Rioting in the Streets
ra ra riot on sudden success
Most college bands can’t get their friends to listen to their demos, much less get booked for the CMJ Music Marathon and SXSW music festival between touring with indie darlings Art Brut and Tokyo Police Club, all within the first year they play together. Syracuse University’s Ra Ra Riot is looking forward to the release of its first full-length album later this year on the independent label Rebel Group, with which they recently signed. The group, whose members all moved to Brooklyn last year, is now on its second headlining tour and selling out large venues, including New York’s Bowery Ballroom. Thanks to a MySpace presence and significant Internet hype, these recent grads have persevered, despite experiencing more than their share of tragedy.
In June of last year, their drummer, John Pike, was found dead after a night of partying near Fairhaven, Mass. The band announced on its Web site, “This has felt like the unraveling plot of a tragic piece of fiction ... nothing would have prepared us for such an immense loss.” Though the emotional trauma seemed insurmountable, the band decided to replace the beloved friend and band mate with a new drummer, Cameron Wisch. As the band continues to cope with death and its aftermath, it also looks forward to riding the wave of new-found success.
Milo Bonacci, the band’s guitarist, is modest about the band’s rapid boost in popularity. “I wouldn’t say it’s ‘fame’ necessarily. It’s been growing since our first shows ... We were all excited that the Bowery Ballroom show sold out, but we weren’t expecting it.”
Ra Ra Riot’s self-titled EP includes six high-energy, bouncy, strings-coated pop songs that highlight the band’s powerful and youthful exuberance. The enthusiasm each member seems to have for the music is evident in the EP’s tight sound. The band members haven’t always felt such a strong connection to each other. When the musicians started playing together, Bonacci says they were just “a string of people who knew each other or of each other.” Still, Ra Ra Riot has come together to produce a compact, well-produced sound that has constantly proven itself ready for indie-rock critics and fans alike.
Each member has a distinctive musical talent, but the two female members, Alexandra Lawn and Rebecca Zeller, are the most unconventional. Both are classically trained musicians—Lawn is a cellist and Zeller a violinist. “None of us really knew what to expect,” Bonacci says. “It was the first time they [Lawn and Zeller] had been asked to write their own parts for something. Up until that point they were reading music—they were trained that way.” Lawn and Zeller also had to adjust to the band’s improvisational rehearsal process. “We all give suggestions, and everyone more or less writes their own part, but everybody can give feedback ... Songs take shape at rehearsal with everybody involved,” says Bonacci.
The band’s use of strings has inspired comparisons to Arcade Fire and The Olivia Tremor Control. One of the reasons why Ra Ra Riot’s strings work so well is because they don’t rely on synths to hide lapses in their technique. The musicality of the two instrumentalists shines through each song.
I came across Ra Ra Riot via MySpace and, judging by comments on the site, so did many of their fans. Bonacci doesn’t mind the online attention. “[MySpace] has been kind of the great equalizer. Smaller bands are given this opportunity to get an audience from all over the world.” He has reservations about MySpace’s corporate backing from Fox Interactive Media, but remains grateful for the easy publicity. “It’s definitely helped us in a lot of ways. And, it’s a great way to promote and get in touch with people and find other bands.”
The group has strong ties with hype-machines-and-Columbia-graduates Vampire Weekend, which it featured as its openers on a tour to honor Pike. Bonacci admits that the band has been listening to the Vampire Weekend album non-stop, and that it is definitely “one of our favorites.” In addition, Ra Ra Riot’s lead singer, Wes Miles, has “a side project called Discovery, which is really awesome,” and which also features Rostam Batmanglij, Vampire Weekend’s keyboardist.
While Ra Ra Riot’s gentle, string-laced tones aren’t likely to spur an actual riot, the group is quietly taking over the indie scene with their energetic live shows and seemingly constant touring. These industry beginners will probably overcome the buzz and come into their own, but until then, the musical riot ensues. \\\