When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: The Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St.
Tickets: $13 in advance or $15 day of show at www.etix.com
Information: onepercentproductions.com or 884-5353
The last couple of years were spent on the road.
This year has been spent waiting.
And now that Ra Ra Riot’s new album, “The Orchard,” is out, the band can hit the road again.
The New York indie pop band has opened in Nebraska for several groups — including Death Cab for Cutie and Tokyo Police Club.
The band has become comfortable out on the road. Bassist Mathieu Santos said that after recording was completed for the record, the band members kind of sat around itching to perform.
They finally did in September, kicking off a tour with a three-night stint in New York City that got rave reviews from Big Apple publications, including the New York Times.
The same tour will bring the indie pop rock group to the Waiting Room Lounge on Friday, where Santos says they’ll be playing a good chunk of “The Orchard.”
The record sees the band taking bigger, bolder steps. The band moves in some new directions, which has caused a few music mags to cry foul, but band members are enjoying themselves.
Santos called the album a “snapshot of the band.”
“We became more self-assured in the studio, and we got to produce it ourselves. We definitely learned a lot,” Santos said. “I feel like, in some ways, it’s more cohesive. We had the liberties to take more chances and do more experimentation and learn the process, which was incredibly rewarding.”
Instead of the usual indie rock four-piece, the band’s six members create dynamic sounds with all of the instruments they’ve mastered. In addition to the usual vocalist, bassist, guitarist and drummer, Ra Ra Riot includes violinist Rebecca Zeller and cellist Alexandra Lawn.
Lawn and Zeller aren’t up there to be eye candy. Their strings are an integral part of the songs; they’re not added in later to give a song a phony feeling of depth for the listener.
“It’s a fun blend,” Santos said. “(They’re) not an afterthought. In our case they’re very heavily involved in the writing as well.”
In the end, “The Orchard” turned out to be a combination of the band’s idiosyncrasies, Santos said. And that’s what he’s proud of.
“I really feel like we’re all happiest and most proud of our work when it’s a perfect blend of everyone’s ideas and voices,” Santos said.
Contact the writer:
444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com
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