New York band Ra Ra Riot will be heading over to the UK this month to play on the Ents24 Stage at this year's GuilFest. We caught up with them beforehand to talk about the new E.P, their influences, and how to survive on tour...
Hello Ra Ra Riot. You're about to release your debut E.P; can you tell us a little bit about it?
Wes: We're putting out a vinyl single of two tracks from our EP. I have always wanted to release a 7" so I'm really excited to see our first release in the UK.
Milo: We are releasing a single in the UK that includes two songs from the EP that we're releasing in the US. All of the songs were recorded this winter in Brooklyn, NY with money we had borrowed from friends and family. At the time, there were no specific plans on releasing the material...it was basically intended to just give us something to distribute at shows.
You, very sadly, recently lost your drummer John Pike, which, undoubtedly must have changed things within the band. Were there ever times when you thought about not carrying on?
Mathieu: Obviously the past few weeks have been fraught with extreme emotional stress and anxiety about the future. Ultimately, we, with support from his family, decided that continuing together is the only way for us to respond to the circumstances - we feel that in some way we're being proactive in preserving his legacy, and as difficult as it gets at times, it's also very therapeutic.
Ra Ra Riot's sound is very eclectic, a real variety of styles, who's been your influences over the years?
Mathieu: The eclectic sound is just a reflection of our individual tastes, which are definitely varied. I think we all approach the song-writing process with completely different intentions.
Alexandra: There are six people in the band, so inevitably there are musical differences. There is no doubt that everyone in the band is very open and loves most music out there, but naturally we have our nooks and comfort zones when it comes to music. We also come from very different musical backgrounds, covering jazz, classical, hardcore, hip hop etc. Everyone brings their CDs on the road. In one day we can go from listening to Dvorak to Ceremony, from Radiohead to Philip Glass, from The Beatles to Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey (depending on how much diva we are in the mood for). When we write our songs the same notion holds, everyone does what they love and do best.
And are there any bands that you particularly rate at the moment?
Wes: Our friends Vampire Weekend are an awesome band, and my friend Sam Rosen makes some great Americana/R&B music. Also the Dirty Projectors' new album is great.
Mathieu: I think a couple of young bands that we're all excited about are Vampire Weekend and Tokyo Police Club.
Your next UK gig is on the Ents24 Stage at GuilFest - are you looking forward to it?
Wes: Yes, we're all very excited to go back to the UK.
Mathieu: Yes, very much so! We visited the UK for the first time this past April, but only for a few days - since then we've been really excited to go back.
Do you think that festivals are a very British thing, or are they just as popular in the US?
Wes: I think festivals have been big in the US for a while, and until recently I thought they were mostly for jam bands but we're going to be playing a few in the US as well as the UK, and I'm looking forward to them all.
Milo: We have yet to play ANY festivals - so I don't think I can accurately compare British festivals with American festivals. From what I hear, they make up a much larger portion of summer concerts than they do in the US - but it seems to be catching on here a bit.
And is there much of a difference between UK and US audiences?
Wes: The only place we've played in the UK is London, and the audiences were pretty similar to places like New York City, but audiences are very different throughout the US.
Mathieu: Not a significant difference - I think there's probably more variation city-to-city within both the UK and the US.
You guys all met at university; when you first got together did you ever think you'd get to where you are now?
Wes: No, I started playing with Ra Ra Riot because I was trying to start my own band but two of the members were already in RRR, so I just started doing it for fun.
Milo: Not really...most of us were only a few months away from graduation when the band formed - some of us already had career plans and jobs waiting for us in various parts of the country. The band wasn't really ever considered as an option...it wasn't until the summer following graduation that we all decided to put other plans on hold in order to continue playing music together.
Alexandra: Absolutely not, it was fun and that was as simple as it was. Everything has stayed fun and that's what's important. Now that it's getting a little more serious we need to just do what we have been, and that's have fun.
And is it everything you expected?
Wes: Since we are all very short-sighted young people, it is hard to develop realistic expectations...
Milo: That's difficult to say - we're only getting started. We have only been 100% full time for about two weeks now - up until this point we weren't able to fully dedicate ourselves and our time to the band.
Mathieu: Each step has basically been an experiment to see how far we can take this - I never know what to expect but it always ends up being ridiculously fun.
Your live shows are known for being pretty electrifying, and yet, on record, your music is very sweet - how do you strike a balance between the two?
Wes: It has been hard to capture that essence of the live show in the recordings, but I think that it makes up for it in its sweetness...
Milo: Mostly, our attempts in the studio have been to make the recordings sound more like the live shows - in terms of energy and mood. Accurately capturing that thing that happens when we play live is a very difficult thing to do. However, I think our music is pretty sweet sounding when we play live too - it's just that it has been propelled by adrenaline and excitement into different sonic territory.
Mathieu: That's something we've been struggling with a little bit - how to capture the live sound on record. We haven't succeeded, but personally, I don't mind having such a disparity between the two. To me, the record represents one specific form of the music, and the live show is something completely different.
You've got a string of UK dates coming up and then you're heading back home for a massive US tour - how do you manage to keep going on such a hefty tour schedule?
Wes: I suppose we will have to find out the hard way. I bet it will involve lots of vitamin B and C supplements, and a good sense of humour.
Milo: This is the first time we'e ever had that sort of schedule! Up until now, we've mostly been playing on nights and weekends - with a few week-long exceptions. GuilFest will be the first of a string of about 40 shows...I feel like we are lining up to run a marathon for the first time. Overall, we are very excited!
Mathieu: We haven't been playing much lately, and we just recently made the band our full-time project, so this is by far the largest tour we've booked. It seems a little daunting, but we're all really excited for it.
Alexandra: It's so exciting and riveting. We are all personalities that can handle being gone from home and experience all these wonderful things that we are offered. We all know that these are awesome opportunities and thrive on it...its too much fun. Its tiring, we have moments where its just...ugh. But there's not a moment where its not worth it.
Ra Ra Riot will be playing on the Ents24 Stage at GuilFest on Friday 13th July 2007. See their page here on Ents24 for more details of their forthcoming UK dates.
Interview: Meg Rowell
