On The Road With Ra Ra Riot

January 2011 Tour Video!

2011-01-31T02:13:00.001-05:00

Northwest 2K11 w/ GIVERS

2011-01-30T14:10:00.001-05:00

Too fun.

SanFran + Sonoma

2011-01-24T13:44:00.003-05:00

The tour continues north! Since LA we drove to San Francisco where we played the Great American Music Hall. Fantastic sounding venue and a sold out, wild crowd. I've never see people go so nuts during "Boy." We also got to meet and hang out with Dave, Andrew, and Joanne of Dave Smith Instruments who are the people behind the Prophet '08 synthesizer which Ra Ra Riot uses on tour. We stayed at The Phoenix hotel (where we always do in SF) with our buddies/tourmates in GIVERS and essentially laughed ourselves to sleep. They are the best.

Last night we played a "boutique" show (as I'd call it) at a WINERY. The family and friends who run Gundlach Bundschu Winery hosted us in their beautiful home for the night, and played an old barn/workshed. A mature crowd of wine enthusiasts apparently know how to do a rock show.

LA 2K11

2011-01-20T18:48:00.002-05:00

Starting a quick tour on the west coast! Met up with our buddies in Princeton in Santa Barbara last night where we played a show with GIVERS. Performing tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Western Canada Tour 2010

2010-11-22T01:35:00.001-05:00

Made our way from Vancouver to Winnipeg opening for Wintersleep! -10F most of the time. Snow. Mountains. Lots of Tim Hortons.

Fall 2010 pt.4 Nashville - DC

2010-11-22T01:22:00.000-05:00

Gettin cozy with Givers.

Fall 2010 Pt.3 Austin - Nashville

2010-10-31T18:04:00.003-04:00

we're truckin through the south half of the US with GIVERS from Lafayette Louisiana and Villagers from Dublin. Holy smokes these bands are great. please check them out: http://www.myspace.com/giversmusic
http://www.myspace.com/villagers

Fall 2010 Tour Pt.2 San Fran-Tempe

2010-10-26T02:42:00.002-04:00

Part 2 of the fall 2010 tour! this is more or less san francisco thru arizona.

Fall 2010 Tour Pt.1 NYC - Reno

2010-10-26T02:40:00.001-04:00

here we go. fall 2010 touring The Orchard!

Another video from the studio

2010-09-18T17:01:00.001-04:00

Videos From The Studio

2010-09-16T10:35:00.001-04:00

Here's some video I shot from tracking The Orchard at Black Dog Recording Studio. You'll see footage tracking Too Dramatic, Keep It Quiet, Shadowcasting, and Saccharin And The War. Also a bit of late night Chat Roulette, and some footage from mastering at Sterling Sound with the amazing Greg Calbi.

And some footage from the demoing at the orchard in upstate, Penn Yann New York. In this video you can see one of Wes's very first attempts at laying down a vocal idea for "Boy."

RRR Demo Sequence from andrew maury on Vimeo.

Recording The Orchard

2010-08-31T17:32:00.001-04:00

Here are some photos from Black Dog Recording Studio, tracking The Orchard. Also a few pics from mixing in Portland with Chris Walla and NYC mastering with Greg Calbi. Don't forget, you can click the images to load the hi-res version!

The Orchard Release!

2010-08-28T21:12:00.002-04:00

Very proud to present Ra Ra Riot's newest album, The Orchard which released this past tuesday! We had a blast of a release party at Brooklyn Bowl and are all very excited for the fall tour.

Purchase the album! Barsuk Records // Amazon // iTunes //

I'm also proud to have been interviewed twice by sound-oriented internet publications; Sonic Scoop and Rock Edition about my engineering/production work on the album. check em!

http://www.sonicscoop.com/2010/08/25/andrew-maury-on-ra-ra-riot-the-road-to-the-orchard/

http://www.rockedition.com/interviews/interview-with-andrew-maury/

Photo Courtesy my buddy André Anjos. and that cool album cover is a photo taken by josh goleman http://joshgoleman.com/ !

Japan Part 2!

2010-08-24T12:16:00.000-04:00

Japan part 1!

2010-07-23T07:44:00.003-04:00

JAPAN. It is rad here. I'll let the pictures speak.

"BOY" EP + Download

2010-07-21T01:56:00.004-04:00

Here we go!

iTunes Link

Ra Ra Riot Website

Album Art + Video Preview

2010-06-26T04:03:00.005-04:00

Ra Ra Riot "Keep It Quiet" (Preview) from Barsuk Records on Vimeo.

New Album!

2010-05-25T20:06:00.007-04:00

I'm proud to stand alongside the announcement of Ra Ra Riot's second full length record!!

from Pitchfork Media:

Since releasing 2008's The Rhumb Line, string-savvy Syracuse indie pop crew Ra Ra Riot have ascended to festival mainstay status. And on August 24, they'll release the follow-up to that album, The Orchard, via Barsuk.

The band co-produced the album alongside Andrew Maury and Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla mixed nine of its 10 tracks. The other track, "Do You Remember", was mixed by from Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, RRR frontman Wes Miles' partner in the mutant-R&B side project Discovery. We've got the tracklist to The Orchard below.

The Orchard:

01 The Orchard
02 Boy
03 Too Dramatic
04 Foolish
05 Massachusetts
06 You and I Know
07 Shadowcasting
08 Do You Remember
09 Kansai
10 Keep It Quiet

Coachella 2010

2010-04-25T09:09:00.003-04:00

Death Cab July Tour Videos

2009-11-09T08:52:00.003-05:00

These are a bit overdue. Enjoy!

CATCH UP. Lollapalooza Thru Fall Tour

2009-10-30T18:59:00.014-04:00

It has man many moons since I updated this monster. A lot has happened. A lot of very exciting things have happened. I almost kind of don't know where to start. I think I will merely start where my pictures start. Gonna do this bullet style:

- Wes DJing with Rostam at the XL / Discovery listening party at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC
- Played All Points West music festival in NJ… among many acts like Vampire Weekend, Jay Z, Fleet Foxes, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
- Went out to Indiana before Lollapalooza to open a show for The Killers. Met Brandon Flowers. Are we human? Dancer.
- Traveled up to Chicago for Lollapalooza. Played for 12,000 people at 12:30 pm on the mainstage. Largest crowd watching Ra Ra Riot ever.
- Played a show at the Hard Rock Hotel afterparty. The dressing room was an indie rocker sponge.
- Tracked some demos in the farm lands of upstate NY. More absurd rainbows.
- Kicked off the Fall '09 tour with Princeton and Maps & Atlases
- Went to a Dallas Stars game. Saw a great fight.
- Sold out some huge shows, including the 9:30 Club in DC and The Paradise in Boston.

The near future holds a very exciting schedule. Stay tuned. I also plan to put a video together to post in a few days covering the listed events.

DCFC Tour #3

2009-05-14T17:01:00.007-04:00

Here we are in the end of the April Death Cab For Cutie tour. This entry actually spans quite a length of time, I think starting around when we were in Michigan. Geographically, that means that this covers 3/4 of the travelling we did on this tour. I must also note that one of those drives was from San Diego to Austin in 24 hours. *pat on the back*

All in all, this tour was fantastic. We cannot thank Death Cab enough, and reallllly look forward to touring more with them in July!

"Can You Tell" Single

2009-05-06T23:34:00.007-04:00

Ra Ra Riot's first official single for "Can You Tell" is released! Click the link above to connect to iTunes. Its got some reallllly awesome bonus tracks and videos. Pick it up, only 2.99!

DCFC Tour #2

2009-04-17T13:08:00.007-04:00

First off, I must establish what happened in Tulsa, OK on Easter Sunday during Ra Ra Riot's set.

Yes, that's Death Cab in the suits. Jason McGerr actually PURCHASED his costume (the rest rented). He flew home the next day, took a car from the airport, changed, and surprised his wife and kids dressed as the easter bunny. Cool dad huh? And he plays the drums!!!

These last shows have been a blast though. Crushing, long drives (8 hrs) every day... but its worth it. Apparently this tour has propelled Ra Ra Riot back into the top 100 chart on iTunes! within about 6 shows, they appeared and climbed to #60-something. Exposure works.

We've all gotten cozier with the members of Death Cab and Cold War Kids, and there's been a streak of poker games in the green room before and after shows. Chips and all. Rebecca is notoriously good. How appropriate, she's sly like that.

Got a new video up here, its an action packed 10-minute long journey. Largely featuring Mathieu Santos doing silly crap. The camera loves it.

Death Cab For Cutie #1

2009-04-12T01:50:00.004-04:00

Here's the good stuff. We embark on a month long tour opening for Death Cab For Cutie with Cold War Kids.

Our first show was in Toronto the day after Webster Hall in NYC... that was a hell drive. Departing at 6 am, we arrived in Toronto around 5 to the venue. Within minutes we had all met Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Nick Harmer, and Jason McGerr of Death Cab. It was entirely thrilling to be greeted so kindly at the onset of the tour. They truly made an effort to introduce themselves and make us feel welcome. All we can talk about is how cool they are. There have been countless times when Death Cab members have come over to Ra Ra Riot's dressing room territory or dining tables in the catering room to hang out and chat. For me, it was wild meeting them. And it remains to be wild. Death Cab is a top-five favorite band of mine.

That first Toronto show went great. Ra Ra Riot played a standup 25-minute set for a crowd of about 1000; Many of whom had intentions of catching them as the opener. Next, we played a large theater in Upper Darby Pennsylvania just outside of Philly, followed by DAR Constitution Hall in D.C., Davidson College, and another fantastic, ornate theater in Louisville Kentucky.

As Ra Ra Riot's front-of-house sound engineer, this tour has been really exciting for me. I will admit that I was a bit intimidated by the notion of mixing every night on a large, flown, line array PA in large rooms with a digital console that I have never used before. But this stuff is state of the art technology, and its surprisingly intuitive and easy to use. The coolest thing about the console is that, because its digital, every adjustment and bit of progress I make at each show is stored at the end of the set, and loaded up at the next venue we play. The band's mix has gotten progressively tighter and stronger... almost eliminating the need for a lengthy sound check. Working with the system technician (employee of the hired production company that brings semi's of lights, stage, and PA to every show) and Will, Death Cab's sound engineer, has been so helpful.

Merch sales have been INSANE every night on this tour. dozens of CDs/vinyls, and catastrophic amounts of t-shirts.

Really looking forward to the rest of this tour. Check out the first video I put together.
Till next time

Indiana Through NYC

2009-04-11T17:38:00.005-04:00

Just a video and some pics:

SXSW

2009-04-11T01:40:00.005-04:00

SXSW Activities Recap. I think this is somewhat accurate... its a very homogenous experience and hard to sort out what happened which day. But a blast nonetheless!

DAY 1:

- Thursday night arrival
- Caught Dirty Projectors at the Emo's Annex
- Somehow took an hour to attain street vendor food
- Ran into 15 people we knew within 15 feet of walking
- Mathieu goes to the hospital because of a worsening chest pain
- Walked to a fake address to find the "Playboy Party"
- Found the real address, and took a cab there
- It was lame.
- Josh Milo and I are forcefully handed $20 each from a crazy girl desperate for our passes to that party... ?
- Run into more friends. It never ends.
- End up at an after-party at a Dillard hotel suite

DAY 2:

- Mathieu learned from his hospital visit that he is okay, just has a strained muscle and not a life threatening heart ailment.
- Went to a free lunch/gifting event
- Went to the Fader Fort to get some Levi's stuff
- Load in at Radio Room for Ra Ra Riot's first show at SXSW
- Run into my buddies Elizabeth Dilk, André and Liz Anjos, and some cool kids we met from our recent McCallen, Texas show
- I go to the Verizon store because my phone has decided to stop working. Good timing, right?
- Hang out with the Princeton boys
- Go to see Princeton play at Maggie Mae's
- Walk around a bunch
- BBQ dinner at Stubb's
- Back to Maggie Mae's to see Au Revoir Simone
- Throw a bit of a party afterwards at the hotel

DAY 3:

- Ra Ra Riot play at the Rachel Ray party
- We get awesome food and vouchers for free Crocs
- Go to the Myspace/Spin Party and get some free shoes
- Load in to The Parish for Ra Ra Riot's performance at the Barsuk Showcase
- Back to the hotel to rest up, get ready for the show
- Head to the Parish, play an amazing set at 1am
- Wes chats with Drew Barrymore after the show for a sizeable amount of time
- We wander to some party, but ultimately decide to head back to the hotel to call it a wrap

The next entry will briefly take you through the rest of this leg of the tour, playing some more of middle America. There will be the best Ra Ra Ra fight scene yet too. And yes Mat is the victim of excruciating violence, again.

THEN DEATH CAB TOUR!
thank you, come again.

Texas & Tokyo Police Club

2009-03-29T13:09:00.000-04:00

This was a part of the tour I was really looking forward to. And I have to say, it was as thrilling as I imagined it to be. We played six shows opening for Tokyo Police Club in and around Texas with another great Toronto band called Ruby Coast. Keep your eye on Ruby Coast; They're fun.

Tokyo Police Club has been one of my favorite bands for the past two years. If you had told me I'd be going on tour with them and hanging out with them for a week, I wouldn't believe you. They are cool dudes, and really exciting to watch night after night.

We played the Harvest of Hope festival in St, Augustine FL, then travelled to New Orleans, Houston, McCallen TX, San Antonio, Dallas, and Omaha. Just as we started to feel cozy, the tour was over, and time to head back to Austin for SXSW.

Catch the SXSW entry next!

West Coast - Spring 2009

2009-03-26T21:27:00.011-04:00

Towards the end of February, flights brought us together in Seattle for a string of dates down the west coast playing with openers Cut Off Your Hands from New Zealand, and Telekinesis from Seattle.

I'm inclined to tailor a few of these entries a bit more like a photo-blog... but heres a little bullet list of what we did for these west coast dates:

- Barsuk dinner party at Josh Rosenfeld's lovely home
- Unnecessary Canadian border search
- Vancouver show
- Scenic ferry ride to Victoria, BC
- Show in Victoria
- More unnecessary Canadian border hold ups
- Day off in Seattle
- Expensive trip to Whole Foods and decadent fancy-beer tasting
- Portland show at the Doug Fir Lounge
- Hours of violent sprees playing GTA4 in the van (our Dodge Sprinter was pretty tricked out)
- Seattle show
- San Francisco Noise Pop Festival, show at The Independent
- 800 capacity sellout show at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles
- Visit with the Princeton boyz
- San Diego college show
- Savory dinner at The Linkery
- Studio performance for KCRW - "Morning Becomes Eclectic"
- Costa Mesa show
- Return to LA to perform on Craig Fergusen
- Flights back east

Be sure to check out my little video on this segment too. its got some cool time lapse segments that I pulled off with a handy tripod.
'Till Texas.

Misc / Pre-Tour 2009

2009-03-25T10:24:00.010-04:00

Phew! Time to catch up with this blog. For those of you who are just tuning in, my name is Andrew Maury and I'm Ra Ra Riot's US live sound engineer. My incessant need to feel busy results in hundreds of pictures and videos via point-and-shoot camera. Inevitably, the touring life yields some great media.

My previously documented fall tour was an exciting one; Headlining some big venues in major cities and playing a lot of new places. Ra Ra Riot circled the entire country in September and October, did some dates in europe, and then hit some secondary US east-coast markets in December with our good friends in Princeton and So Many Dynamos. We've been meeting so many new friends and have really enjoyed our travels.

Coming out of the holiday season, Ra Ra Riot hit up Europe again for 2 weeks or so, followed by some random shows and embarking on a new long tour in the US. Opened a benefit concert for Regina Spektor, opened for Andrew Bird in Philly, played some university shows in the north east. My blog (belatedly) picks up circa January 2009. Stay tuned for more entries in the coming weeks. As I type this, we drive to Bloomington, Indiana. This blog is bound to catch you up on our recent west coast shows (Vancouver through San Diego), shows in and out of Texas with Tokyo Police Club and Ruby Coast, our trip to South By South West in Austin, and our upcoming April tour, opening for Death Cab For Cutie / Cold War Kids.

Enjoy!
-Andrew

Fall 2008 Index

2008-10-22T15:18:00.008-04:00

Because blogger.com starts to archive pages, I figured I'd provide a list of links to all the entries:

1) Introduction & Preface
2) Late Night With Conan O'Brien
3) Canada: Shows & Thieves!
4) New York Pt. 1
5) Midwest
6) Westward
7) Northwest America & Vancouver
8) Southwest: From Hollywood to Deserts
9) Texas To Florida
10) Atlanta: Laundry, Performance, and Elevator Riding
11) D.C. & David Letterman
12) Philly, New York, and the Boston Finale

Philly, New York, & The Boston Finale

2008-10-22T12:35:00.022-04:00

And here we are in the final entry for Ra Ra Riot's 2008 US tour. Thanks to everyone and anyone who read along!

Our journey picks up in Philadelphia, where we loaded in to play NPR's World Cafe; and incredible studio with a huge, long history. We played at Johnny Brenda's that night, which was a great show in an intimate stage. The show was a bit quirky too, because the Phillies won in the middle of the set. Someone in the audience shouted "PHILLIES WONNN WOOO!!!" the audience of course was crazy for that. Wes actually had to calm them down a bit, and thank them for staying to watch the show. People were honking in the streets all night.

The most anticipated show all along was definitely Bowery Ballroom. We arrived back in NYC on a thursday morning after playing Philadelphia and staying at Wes' place in Frenchtown NJ. After a quick acoustic radio session, we headed to the lower east side to kill some time... eating at the famous Katz's Deli and playing with fancy shit at Ludlow Guitars. By fancy, I mean the $700 Moog Analog Delay pedal that Milo is itching to get, and what looked to be a vintage Rickenbacker bass that Mat was plucking on. By 3:00, we headed to Bowery to load in and meet my buddy Lane Crouse who we hired to direct lighting for the New York shows. It was so nice to be able to start working so early in the day and have more than enough time to work out any problems, and most importanly, just feel comfortable with everything. Especially cause this was the most intense sound rig I have laid my hands on.

Kenny, the in house sound dude at Bowery, was a great help. He gave me a quick and friendly run down of all his gear; Which compressors work well for vocals and snare, which reverb presets he prefers for the room, which gain pads I could expect to use on certain things (am I impressing you with all this tech talk?!?!). In the meantime, Lane was busy at work programming scenes in the house lighting system as well as the LED strips we rented from a place uptown that were placed on the bands gear, so as to illuminate it all with coordinated, vibrant color. The band played the hell out of their set. Here are some pictures on Brooklyn Vegan

The following day, we headed uptown to the Rockefeller center area to play a set at Sirius Radio in studio. The Sirius complex is quite extravagant, with a sleek lobby and hallway system. Each studio is made of acoustically treated double-glass walls; including the room (called "The Fishbowl") that the band played in. The performance was great, because it was graced by real acoustic instruments... including Allie's real cello, Becca's real violin, Milo's old acoustic guitar, and a provided Baldwin baby grand piano that Wes played. The performance will start to air on the Sirius channel "Left Of Center" in a few weeks I believe.

Just after this, we made a ridiculous journey through the Times Square area about three times, trying to find a gas station. Finally, we ditched that and headed down towards the FDR highway. Traffic sucked. But we pulled it off and made our way to Brooklyn for the Music Hall of Williamsburg show. The venue was really exciting to load in to, because it felt like a really legitimate concert venue. Large, wide stage and big system, and a digital console. It was my first hands-on experience with one where I had to use it to a large extent, actually. But I got the hang of it quickly, and it turned out to be quite convenient compared to most analog systems.

Come show-time when the house lights and music went down, the audience roared. I got one of the most intense adrenaline rushes I've ever had. It suddenly hit me that this was a seriously exciting show to be a part of. The band opened with "Each Year," a perfect song to get the audience riled up for the full entrance. Once the drums came in and Lane hit the big lights, I was in heaven. It simply looked and sounded incredible. My girlfriend Martha and long time friend, Elizabeth, joined me and Lane in the control booth for the duration of the show. I will also mention that watching Lane run the lighting console is a show in and of itself. Haha... damn, I hope to work with him again soon. His expertise and instincts as an LD took the New York shows to a whole new level. Even Mat in the band said he could feel the lighting changes coordinate with the moods of the music on stage. Kudos, Lane.

The band also pulled a new song out of their hat for this show... currently entitled "Foolish." They planned to play it the previous night at Bowery, but "chickened out" as Wes told the audience. The crowd clearly wanted it though, interrupting Wes with applause and screaming. They did play it, and it was amazing. I recorded the show in really nice quality too, so I just might post something from the show on here in a little... check back.

We finished up the tour the next day in Boston at The Middle East Downstairs. Several friends/fans were at this show to join us for the night, including my brother Patrick and his friends from UVM, Boston superfan John Erwin, and one of my best friends from college, Chris D'Errico with his family. The show was a great ending to the tour, and we were able to round up everyone for a big family picture with the Morning Benders, Walter Meego, and Ra Ra Riot (see below at the very bottom).

As some final notes, I cannot tell you how excited I am to have been a part of this tour. Being on the road with an up-and-coming band has been a dream of mine for much of my life, and to be able to do it with such a nice, fun group of people has been simply incredible. For any of you who have watched the video diaries posted on this blog, I'm sure you can tell its a blast hanging out with Ra Ra Riot. I'd like to thank Pepi Ginsberg, Tim, Chris, Joe, Julian, and Brian with The Morning Benders, Colin, Andrew, and Justin of Walter Meego, and of course, Mat, Becca, Allie, Wes, Milo, Gabe, Elise, and Josh with Ra Ra Riot for the amazing experience. I HEAVILY look forward to doing this again in the upcoming December tour!

I'll probably pick this blog up again... stay tuned!

-Andrew

D.C. and David Letterman

2008-10-21T12:11:00.014-04:00

Next up, Washington D.C. The band was originally scheduled to play the "downstairs" room at the Black Cat; a room that they had played before. Frankly, they've outgrown it. Between great ticket sales and a bit of a gut feeling, the show was moved upstairs to the 700-person capacity, sprawling floor, upstairs mainstage. The band was hoping to sell about 400 tickets or so... just enough to fill the space in front of the stage comfortably. However, the show was a monster. 638 heads were counted by the end of the night. The band was ecstatic to have done so well, and over their expectations by 200-something people. The show itself was fantastic. They nailed every song and the production value of the venue is superb. Great staff, great PA, great lights, intimate vibe.

The only downside of this show was of course the fact that we had to leave ASAP to drive to NYC for Letterman and get there by... yes... FOUR THIRTY A.M.

Needless to say, that timing didn't work out too well. Elise and I split the drive and were able to make it in by 5:15 to load in. The next let down was that they were to do a line check after setting up. The band was dying to sleep, so I stepped up to take care of line check for them. They wen't back to Josh/Becca's apartments to sleep, while I fudged my way as a violinist and cellist. Hit some drums, played Milo's guitar, etc. It was a pretty stressful scenario actually. The stage hands want nothing all in the world except for you to do exactly what they ask you, perfectly, immediately, and without your two cents. Then I slept from 8am-12 noon in the green room, awkwardly.

The band came later, and we did a sound check with camera's and all. I sat in the mixing room in the basement with the head sound engineer in front of the most massive digital SSL console I could imagine. I was much more confident this time around than I was with the Conan experience, giving some thoughts to as to how the mix of the band should be, and the engineer was much more open to suggestions. They performed "Can You Tell," and felt much less nervous about the whole process, having done something similar to this before with Conan. But overall, I think the Letterman experience was a bit "bigger" in its scale. Conan's production felt homey.

Check out the performance on youtube below, and some of my backstage footage!

Atlanta - Laundry, Performance, and Elevator Riding

2008-10-21T11:21:00.006-04:00

I apologize again for any dedicated fans who were hoping for a few timely last entries. The tour is in fact over now that I'm writing this, but I'm gona break the remainder of the journey into three parts.

We left off in the travels to Atlanta, where we got to stay for two days because of a day off. Our hotel sported a giant open lobby, with Star-Wars like elevators that accelerated up and down through openings in the ceiling on each floor. We were heavily amused by this, and also the set of elevators that rode along the outside of the building. We spent that night merely hanging out in the hotel rooms, watching the office, the daily show, playing on our laptops. Things like that. The following morning, Gabe, Mat and myself went to a local Atlanta laundromat to wash our dirty clothes in some real nice industrial grade washers. Only these washers could get the job done.

By that night, we had loaded into the Drunken Unicorn. The bar was a bit deceiving to find, for there was literally no sign above the venue doors. I guess you either knew or didn't know where the venue was. Regardless, it was packed. I wanna venture to say that it sold out too... but I'm not sure. This show, interestingly, had some of the most intense audience members on the tour. They were wild for Ra Ra Riot; and for the first show the whole tour, the band played two songs in the encore. But most of the band didn't know this would happen. They actually plotted to play "Everest" off their self-titled EP to change things up for the first time on the tour. It was great of course, but immediately at the last attack that ends "Everest," Gabe launched into the drum beat for their classic encore tune, "Hounds of Love." The band's semi suprised/terrified glaces at Gabe suddenly turned to smiles. Gabe is clever like that.

We rode back in the van to the hotel, where Wes hilariously taunted Mat with a wad of many hundreds of merch-dollars; all while singing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. Watch the video below. Andrew from Walter Meego came up to join us in the hotel, and challenged our hotel to their hotel (across the street) in an intense-elevator contest. We swore by our elevator's coolness, but apparently the one across the street was out of this world. And it was. I'll let the video do the talking below...

Texas to Florida

2008-10-09T23:47:00.019-04:00

The lone star state had three shows in store for us: Dallas, Austin, and Houston. In our first night, we stayed at the weirdest hotel I could possibly imagine. It felt like it used to be a convention center, which was strangely bought by a hotel chain, and converted on an unrealistic budget. The rooms were located along the perimeter of a GIANT open room, with a sprawling floor and ceiling. The most pathetic mini-golf course was located next to a weird hot tub and gym, enclosed in a bubble-like room, along with tons of couches and chairs. The whole floor was large enough to be a casino floor. Mat had a fleeting thought of playing a paintball tournament there.

We pull up to The Loft in Dallas to a giant marquee that read "RA RA RIOTS." It reminded me of Spinal Tap, when they are playing a daytime theater show in an amusement park or whatever, where the sign reads: "PUPPET SHOW" and then just under it "SPINAL TAP." We tried to have it changed, but no one ended up getting around to it I guess. We did a sound check and went down to the bar to catch the end of the VP debate and get dinner. A certain Sarah Palin provided our pre-show entertainment. The venue was cool though; Located on the second story of the building next to a giant patio that had a view of the Dallas city line. The show was mildly attended, but still quite energetic and exciting given the numbers. That night, we stayed in a downtown hotel on the 27th floor. Quite a view.

We travelled further into Texas to Austin, which I can safely say is one of my favorite cities experienced on this tour. The downtown streets are made up of BBQ restuarants and music venues that ALL have bands playing in them. Its a really cool vibe of nightlife, people, and music.

We played an afternoon in-store performance at Waterloo, which is a great, true music store. lots of cool stuff, vinyls, merch, and a modest stage for bands to play on. We got little discounts and free shirts too. Immediately after playing, we had to reload the van, and unload again at the venue; The Parish. This was I think the nicest and largest venue thus far on the tour. That show was unbelievable, and people were literally SCREAMING "encore" at a rapid rate, moments after the band left the stage from the main set. This audience was 100% determined to incite an encore, as if it had been planned a half hour ago. There have been some really iffy moments after the set's finale of "Dying Is Fine" at some venues in smaller markets. Moments where there's alllllmost enough cheering to warrant an encore, but not quite enough. Its always satisfying to see people go crazy for one at shows like this. The band performed their high-energy cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love."

We later got to Houston where we played another in-store performance. There was a shockingly large following of people who had clearly come to see the band too, which was great. The following day we all went back and spent probably an hour looking around and buying stuff. I snagged The Police's Zenyatta Mondatta on vinyl in a used box for 97 cents, and U2's The Unforgettable Fire for like 7 bucks. So excited to play them later and hear their crunchy magical sounds.

That night we played Rudyards tavern/bar. Small, grungy bar type place with an upstairs venue. Toyota is sponsoring some of the shows in this tour, and they bring this decadent car with a tricked out back hatch, lights, plasma TV, and PS3 with ROCK BAND set up behind the car. We played for hours before the show.

After these shows, we had two days off to drive through the south to Florida. We stopped at a cool cajun restaurant in Louisiana, stayed the night in Gainesville, FL, and stopped in Pensacola, FL where we went to an open, empty white-sand beach in Pensacola to hang out for a while. It was cloudy out unfortunately, so not all of us went in the ocean. Wes did. We then finished the drive to Orlando, in which Milo drove the entire way, and Mat navigated the entire way. 750 miles approximately from Texas to our Florida destination. Unbelievable.

Since then, we have played a show in Orlando, and a college show at FSU's "Club Down Under." Another student center concert event like the one at Case Western. This one was a blast though. I told everyone involved that it was my favorite PA to mix on so far... because it was extremely well designed, placed, and tuned. Mixing Ra Ra Riot was a true pleasure that night, and I stepped in on the lighting controller to run the lights here and there with my other hand. The crowd of 250 students that came loved it. Check out this Review from an FSU student!

We are now in Atlanta at a hotel in another day off, and will be playing a show tomorrow night. I foresee a massive laundry batch tomorrow. PEACE

Southwest - From Hollywood to Deserts

2008-10-06T12:44:00.009-04:00

There is a drought of free internet at hotels throughout southwest America. Sorry for the massive delay in updates.

The trail picks up in LA... an exciting destination for me because I had never been there before in my life. I really felt Los Angeles hit me when we stopped at an In 'N Out. My good friend and college roommate is from LA, and I now see why the place is seemingly regarded in a religious manner. This is GOOD fast food. It puts McDonalds and BK to shame. The employees are freakishly nice too, almost in a Stepford Wives kind of way.

Arrival at the venue was successfully on time, allowing for a very thorough sound check and comfortable grace period before the show. In that period, I went to the UPS night-pickup center in downtown LA with Wes to pick up a new shipment of Ra Ra Riot shirts, a box of lights that we accidentally left in Lawrence. I was fortunate enough to happen to have a friend in Kansas who came to the show and was willing to help us out with the lost goods. What are the chances?

"The Echo" is a sub-venue of the Echo Plex next door, which apparently has much larger shows. But the capacity at our venue was maxed out at about 400 people for a sell-out show. It was a particularly fun show for me because I got to meet up with my cousin from California and many of my Syracuse friends who moved out to LA after graduation. The show was vibrant and energetic, as always.

We had the next two days off to do kind of whatever we wanted. The band was invited to the Puma Office/Warehouse in LA to get some free goods, and I was fortunate enough to be able to tag along and get some shoes. That evening after watching the first presidential debate with the band, I headed up to Burbank to spend the rest of the break with my Syracuse friends. A trip to Amoeba music and a waffle restaurant for brunch on Sunset Blvd was quite fun and "LA," but instantly crushed in novelty by a hike to the top of the Los Angeles hills. It was probably the most incredible view I've ever seen. You could see the entire valley, downtown LA in the distance, the ocean, and a perfectly colored sunset.

Next up was San Diego, where we rolled in to a restaurant called The Linkery, where Milo's brother is one of the head chefs. We were treated like kings there, enjoying I think 4 rounds of appetizers, and one of the best meals we've ever had. So good that Wes made a 30 second speech out of it on stage between songs. The crowd went nuts at the reference... so apparently this place is well known in town.

The show itself was in a very very small room. But the sound was great and the attendance was solid. The Morning Benders joined the tour at this show, who have been opening support ever since. They are really likable, nice, cooperative guys, as well as great musicians. To put it quickly from my gut reaction, their music is of a Beatles influence with a style similar to The Walkmen. Check them out: The Morning Benders.

We then drove all the way through the Arizona desert to Phoenix, where we stayed with Allie's great aunt. Its a beautiful home; complemented by a really nice backyard pool. I think we would have gone in it if we had more time to relax. Especially since its a HUNDRED degrees there. The show in phoenix was at a little tiny place called Modified Arts, which is basically a little boutique art gallery with a stage. The technical aspects of this place were less-than-easy to work with, but we made it happen, drawing a dedicated 100 people or so into the small room.

The band encountered an amusing musical blunder at that show, which is something I have never seen them do, given their extremely professional nature. It was funny, if anything. They kicked off St. Peter's Day Festival perhaps a bit prematurely, such that Wes's reference to the key of the song was missing. I think Milo might have given him the wrong chord or something also. Anyway, the whole song started strangely out of key and fell apart within a matter of seconds. Give me a D! give me a D!" .... **D chorddddd...** ... "Jeeez. Ifffff I go to Gloucester you know I will wait there for youuu" and so on. The quick reset and recovery was actually pretty impressive, and a unique "human" asset to the show!

Tuscon's Plush was an incredible show the following night, bringing in quite a few people in a market that the band had never played before. I will say, while I cant feel the same thing the band members do when they see people singing along to their songs, it is really really cool to see how many people choose to come to a venue to see them play every night around the entire country. They truly do have a growing fanbase that is as intruiged before the show as they are satisfied by the end.

In the midst of this all, my buddy Lane Crouse and I have been plotting a scheme of visual magic for the Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg shows. We've been in a dialogue with PRG, a production company that rents lights and such. Prepare to see Ra Ra Riot like you've never seen before if you're coming to either of those shows.

Texas and more to come later!

Northwest America and Vancouver

2008-09-26T14:26:00.009-04:00

Vancouver was a smooth ride. No thefts. 'Twas a quick drive up from Seattle, despite a little traffic jam at the Canadian border. Customs were surprisingly easier here than on our entrance to Montreal a few weeks back. Vancouver's city line is quite remarkable. The most fascinating thing about it is that almost all of the high rise buildings look the same... as if they were designed by the same architect. Mountains topped in fog are just off to the side, and the view over the water is really cool. We had about an hour to kill before the show at The Media Club. Wes, Mat, and I walked around downtown and encountered two of the strangest, strangest things we had ever seen:

A young woman, eclectically dressed, shouts at us as we walk by on the sidewalk, REALLY rapidly, "hey hey, you guys have any change? I know you have some I hear it clinking around in your pocket! C'mon c'mon I'm not gonna spend it on crack or anything I just want to do ACID tonight c'mon c'mon" (we are now passing her) "no? no change? ok. ok thats cool AT LEAST IM NOT F#@&ING EMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I don't think she liked us. We later realized that we should have arrogantly refuted; "WE'RE NOT EMO, WE'RE INDIE."

Right after that, we witnessed a man scavenging the streets for used cigarettes. He had a little bag full of butts, and kneeled down just in our path on the sidewalk, took a cigarette out of his collection, put it on the ground, picked up another one, and placed it in his bag. It seemed that he had made a good decision.

We drove back into the US after the show and stayed in Bellingham, WA, where we would depart from the next morning down to Portland. The Doug Fir Lounge is a restaurant/bar/venue/hotel complex, decorated in an interesting, contemporary-rustic vibe. The facility is actually incredibly nice, the stage is spacious, and the PA is extremely well built. While the performance was great, the crowd actually wasn't too interested in making a party of the show. It was a Monday night, so I think everyone was a bit tired. Apparently Ra Ra Riot and Walter Meego weren't though. We extended the night up at the bar and hotel rooms. Oh, and make sure you check out Wes' sweet V-Drums Power Ranger illustration on the hotel door chalk board in the pictures below.

We then drove down to Oakland by late the next night, just outside of San Franscisco because the hotel rate was cheaper there. The next day, we drove in over the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge and up to Ghiradelli Square, where we got some super decadent shakes. Gabe noticed that his body ached afterwards. I think we all sort of agreed, but they were damn tasty. We then climbed all the way through the city to the center where the venue was. Rickshaw Stop was a delightful place to play because of its large room, dual balcony, and comfy backstage. Our sound check was particularly successful, which made me happy. The show would go on to sell out, hosting about 350 AWESOME audience members who danced, jumped, shouted, sang, and rocked out the whole time. Great night.

We are now heading down I-5 to LA. I'm hella excited to get there, play a show, and then enjoy two days off to catch up with all my Syracuse film/TV grad-mates who moved out here. And go to the beach. And hang out with Walter Meego at their house. Because they have a pool. Yes.

(For those of you who follow this blog in "real time," pardon the one or two day delay in story telling. Internet is sort of hard to come by on the road)

Westward

2008-09-22T05:36:00.012-04:00

Ok, this is a long one. The documentation continues at the Lawrence, Kansas show at the Jackpot Saloon. Tiny little place. More like a bar with a stage, but the crowd was sizable considering the demographic. Some great fans attended, including Megan Do; a long time superfan of the band. She baked some of the best cookies I've ever had in my life. Kudos! We topped off the evening with a great bonding event with Justin, Colin, and Andrew of Walter Meego at our hotel that night. Check em out at http://myspace.com/waltermeego. They absolutely rock, and are really fun people.

Moving to Denver, the sunrise was breathtaking... and the one in Salt Lake that we woke up to in our 17th store balcony hotel room blew my mind. Picture below. Attendance was great in Denver. In fact, I believe it sold out, or almost sold out. Salt Lake City's show was probably the most unique show on the tour so far. The venue was actually not a venue, but an interesting cul de sac that has been transformed into a garage-concert-complex. Separate stage, green room, and merch table sheds make up "Kilby Court," all surrounding the dead end of the humble neighborhood road. In our time before the show, we enjoyed a fantastic spectacle, in which Mat and Wes riffed at the ping pong table. It has officially become a highlight of the tour that I catch them doing the silliest of things on film without their knowledge. The show was cool though, and the crowd was a unique, genuine collection of music fans.

Boise took us into the beautiful mountainous region of the country; Although we opted to drive around them because of our high gas consumption and heavy freight. Regardless, the views were incredible. We played an in-store performance at The Record Exchange, which is attached to Neurolux, the venue in Boise.

Our through-the-night drive to Seattle was a rough one. Another floor slumber for me. But damn, Seattle is a cool city. I've never been, and instantly fell in love with the way it feels. The air is refreshing and the geography is unique. The streets are clean, the trees are green, and there seem to be so many different nooks and neighborhoods throughout. I could do without the constant drizzling rain though. We played live on air at KEPX, Seattle's biggest radio station. The performance was a bit nerve racking given its large live audience, but it was solid nonethless. Ra Ra Riot's newest "family members" at Barsuk Records trickled into our travels throughout the first day in Seattle. Josh, Adam, Vanessa, Grant, Becca, Gabe, Milo, Elise, and myself went to see Menomena (a Barsuk band as well) and The National perform at the Moore Theater in downtown Seattle. After that, went out for some late night sushi and drinks. The other stragglers of the band opted for a rivaling McDonalds run and hot tub session at the hotel that night.

The next morning, we had brunch at the lovely home of Josh Rosenfeld (Barsuk Records' founder). Bagels, lox, tomato, basil, and cream cheese later, we left for King Cobra, the Seattle show that drew a very complete, 300-person crowd. The Barsuk staff and Ryan Hadlock (Producer of The Rhumb Line) all loved the show. It was a proud night for sure.

We're now on our way to VanCouver. Josh Roth and I are joking on BBM right now about how incredibly armed we are going to be for any attempted robbery. Don't even try. Actually, we just decided that we're going to return to the US border after the show.

See you somewhere down the west coast!

Midwest

2008-09-14T17:35:00.043-04:00

Upon arriving at The Basement in Columbus, Ohio, we loaded in, sound checked, and dispersed for dinner items. "Shiv" from Cincinnati's WOXY.com came to suprise the band with his presence. He's a long time friend of Ra Ra Riot from their many performances and interviews at the station. I've heard his voice and seen pictures many times, so it was cool to meet him.

Our next show was in Cleveland at a Case Western University Lounge/Bar attached to a dining hall. The room had a small little stage, low ceilings, ample PA, some lights. It reminded me a lot of Schine Underground actually at Syracuse University (for those of you who know it). About 200 students came, which was great given the size of the room.

We then trekked to Chicago, where we were invited to stop by the Threadless office/warehouse (Threadless.com, the t-shirt company). It was a pretty wild, extravagant, fun place with crazy murals, ping pong, deer hunter arcade game, a photo booth, and tons of people hanging out. Reminded me of an MTV Real World house. They let us raid the warehouse, free of charge. Snagged some cool hoodies and t's.

The show at Subterranean was perhaps the largest venue yet on the tour. Pepi Ginsberg joined us starting this show as support before Walter Meego (the tour's main support). I tracked Walter Meego's performance on my 8-channel firewire interface to my laptop and came up with a great mix. Here's a sample:

Walter Meego - Lost (Live @ Subterranean)

After a damn long drive up to minneapolis, we loaded into what would become our favorite venue so far on the tour: "7th Street Entry," the sister, sub-venue of the large "First Avenue" venue. The stage is intimate, clean, and interestingly shaped. The PA was well tuned and the lights were exciting. I brought a few par cans along with a mini fogger and small controller; which I've been setting up on the floor in the backline. They've been a nice compliment to the in house lighting systems; which are often limited in their control. Here's a great video someone posted of St. Peter's Day Festival:

Come the morning after the incredible show, they played a quick performance at the Univeristy of Minneapolis' radio station and did a little interview. It should be available somewhere within Radio K soon.

Two days ago we drove ALL DAY to Lawrence, KS. And here I am at a hotel. Which is very humid because the centerpiece of the facility is an indoor pool. Mat and I also had a friendly chat (which was actually just a series of veiled, sarcastic attacks from both parties) with some totally bro'd out, drunk, kansas dudes on our way into the hotel, whom embodied every stereotype demonstrated in that RV scene in the Borat movie. They "liked" our jeans, asked me if I was straight, twice, and referred to allie, becca, and elise as anything but "girls" or "females." I think you catch my drift. It was somewhat amusing. Lawrence is a cool town though. Its pretty homey. Westward!

New York Pt. 1

2008-09-10T11:27:00.005-04:00

By the time of that third robbery attempt, it was well decided that we were bound for the US as soon as possible. So, to Niagra Falls, just inside the border. It was definitely one of those disorienting nights, where you leave the venue at 2am, fall asleep on the floor behind the 2nd bench in the van, wake up with heightened senses to a gas nozzle slamming into the metal right next to your head. You fall asleep again, and wake up outside a hotel, slug your crap inside, and go to bed... again. what?

By the next evening, we loaded into Mojo's in Jamestown, NY. Despite the fact that it was a tiny bar with a makeshift stage region, the crowd was ferocious. Crowd surfing. In a 12x12 floor space. In the heat of it all, someone managed to spill a beer all over the Alesis. That, I suppose, is a sign of a great show.

Next up was Rochester's Bug Jar. The bar had apparently had some issues with a fight and police reprimand for being over capacity a few night before, so when the bar started to fill up for the show, and people were still flooding in from the outside, they had to cut off attendance. There was a line of about 20 dedicated people who were forced to wait outside until some more people left. We were glad that the show was drawing a large crowd, but felt bad for those who couldn't make it in right away. Things seemed to work out though. The show was awesome, and threw the band some obstacles with a faulty violin amp and a broken cello string late in the set. Wes put it best: "Sorry we got so much broke-ass shit." But I don't think anyone minded. The room was was full of positive energy from start to finish.

Syracuse started as an early morning, loading into the large-scale, outdoor-field show at 11:00 and immediate sound check. The event, "Juice Jam," is Syracuse University's beginning of the year kick-off concert; This year featuring Ra Ra Riot, Talib Kweli, and Bloc Party. Attendance was reported as the best in history for the event. All acts were great, and Bloc Party came out for their encore wearing makeshift towel-togas. I think they were slightly amused by the fact that they were playing for a mass of rowdy American college students. But not in a bad way. At least not in a way so as to deter the lead guitarist from coming to the after show house party. He was there. Girls flocking him and all.

Ohio stuff to come. 'Till then.

Canada - Shows and Thieves!

2008-09-08T16:22:00.017-04:00

Our first leg of Canada entailed the tour kickoff show at Club Lambi in Montreal, followed by a double header day in Toronto: Performing an MTV Canada broadcast in a "concert" studio/hall in the afternoon and a wild show at the Horseshoe Tavern at night.

The MTV performance was a live broadcast of "Ghost Under Rocks", followed by the taping of "Can You Tell" and "Dying Is Fine" for later airing. The stage was massive and elaborate, and on screen it looked like an awards show set with a large audience.

The show that night was absolutely packed and crazy. Dave Monks, Graham Wright, and Greg Alsop of Tokyo Police Club came out for the night to see their buddies play, and stuck around after for a few drinks. All-in-all, the Canadaian performances were fantastic. But we had some bumps along the way.

After the first show, we realized that our Tom Tom GPS unit was stolen from the van along with Gabe's video camera and Milo's dopp kit. God knows there are thousands who long to own Milo Bonacci's contacts, shaving cream, and toothbrush. Our travels to Toronto also welcomed us with an attempted prying and opening of the passenger door keyhole during the 10 minutes spent inside the venue for load in... most likely by the twice-confirmed crack den occupants next door. It was a pleasant sequel to the band's robbery of 5 laptops last tour in Montreal. Without any offense to Canada's peaceful reputation or their amazing fans at the shows, we are unfortunately not feeling the love from the nation at large. Maybe next time; The show must go on. We somehow justified the death of Tom Tom with the birth of a new Garmin GPS unit, which is now customized to display a pizza slice, chipotle burrito, or flying eagle as the vehicle icon, installed from http://garmin.com by Alexandra Lawn herself. What a techie.

Our next blog-trip will take you to Jamestown, Rochester, and Syracuse. Keep in touch.

Also check out our remix of Tokyo Police Club's "Juno" that spilled its way into the internet this weekend:

http://theremixcompany.co.uk/?p=237

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

2008-09-02T15:34:00.029-04:00

After some brief gawking at the 30 Rock building and mild hallucinating, in which Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy roamed the halls, I picked up my guest pass and scanned-in via barcode to the elevators. The 6th floor houses the entire Conan O'Brien production; Makeup rooms, green rooms, control rooms, and studio. The crew is a well oiled machine, and had the the band's gear perfectly pieced together and mic'd on a rolling platform in minutes. Every single stagehand there is a full fledged, middle aged new yoaka'.

The green room was nicely furnished with a large leather couch, homey textured wallpaper, coffee, sandwich platters, and most importantly, the band's self-installed N64 with Goldeneye. Mat and Wes tag teamed facility on 00 Agent with great success just after sound check... so thats all taken care of. In the interim between load in and sound check, Becca, Milo and I went to a music store nearby to buy some miscellaneous stuff for the tour and ran into the drummer for Vampire Weekend who was looking at a new drum set. Pretty cool.

It was entirely surreal watching the TV monitors during sound check in the live audience seating, and seeing people that you know in the "Conan" environment. Its also weird to see the studio with your own two eyes; The geography you've interpreted all these years from watching the show feels quite different in person. I met briefly with the sound mixer to hear what it was that would go to broadcast, gave a few thoughts and suggestions, told him how to do his job (just kidding), etc.

Come time to shoot the show at 5:30, we were all quite nervous. Even me, and I wasn't even doing anything. Family, friends, publicists, manager, and band mates watching the show in the green room, we all found ourselves laughing at every one of Conan's jokes... which, let's be frank, really aren't that funny. Finally, Gabe (drummer) utters through his teeth after one of these forced swells of laughter "Hahaha ha ha... its so much funnier because I'm terrified...!" That actually earned a bigger laugh than anything Conan said. Although I did enjoy the guest zoologist's baby tiger accident on Conan's tie during the interview.

Alas, they performed "Ghost Under Rocks" with great intensity and charm. Embedded on the page are pictures, the performance, and some video work I captured throughout the day. Enjoy.

Introduction & Preface

2008-08-28T08:58:00.002-04:00

I have had these grandiose ideas of involvement with music and media production ever since I was a kid, whether it be a performing guitarist in a famous rock band, lighting designer for massive arena concerts, record producer, or live sound engineer for a renowned band. Or at least something along those lines.

Somehow, by the grace of unfathomable luck, I happened to meet a group of kids in the grades above me at Syracuse University who started a band called Ra Ra Riot. Somehow, they persevered the gap after their graduation, wrote 12 incredible songs, toured themselves relentlessly for two years, built a fan base from the ground up, signed to Barsuk Records this summer, recorded those 12 incredible songs, and released an album that has Spin, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, MTV, and Pitchfork Media talking. Somehow, I managed to build enough of a relationship with this band and their extraordinary manager over the years such that they would ask me to go on tour with them this fall as their sound/production engineer.

The tour extends from September 3 until October 18; Hitting every major city (that I can think of) in the United States and Canada. We are talking Montreal, Toronto, Syracuse, Rochester, Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, Salt Lake, Van Couver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Orlando, Chapel Hill, D.C., Baltimore, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Boston, and many places in between. They will also be performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien THIS tuesday night, September 2nd at 12:30am... technically the morning of September 3rd. Tune in.

This little blog will serve as a window into my travels for these coming weeks. So far, I've been helping the band fix up their myspace page, create a tech rider for venues, purchase some new gear, and focus on stepping up the quality of live performance in both sound and stage. I hope to post stories, pictures, and videos. Enjoy, comment, and please come to a show if you can. And pick up their album entitled The Rhumb Line. It is fantastic.

http://myspace.com/rarariot

http://rarariot.com