, dva vokala koja se savršeno nadopunjuju stvaraju jednu zavodljivu, pomalo mračnu i sexy atmosferu. Savršen primjer je pjesma “Infinity” koja bi mogla opisat kao kombinaciju “Wicked Game-a” Isaaka i “Blue Lines” Massive Attacka. Pjesma “Crystalised” osvaja svojom jednostavnošću i skromnošću, ali u isto vrijeme obara s nogu svojim jednostavnim bass dionicama koji vode glavnu riječ u cijeloj pjesmi pa sve do kraja gdje ritam mašina odradi svoj dio. Naj pop stvar na albumu je “VCR” koja je začinjena ksilofonskom melodijom što daje pjesmi posebnu čar.
Prvi sing sa albuma “Basic Space ” ima uvod koje se ugl sačinjava od dijaloga vokala no onda ulazi vrckasta melodija koja se rasteže kroz cijelu pjesmu. Još meni jako draga pjesma na albumu je “Islands” koju vodi razigrani ritam gitare i prekrasni lyricsi.
Na cijelom albumu Croft i Sim ne pjevaju zato jer imaju najbolje vokalne sposobnosti, nego zato jer imaju nešto za reći, najčešće jedan drugome. Album je pun minimalističkih indie dream-pop balada, koje vam se uvuku pod kožu a da ni ne primijetite. Svih 11 pjesama krasi preciznost, elegancija, možemo čak i reći zrelost za prvi album.
“xx” donosi osvježenje i to ne samo na sceni nego i osobi koja ga sluša. Album je jednostavno uživancija za slušati, no bez problema ga možete pustit uz svijeće za podizanje atmosfere s boljom polovicom.
Za The XX mnogi kažu da su “next big thing”. Album je proglašavan jedan od najboljih albuma previjenaca 2009. godine. Ja se apsolutno slažem s njima. 2010. godina će biti njihova. Zato pazite ovaj bend, jer veoma uskoro će svi pričati o njemu, a vi ćete bit kul jer ste već “odavno” čuli za njega.
