BESTNEWBANDS GETS “TO RUN AROUND” WITH RUMSPRINGA (ROUND TWO)

RumTake2

Last night in a far away land called Glendale, I got “to run around” with www.myspace.com/rumspringa when they played La Brie’s Lounge!  The three men and a little lady (comprised of  Joey on vocals and guitar, Cecelia on guitar and vocals, Andrew on drums, and Cardo on bass) rock a vintage vibe that resurrects the 60s and 70s in a way so natural, it’s as though these crazy kids had lived it themselves.

After mixing up the band lineup and multiplying it by two, the original two piece retro rock duo is upping the ante and accessorizing the sound with two new guitars- and the shout out to yesteryear is fantastically fresh!  The remaining original member Joey and his three new musketeers didn’t hesitate to kick off their shoes and rock out (quite literally, as Joey’s performance consists of socks sans sneakers!)

I got to talk with the quartet preshow and as they walked (not ran) around the corner from the venue, they gave me the Cliff’s Notes version of what Rumspringa round 2 is all about.

BNB: Ok so I’m going to go ahead and call this Rumspringa take two ….Looks like you’ve got a little bit of a three-for-one thing that went down, how’d you trade in one OG drummer for three new members?

Rumspringa:  Well Ricardo lives about 3 blocks away from me, Andrew played in a band that recorded with a producer we worked with- so when he heard about some of the changes that were going on, he called and strongly urged me (Joey) to get together with him.  Cecelia recorded some vocals with us on the first album and guest performed with us, and I (Joey) always knew she’d be a great addition if we were to change things around.

 

BNB:  So was this the spawn of a high school musical type thing originally?

Cecelia:  Well actually I was just hired on for the record and we ended up just hanging out after, and jamming- getting to know each other, and time past and here we are- pretty organic.

 

BNB: Any tours lined up on the near future?

Andrew: Actually- yeah!  Saturday we’re leaving for our first tour together- it’s called the Rumble tour.  So we’ll be driving straight up to Seattle, giving ourselves about 2 days to make it- so we’ll see.

 

BNB: What are you guys planning on bringing in the little transportation vehicle?

Rumspringa: Books, backpacks, ipods…I (Andrew) normally just put it on shuffle so we’ll see what happens.

BNB: So you don’t anticipate any radio wars then?

Rumspringa: No…but we’ll also be bringing a scrabble board!

Joey: And I’ll be bringing stuff to make the PB&J’s

BNB: Let’s not discredit the importance that is a PB&J

Joey: It’s perfect touring food

 

BNB: Major influences?

Cecelia: Been listening to a lot of Dirty Projectors.  I love nostalgia- I was in a punk band a while ago, I love Angry Simoans

BNB: So this is a totally different sound for you then!

Cecelia: I was a fan for a couple years, so

BNB: That’s right!  I originally met you at an OG show about a year ago!  The PC era, Pre-Cecelia.  So fan first, bandmate later.

Cecelia: Well, not a creepy fan

BNB: Well I don’t know about your cyber stalking abilities, so…

Cecelia: No!  none of that, none of that

Rumspringa: Well we’re all keeping an eye on her now

BNB: Tour with one eye open then?  Awesome.

 

BNB: Can we expect the same kind of psychadelic sound or will you be altering it in any way?

Rumspringa: I (Joey) am honestly trying to take the band name to heart so in it’s truest sense of the term “rumspringa” means to run around- Pennsylvania Dutch- so I like to allow the band to run around in all aspects of songs, sounds, ideas, compositions- the whole thing!

 

BNB: Favorite festival you’d like to play at?

Joey: Probably Coachella since I’ve been so many times.

BNB: Sentimental value, eh?

Joey: I think I’d really feel like I’d done something then.

 

BNB: Lollapalooza is in about a week- who would you go directly to see- do not pass go, do not collect a hundred dollars style?

Andrew: SOUNDGARDEN!!

Cecelia: I don’t even know who’s playing!

Andrew: SOUNDGARDEN, is all that matters!

Joey: Well I’d go see Soundgarden with you.

BNB: Well that’s nice, he needs a partner in crime- way to take one for the team there Joey.

 

BNB: If you guys could party with someone of the post-mortem persuasion, who’d be your ideal candidate?

Cecelia: Janice!

Joey: Ricardo?

(Ricardo now looks as though he’s in fear for his life)

Joey: Who’d be your pick?

Ricardo: Oh.  I thought you meant me!

BNB: Well this just took a dark turn.

Joey: I’d go with Abe Lincoln.

BNB: Honest Abe, huh?  What if he doesn’t like your music though- you’re going to hear about it.

Joey: Oh, if I were hanging out with him, I would not be playing music.

 

BNB: Are you guys going back into the recording studio?

Rumspringa: We’re actually recording where we practice, so time’s not an issue, we can experiment as much as we want.

You can catch the kids next in Seattle at www.havanasocial.com as they get ready to rumble on tour!  And you can infuse yourself with their vintage vibe at www.myspace.com/rumspringa.  I’d run, not walk, to see them again.