I’ve seen the Rural Alberta Advantage [MySpace] live twice now in the past two weeks (and this is obsessing over their album for the past four months) and more than anything, I’m convinced I’ve been watching one of the best bands in indie music today.  It stuns me that more people are not attune to these Toronto imports; the only explanation I can offer up is that most people just have not yet been exposed.  In my mind, this is virtually the only reason somebody could not be in love with the RAA.

Check out Radio Exile’s Exclusive Interview with RAA “after the jump”

I found the RAA through the eMusic Selects program [Hometowns Review],  an incubator for talented independent artists. In a few short months, the RAA have already become its highest selling band.  Had I not discovered the band after I compiled my year end list, they surely would have topped my Best of 2008 list.  Really, this should come as no surprise.  The RAA’s brand of acoustic folk punk dovetails nicely with other bands I love, such as Frightened Rabbit, Okkervil River, the Violent Femmes, and of course, the venerable Neutral Milk Hotel, but after witnessing their live show, I could not help but to notice their appeal went far beyond that narrow niche of indie rock I just named.  It’s almost impossible to come away from listening to the RAA and not be blown away by the most important thing you can be blown away by: the songs.  They never cease to be melodic, they are never without hook, and they always possess the deep emotional depth commonly associated with Neutral Milk Hotel.

It’s very hard to meet the Rural Alberta Advantage and not come away impressed.  There are three members in the band – Niles Edenloff, Paul Banwatt, and Amy Cole – and the band simply could not exist without all three.  This is refreshing; a group that is completely the sum of their parts and then more.  Lead singer and acoustic guitar player Nils Edenloff possesses a nasal yap that easily turns into a melodic hum.  Drummer Paul Banwatt is one of the best drummers in indie rock today.  He reminds me of Bryan Devendorf, drummer for The National, for the way he is able to push and pull the songs in the directions they need to go.  Multi-instrumentalist Amy Cole may seem superfluous at first listen, until you realize she’s the soul and secret weapon of the band.  Without her truly charming presence on stage, the RAA’s songs would be bogged down by their own weight.  Instead, she provides a wonderful counterpoint to the sharp acoustic tone of Nils guitar.  Every member of the band comes off as truly humble and honored to be playing music.

I knew that the RAA was good but I unsure of how good. When I saw the band play at South By Southwest [SXSW Day Two Coverage] several weeks ago, opening for Grizzly Bear at the beautiful Central Presbyterian Church, I realized how good they were.  Playing likely one of the biggest shows of their career, they delivered with one of the best performances of their lives.  Or at least I assume they did since I cannot imagine a much better show.  True, the venue was amazing, with the church’s wooden walls far, far above the stage creating a vast space for the music to fill, for the drums and voices to reverberate off of.  Playing with true passion (at one point Nils accidentally cracked his guitar), the band completely won over a crowd that was mostly unfamiliar with their work.  The closed the set beautifully with an acoustic, in the crowd performance of their song “Good Night” in a manner that recalled the Arcade Fire but much less pretentious and more authentic.

I saw them again two weeks later at Brooklyn’s Bell House.  The last show of a long tour, this show was a quite different (but not less fantastic).  Where the SXSW show had a passionate punk energy, at the Bell House the band was slightly slower, slightly less pounding, and a little more tired.  And yet, it was a fantastic show.  Watch out for this band because 2009 and 2010 will be theirs. 

Below is the video (in two parts) of my interview with the band just before their Central Presbyterian Church show.  I have transcribed some of the more interesting segments.

I apologize for the jumpy video and my somewhat stammered and confusing questions.  This is my first (no wait….second) time interviewing a band live and I was nervous and I talked way too much. Now that I’ve lowered the expectations, I hope you enjoy it.

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Q: How would you describe the sound of the RAA in one line….

A: ….percussive indie folk.  I think because we bring together a lot of different things at once, people have sort of a hard time saying “oh! It’s this!”….every review I’ve ever read has been totally different.  Like some are “woah, the drums”, then some are focused on the harmonies, some are focused on the Neutral Milk-esque vocals of Nils.  It’s different things to different people I guess.

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Q: How did the RAA hook up with eMusic Selects?

A: An eMusic subscriber, just this dude, he’s a lawyer in Santa Barbra, just randomly found them and really liked it and posted a message on the eMusic message boards saying “Check this out”.

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Q: The band was literally discovered through the eMusic message board?!

A: Yeah.  He said “check this out” and gave a link to the MySpace and I think within half an hour I’d e-mailed the band and they wrote back the same day and it was immediately like, “okay, we’re gonna do this”.

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Q: What was the recording process like?

A: Long (laughter)

Q: Were all the songs written before hand?

A: Yeah, mostly.  Frank, AB was the only one that was kind of done in studio.

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Talking about their first NY show at Pianos earlier this year….

“…I just remember being at Pianos, we’re sorta all the way in the back because we’re just waiting to go on, just seeing some people squeeze their way into the back because it was just super packed there, and people were like “who’s on now?? “I don’t know but it’s not the RAA” and we’re just like [looks bewildered] “…what the hell is going on!?!?….We don’t know you!”

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Q: What is your dream record label?

A: We could probably describe the features of our dream record label better than we could just name it.  We just want to be able to do our thing and hope one day make a living at it.

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Q: Since we’re in Texas right now, I have to ask, George W Bush:  great President or GREATEST President?

A: Great or Greatest?  Those are the two options?…well, we’re big fans of the Colbert Report, so….

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And here are some live videos captured at the Bell House.  To get a great feel for the infectious joy that Amy brings to the songs, I suggest you check out “Four Night Riders”.

Last 5 posts by Tom Williams

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