Rabble Rabble

Before their show at Glasslands that has now become one of my favorite shows that I’ve been to this summer, Ralph Darski and Matt Ciarleglio of Rabble Rabble sat down with me over 2 for 1 beers at Williamsburger for what has become one of the more fun interviews I’ve done as well. Did I mention that Rabble Rabble is fun? For a good time, call these guys. Or just go see them live.

Kelly Knapp: How long have you guys been playing music?

Ralph Darski: The guitar player and I – Todd – we’ve kind of been playing music since high school together, and we were like, oh we’ve been jamming so long, let’s start a band. We tried to find some people, and a lot of people came in and out, and we wre still trying to figure out our sound, too. Then we met this drummer – our drummer, Kaylee – she was super solid and we were like, with this drummer it’s gonna be good. So we did that for a while with another bass player, and then that guy was going to college, and like, ‘oh I gotta focus on that.’ He wasn’t really too into it. Then we found Matt, and that’s kind of how it all started.

Matt Ciarleglio: So it’s been almost 3 years with this incarnation.

KK: Was there a moment when you were like, ‘this is it!’

RD: Pretty much when Matt joined the band. Right away, our first jam session was like, ok yeah, this is good.

KK: Also, your name is really fun; really fun to say.

RD & MC: Rabble rabble rabble rabble!

KK: Yeah! is that what’s it’s from? Just the nonsense mob talk like from that South Park episode?

MC: Actually it isn’t.

RD: It makes sense that would be it, but it’s not. We had like three other names before this name, and we hated all of them. We were looking through dictionaries, and trying to find something that fit us, and I think Todd was like, ‘oh this is all rabble.’ And I was like, ‘yeah, this is rabble.’ And we looked at each other and were like, ‘rabble rabble.’ Kinda sounds like a made-up story, but that’s how it happened.

KK: So you don’t run around flailing your arms yelling “rabble rabble!”

RD: We kind of run around.

MC: A little less arm flailing.

RD: More head banging.

KK: What’s your songwriting process like? Does everyone have a piece of the puzzle, or how do your songs really come together?

MC: Sometimes Ralph, Todd or I, or even Kaylee will have something we’ve been thinking about or working on personally, and then bring it into practice, but there’s never really a structured way that we write songs. We usually just have an idea or riff or drumbeat, or something like that, and then just all kind of create and build off of it.

RD: Each song is a different process.

MC: Yeah, each song is kind of completely made up on the spot.

RD: And everyone contributes. It’s not like there’s one songwriter in the band.

MC: A lot of times it’ll actually take us like six months to actually finish a song. We’ll play it live, and just fuck it up or whatever.

RD: And some songs, the first time we play it, it’s like, that’s it.

Ralph Darski

KK: Do you guys improve a lot in your shows?

RD: I wouldn’t say so. Only if something terrible happens, like if someone’s guitar strings break or two bass strings break or something like that.

MC: We try not to stop playing if something bad happens. Ralph or Todd break strings pretty frequently, or Kaylee’s drums sometimes fall over. We try to just improvise in that sense so it doesn’t get boring and like, ‘oh, everybody hang on while we fix some shit.’

KK: But you’re never like, ‘I just really feel like extending the end of this song right now.’

MC: No, we pretty much never do that.

RD: We’re not really a jam band.

KK: And you just released a 7”

RD: Yeah, two months ago. We recorded it in New York, like upstate New York in this barn with the ex-drummer of Ministry. His name’s Stephen George. He’s an engineer, and he used to work with R. Kelly and Britney Spears.

MC: Things that we really listen to a lot. Super into R. Kelly.

KK: Really influenced by “Trapped in the Closet.”

MC: And Britney Spears – there’s a fine linen layer of Britney Spears in our songs.

KK: Early Britney or later?

MC: Early, oh yeah. Baby One More Time.

RD: But yeah, we released it on his label, and did all the art ourselves; like all the covers for the 7”s are different. We hand-screenprinted them, so they’re all original – every single one. And we put little gifts inside.

MC: Yeah, there’re little surprises in each 7”. Good surprises. It’s not like we peed in them or anything like that. It’s all good stuff.

KK: Is that like a teaser for another album coming up, or just kind of something in between?

RD: I would say those two songs are more like a – we recorded our LP a year ago; it’s almost our anniversary of that, and then we went on tour for the LP, and those were the first two songs we wrote after finishing the LP, so it’s kind of like a stepping stone to our next phase, but it’s not a teaser or anything like that.

KK: You just had these songs and were like, they should have a proper treatment.

RD: Yeah, it’s like an in-between, a transitionary release.

MC: You can kind of tell the time frame of when the songs were written. Just composition-wise, it changes slightly – the 7” vs. the full length released last year.

KK: Do you guys follow the album, tour, album, tour formula? It seems like you just play a lot of shows all the time.

MC: We toured last year specifically for the vinyl, and this tour is specifically for the 7”. But we went to SXSW, and we did a bunch of other shows to just like, keep the steam going.

RD: We do play a lot of show, though. 2009, or ’10…whatever that year that was – its all kind of a haze – we played like 100 shows. It was a lot of music.

KK: How’s the tour going so far right now?

MC: I think it’s our best one, maybe. We’ve had a lot of really good shows. Some shitty ones too, but you kind of have to expect that.

RD: There are ups and downs. There have been some road blocks along the way, some tension here and there, but that’s just touring. That’s how it is.

KK: Have you had one really memorable show, or something that happened in a city that you’ll never forget?

MC: Detroit I thought was really good. I thought that was one of our best ones. We played this “festival” at PJ’s Lager House and it was like, nine bands playing, and we played on the ground floor of this big bar, and it was pretty rowdy.

RD: It was pitch-black, and they had projections. We had a strobe light going.

KK: What do you want fans to take away from your shows? Do you want them to have this wild, primal, visceral experience?

MC: I don’t know what we would want them to take away from the show…just having a good time, really.

RD: Yeah, it’s really all about having fun.

MC: We like playing shows because we have a good time playing shows, and we want people to have a good time. We like drinking, we like drinking with our friends, and we want to encourage…maybe not drinking necessarily, but having a good time and enjoying being at a show.

RD: And letting loose, really. I think that’s what we’re really trying to get across. Just let it go, and for that 30 minutes we play, just go wild and have a good time. Maybe take all those feelings you have inside and get them out through running around, dancing, whatever. Some people take off their clothes, and whatever it is.

MC: Some people run around in bunny costumes slam-dancing…

RD: Just kind of knock down that façade.

KK: Do you guys have a band mantra, or any words of wisdom that you live by?

MC: Maybe two words, I would say…

KK: Are they Rabble Rabble? Haha.

MC: Haha, no.

RD: ‘Pabst Blue Ribbon.’

MC: Or ‘fuck it.’ That’s one we say a lot.

RD: ‘Why not’ is probably a good one too.

MC: We kind of just are in our zone lately, where we just get up on stage and play. We all know what to do.

KK: Would you say that you’re a band to really be experienced live?

RD: Oh, yeah, definitely.

MC: For sure. The 7” we just released is the best interpretation of our live sound so far, but still, it doesn’t give it that much justice to playing live.

KK: And two of your albums are live albums, right?

MC: We do have two live albums.

RD: Yeah, we have two live releases. Everything before the 7” we did ourselves; like record ourselves, do everything ourselves. So this one was recorded in a proper studio, and really polished or whatever. It’s still a little rough around the edges, because that’s the way we like it, but it definitely is more of an accessible, commercial kind of sounding release.

KK: Do you guys have any other projects that you want to get into, or are going on right now, music or otherwise?

MC: Ralph’s a business owner.

RD: I own a coffee shop. And Todd, our guitar player, is a cartoonist. He does comic strips.

KK: Did he do any of the album art?

RD: He did the back side of one of the live albums. Our album artist is Kerry Couch. She did all of our album art. And Kaylee is just all about the drums. She’s just so focused on being the best drummer possible.

KK: And that’s why she’s super solid.

RD: Yeah!

KK: Are there any other bands right now that you’re super into?

MC: There’s some really good Chicago bands going around right now, for sure.

KK: I feel like Chicago always has good bands.

MC: Sometimes. I feel like there was a dry streak a couple years ago, where it really just kind of sucked for a little bit. I’m always super into Jeff the Brotherhood, they’re really good live and starting to blow up.

RD: Crystal Antlers, we were talking about them earlier. They’re awesome. I’ve always liked The Black Angels.

MC: We just listened to Eye Hate God on the way here. They’re this 90s thrash band. They’re super awesome, and really heavy. It’s kind of hard to say without the whole band being here, because I don’t want to give an unjust opinion of what just Ralph and I listen to. Kaylee is super into hip hop and rap, and Todd’s the Beatles guy.

RD: That’s the running joke.

MC: Yeah, Todd is the Beatles guy. But we all listen to all different types of stuff, and whoever gets to sit in the front seat when we’re driving in the van gets to pick the music.

RD: And I think that comes out in our sound.

MC: And I really like Metallica. Basically I’m just super into Metallica, it’s great.

RD: Electric Wizard. Really heavy.

MC: It’s like stoner rock.

KK: What’s your biggest goal for the band?

MC: I’ve always wanted to play a stadium, but I don’t think that’s going to happen for another 45 years.

KK: You’ve got to come out with your dozen-disc box set.

MC: Yeah, we’ve gotta come out with our box set and then we’ll be ready for the stadium.

RD: I would say for everyone that our goal is to kind of make it our job, like make money off it, but on our terms. Make it be able to support itself. We’ve been investing so much the past four years, it’s like, you start thinking, ‘where is this going, what can we do,’ and things kind of change, I suppose.

KK: But then it comes together again and you’re like, oh yeah!

RD: Right, like this is really good now, so how can we make it even better.

MC: It’s kind of just like, not stopping or anything. I don’t think we have an actual goal for this band or anything like that; it’s more like how hard can we push ourselves. Either we lose our shit, or we just keep playing shows.

RD: And, it’s always about just having a good time. That’s the goal of the band. As long as we’re having a good time, it’s all good.

Why Not/Long Hook 7″

Rabble Rabble has a gig 9/3 at White Rabbit in Indianapolis, and things are still cookin’ for them with more to come, so keep up with them on Facebook and Twitter for all developments.