The night before, they sold out Schubas in Chicago. Madison? A moderate crowd of varying demographics that came very close to filling up the entire cafeteria masquerading as Club 770. MoB caught up with the Ra Ra Riot’s string section and drummer to discuss the past two years and the great beyond.

The band formed on January 17th, 2006 and by August they played enough house parties around Syracuse to secure an “eight shows in twelve nights tour,” but their lead singer bailed for Portland with his girlfriend. Without a front man or the apathy to quit in the wake of his departure, keyboard player Wes Miles stepped up and took over vocal duties. When I mentioned that this may be a reason why the band seems to engage in a dance party on stage, with constant movement and interaction, violinist Rebecca Zeller agreed saying, “When [ex-lead singer] Shaw left, everyone was like, ‘How are you going to continue? Shaw was your stage presence.’ We were like, ‘We can dance, too.’” Cellist Alexandra Lawn added, “It was awkward and probably hilarious at first and then everyone really stepped it up because up to that point Shaw was Ra Ra Riot. There was all this pressure when all the energy left the band. People would come up to us and say, ‘Yo, I saw you with your other singer and you guys aren’t really as good any more.’”

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But that was before CMJ, before they put out the EP, and before they decided to stop the gimmicks and start working at being a band. Lawn admits, “It was gimmicky at first. We were a house party band and it was more important for boys to be jumping around in short runner shorts and using a toy as a musical instrument when I think we all wanted to make real music.” So to Seattle the group went to record at Bear Creek studios with Ryan Hadlock for what they described as “Ra Ra Riot time.” There were no emails, no jobs or classes, no business in the studio. Just living in the cabin and making music.

Then I asked for a sonic description of the album, never an easy answer:
MoB: Does it sound like the EP?
RRR: No, I hope not. More colorful. It evolved, matured. The sound quality is much better.
MoB: Can I play it at my next dance party?
RRR: You can totally dance to it. Some slow jams for people to get it on.
MoB: Love songs?
RRR: It could be love songs.
MoB: Has it gotten more serious?
RRR: I don’t think we’ve ever been serious. I think we’re more “as it is” people. We’re more comfortable with um… maybe in the beginning we were concerned with making it possible for people to dance to, making it fast. Where as now we don’t feel the pressure to make it danceable, we just write the song how we hear it. There’s a wide range of fast songs to stripped down slower vibe-like songs. It was important to not have 10 of the same songs. We wanted to make it colorful.

I was curious to see how a band shopping for a label creates an album, if they go for those radio-friendly-unit-movers or if they just make an honest record. So, I asked if the new album should be played from start to finish or if certain tracks would be highlighted. Lawn responded, “I think it’s collective in it’s way of reading the mood – It’s coherent.” Zeller added, “It’s one of those where you could put it on and listen to the whole thing. But, you’re definitely going to want to go to this song or that song to fit a certain mood. It will be tracked like a picture hopefully.”

Did they consciously create any singles, though? “We didn’t create something like that, but we will choose one. Ryan [Hadlock, producer] thought about that but it wasn’t a consideration for us. It would be nice for some tracks where you could push to radio to propel the success of the album but it was more on the back burner.”

When the mix is completed in a few weeks, then the band will shop the album, but for now they continue to tour with a second round at Daytrotter and stop at SXSW in March. Keep an eye out for a collaboration with tour mates The Virgins on Daytrotter very soon and, I predict, the new album on the right label.

-mitchell bandur

Myspace: Ra Ra Riot