Tag Results: Emo's
Red River Noise Live Review: Emo’s in Austin
Emo’s was a sad site on Wednesday. By all appearances the place was hopping just like any other show on any other night but under the surface everyone was thinking the same sad thought: I wish RX Bandits would stick together and stay on the road. When the band announced in April that the 36 dates they are playing this summer would be their last, fans mourned what they thought to be the end of one of the most forward-thinking bands of the last 10 years. It turns out this is a bit premature. The band is not breaking up entirely, they’re just pulling a Beatles-circa-1966 move. As RX Bandits, the members energy will be channelled to writing new music without the intention of ever performing it live.
Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, bass player for psychedelic jammers Zech’s Marquise, reminisced about the first time his band toured with the Bandits in 2009, saying it was only after playing with them that he realized how much his band needed to step up its live game. The El Paso native felt that the Bandits had sent out a challenge and he felt compelled to respond. Rodriguez-Lopez and Co., have evidently taken that challenge to heart. After openers Happy Body Slow Brain finished their set of ethereal indie rock, Zech’s took the stage for a 40-minute for an extended spastic, tripped out jam session. Any review of Zech’s Marquise must make note of each member’s virtuosity. The band left no note unturned and no beat unplayed as they alternated between unrestrained brutality and understated beauty. The set was composed entirely of songs from the band’s forthcoming album Getting Paid, which is set for a September 27 release through Rodriguez Lopez Productions / Sargent House.
A.V. Club Austin : Show Feature/ Interview
Like it or not, death eventually gets a chance to wrap its bony little fingers around every living thing. Bands, however, are fortunate enough to have some wiggle room with their time of expiration. The current status of Rx Bandits exemplifies this idea. In April, the Seal Beach, California-based four-piece announced that it’d embark on its last tour this summer—but by all indicators, the group won’t actually be gone for good as much as it’ll exist in the blurry state of “indefinite hiatus.”
Still, this move does close the chapter on some 15 years of heavy touring and intriguing twists. Starting out as a rather innocuous ska/punk band, the Bandits gradually morphed into an inventive batch of prog-rock/reggae players, reveling in increasingly abstract imagery and eventually shelving the horns entirely. The band’s last album, 2009’sMandala, took its name from a Sanskrit term representing the cycle of life—a choice emphasizing the band’s natural sonic progression. With the act on its way out (however temporarily), now’s the time to see Rx Bandits, as it stops at Emo’s tonight, June 29, with Maps & Atlases, Zechs Marquise, and Happy Body Slow Brain. Before the band heads into the murky unknown, The A.V. Club caught up with guitarist-keyboardist Steve Choi to discuss spontaneity, boulders, and the question he’s never been asked.
The A.V. Club: In the past, you’ve spoken repeatedly about how the band hasn’t made any conscious decisions about its direction, instead letting things happen gradually. Why does the idea of evolution appeal to you so much, as opposed to carrying out an idea that’s already been decided?
Steve Choi: I feel like we try to base a lot of our creative philosophy on the natural laws of the world. In this case, we all trust in each other’s abilities and what we bring to the table. As songwriters, Matt [Embree] and I have the capabilities to make complete songs and dictate what everyone plays and that sort of thing, but I really feel like that wouldn’t be maximizing our potential. While there are cases here and there [of things] Matt and I have done completely on our own, it would be not maximizing the sound to not have that sort of spontaneous collaboration—because once you get into that territory, you’re dealing with the subconscious. When you deal with jamming and improvisation, you’re dealing with a different part of your brain. The ideas that come out of that, more often than not, work out to be really great for us. Our approach is to write a framework and create sounds, but within the boundaries of the song, utilize all the free space we have, metaphorically speaking, [by] exercising these spontaneous ideas and even turning mistakes into parts that in that realm aren’t really mistakes.
