All work and no play may make Jack a dull boy, but its made New Brunswick band Rapid Cities highly efficient. Tirelessly laboring to plot their world domination in a tour spanning across the US and Europe, the quartet is slated to put out a new 7” split with Berlin buddies mOck, who will also be joining them on the road. Essentially formed by “four guys that were more or less involved in “punk rock” in New Brunswick NJ decided they wanted to do something a little left field.” (John Plural) Rapid Cities deliver an emotive and willful form of post-hardcore that dabbles in math rock, but specializes in bringing intellect along with its intensity. If you’re looking for mindless bashing and desecrating double bass, Rapid Cities is not for you. However, if you prefer a little pensiveness with your pummeling or musing in your melodies, you’re in the right place. Though the more brutish side of hardcore has replaced what once was a meeting of the minds, Rapid Cities is holding on to the notion of thoughtful aggression and honoring it as it should be honored. If you can’t take our word for it (and if you can’t then, really, why are you here?) there are plenty of fine folks singing praise for the band’s debut LP Machinery Saints to vouch for the band. Rapid Cities’ latest 7” is available for a pre-order through Love/Hate Records, and the band will be dropping by us here in Chicago on Wednesday, August 11th over at the Beat Kitchen. Show starts at 8pm, is 21+ and will cost $8 at the door.
John Terry, one of the four that make up Rapid Cities, decided to shoot the breeze with us before the band rolled through town. See what he had to say about the band’s biggest influences, what he’s been listening to all summer, and what a little band from Jersey does after managing world tour domination.
Reviewsic: Can you give us a quick recap of what the band has been up to as of late?
John Terryl: Of course. There’s been a huge amount of time and energy spent over the last several months on the upcoming U.S. and Europe tour dates (and split release) with mOck, who are our buds from Berlin. Everything from figuring out who is using what gear, how we’re going to install a trailer hitch on a van that doesn’t want a trailer hitch, to making sure we have shows on every night of the tour. And on top of that, we are also crazy enough to be putting out a record and promoting that simultaneously alongside the tour. All work and no play! Communicating all this between four guys across New Jersey and then with three to five other people overseas has proven to be a mega task, but thankfully most of the people involved have been really awesome throughout the process, which has made getting over all the hurdles much more do-able.
We are also sitting on a handful of other new tracks which we are still working the details out on, in terms of how we will be releasing them, so you might see some more material from us in the fall when this all wraps up.
Reviewsic: What are your top three musical influences?
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John Terry: Tricky tricky tricky. I really think that we’re some sort of cosmic swirling amalgamation of dozens of different influences, but I guess I could try and break it down a bit. I think we all agree that a band like Faraquet (now Medications) has done really fantastic things with “indie rock” and also with progressive music, in that they make it sound classy and still somehow manage appeal to our punk sensibilities. Getting further into the Dischord thing, it’s been mentioned that we draw from Fugazi a bit too. I think somewhere between the harsh “agitated guitar” noises, the sparse funky rhythms, and a good degree of what we believe in (the Fugazi ideology is pretty major), there is some truth in that. We’re also suckers for that late ‘90s Chicago emo sound. I should make it pretty clear that we are not really interested in doing anything revivalist, but I think – if anything – Cass maybe draws some of his influence vocally from someone like Tim Kinsella. Then again, Cass might tell me later that I’m off the mark on this. I don’t know, I suppose some of the other stuff we do is of that ilk as well. We are guilty of everything.
Reviewsic: Is there any instrument you don’t play, but wish you did?
John Terry: I always said that I would love to play the piano, since it’s the key – no pun intended – to understanding all other instruments. Or so I’ve heard. I wouldn’t mind picking up some real drum skills either, so I could maybe articulate myself a little better at practice when I say to the drummer “Could you maybe do the ‘shish boom bop pow’ thing instead of the ‘brrrap pop pop psssh’ thing?”.
Reviewsic: What are some of the songs/bands/albums on your summer playlist this year?
John Terry: Oh my god! I just discovered Meat Puppets II and it is fantastic! I’ve just relocated to a more rural part of New Jersey, and some of those hillbilly grooves are really great to drive to. I’ve also been digging some old R.E.M., the Minutemen… I don’t know, a bunch of stuff I should’ve listened to more of a long time ago.
Reviewsic: If you could work with one person in the music industry (musician, label, producer etc), who would it be and why?
John Terry: I will have to preface this by acknowledging that “industry” is a sticky term, and in some ways I think it accurately applies to independent music, and in other ways, it almost seems like this dark, evil, and fanged adversary of all culture that is organically grown and produced. So I don’t really know who likes to be considered “industry” or who doesn’t so I hope I don’t mess this up.
If you asked me this question in 2006, we were recording in Josh from Hot Cross’s house, and I heard that the Level Plane guys may or may not have heard our demo and may or may not have liked it, and I thought “Wow! Can’t get any better than
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this!” And although that didn’t get much further than that, it probably would have been an ideal situation for us if it had gone further, or at least if it happened in 2006.
Fast forward four years, I’m now putting out our records on the Love/Hate Records label, and the more I get involved in this, the more I learn about “industry” but at the same time manage to lose sight of what else is out there. It’s really a weird paradox. Because as much as I would love to work with someone else, swap notes, or have someone else help us put out our records, it’s somehow harder for me to get a sense of who else is doing it. Maybe it’s like a “can’t see the forest for the trees” thing? I don’t know… that being said, I would never turn down a phone call from, say Sub Pop or Polyvinyl or Merge or Dischord (although Ian and them only put out DC bands) or whoever. Not that I’m expecting a call from any of them… but my door and mind are open!
Reviewsic: What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended?
John Terry: Oh man… so many good ones, but you know memories fade with time… let’s see… I don’t know… I had a really great time seeing Yo La Tengo at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn a couple summers ago. They played that really long track from “I Can Hear the Heart Beating…” and my jaw was all the way down on the concrete floor of that pool. There was also this time in high school that my friend took me backstage to meet the Misfits. He had VIP passes since his father grew up with them. Anyway, at that time the Misfits consisted of just Doyle, along with Robo and Dex from Black Flag, and Marky Ramone. The performance itself wasn’t entirely memorable, but I probably won’t ever forget the moment when Doyle was waxing his devil lock in the tour bus and told my friend, “Don’t forget to tell your father I said hello! I haven’t seen him since last Thanksgiving!”
Reviewsic: Who are three of your favorite local bands?
John Terry: Maybe I’ll get accused of playing the favorites here – or maybe not? But man – Communipaw never ever ceases to impress me! And they’re only getting better. It’s such seamless and tasteful rock music. On the heavy side, I think Seasick has really taken New Jersey hardcore in a great direction, and the album they’re putting out this summer is nothing short of leveling. Glad to see that some of those guys will still be active in other bands in the area, like Kicking Spit. I always liked Risk Relay too, but those guys never really like to get out and play. They all have lives and such.
Reviewsic: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
John Terry: Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin, and also Led Zeppelin. Nah, I’m just kidding. I don’t know, I think I love touring in most situations. I’ve had a great time with every band I’ve been out with so far, whether we were friends or strangers beforehand. Maybe we’ve just been touring with the right bands? Either way, it’s given me an overall positive feel for traveling with other groups in general.
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Reviewsic: How would you compare yourselves as musicians at this point as opposed to when you first began playing together?
John Terry: I could definitely say that we have been a bit more exploratory as a group the more we have been playing together. We are doing things with composition that I never would have thought of on my own, or that we would have done in the beginning. I also think that we are performing a lot tighter than we have in the past. As a musician myself, however, I find that I might be falling back in some areas. I can play the songs I write very well, but I’m not doing my homework and getting back to the scales and theory and stuff that I used to use more.
Reviewsic: Tell us about the upcoming split - what made you choose to work with mOck? How did you go about picking the songs that appear on it, and what can people expect from it?
John Terry: Okay yeah… split with mOck. I traveled to Berlin on a whim in December ’08 as a much belated college graduation gift that I felt I owed myself. Out there, I met a whole gang of great people, some of whom I stayed in touch with – Conrad from mOck being one of them. I had always wanted to work on an international project and release something and/or tour in Europe, and when I pitched some ideas to Conrad, he and his band really took to it. Several e-mails and Skype calls later, and boom – we have a tour booked and a split record released! G bless the internet. Oh, about the record… I don’t know what to tell you other than there are a couple solid tracks on there that we are all very proud of. Solid. Tracks.
Reviewsic: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard Rapid Cities before?
John Terry: If I was talking to someone who listens to a lot of underground music, I’d probably say something like “Samiam meets Lungfish meets math rock.” If I were talking to a more, normal type person, I might say something like “agitated guitar music” or “loud indie rock.”
Reviewsic: What are the best and worst band moments so far in your career?
John Terry: With Rapid Cities… wow… so many of both… Let’s see. Best band moments might include something as ridiculous as an impromptu show in Pittsburgh involving a half naked and sweaty “whoa” sing a long (or basically anything from the 2007 summer tour), or maybe something as obvious of an achievement (at least to me) as the release of our full length record last year. Our Fugazi cover set for Halloween last year seemed to go over really well too and we got a real high from that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many kids dance and have fun to music that I was performing (but that I didn’t write of course). It was just a generally great time.
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One of the worst moments ever, and which I thought would have surely broken us up for sure, was when Cass’s van broke down on New Year’s Eve of 2007 (going into ’08), outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan. We had to cancel the remainder of our shows and spend the next couple of days in Michigan’s seediest motel and sell the van for parts to a cab driver. I remember watching the Twilight Zone marathon thinking “well, that’s probably it.” But it wasn’t! Anyway, whenever anyone mentions the word “Kalamazaoo” around us, it’s kind of like the boogey man.
Reviewsic What are a few items essential to your “tour survival kit”?
John Terry: A sleeping bag, a steel thermos, cereal/protein bars, a toothbrush, cell phone charger, a good book or two, and a roll of toilet paper (because you never know!)
Reviewsic: What are your plans for music in the next year?
John Terry: I’m afraid that that’s a question that I don’t even have an answer to. Shaun is starting graduate school in the fall, and I might be doing the same shortly thereafter. When we get home from these tours we might mellow off of things for a bit to see how the transition goes. Other than that, I would say that the future is unwritten!
Tags: International, Interview, Split, Tour, Upcoming Release, Upcoming Show, Vinyl
