raa @ the vollrath

L, JRo and I went to last Saturday night's Rural Alberta Advantage show at The Vollrath in Indy, and honestly, I have mixed feelings about the show.

A band that calls themselves Come On Caboose opened the show; incidentally, the band's acronym is COC. This is a very appropriate acronym because COC's lead singer was very much a cock. If you are in an unsigned music band and are attempting to endear yourself to a potential fan base, acting like a sarcastic wiseass probably isn't the best tactic. Just sayin'.

COCs aside, I came to see The Rural Alberta Advantage. It was great to see and hear songs from the band's impressive debut performed live. Nils' voice sounded great, Amy's contributions were perfect and Paul's drumming was incredibly tight. (I could spend all night watching a crisp and precise drummer bang the skins; it's utterly mesmerizing.) So why the mixed feelings? The RAA's set was painfully short. The band played for a brief 40-45 minutes and offered no encore. I don't know. Maybe Canadians don't like the Hoosier state. Maybe it was a comfort-zone issue; perhaps the trio felt other songs weren't ready for prime time. Whatever the case, I know the audience wanted more. Hell, one guy I met at the show drove from Detroit – a five-hour drive, mind you – to see the RAA. I drove 90 minutes to see the band and felt a bit shortchanged; I can't imagine how he felt.

Perhaps the RAA's eager fan base is expecting too much too soon. After all, the band was plucked from relative obscurity when eMusic highlighted their self-released debut last year; just several months later Saddle Creek Records signed the group. This eagerness highlights the Internet's impact on the music industry, primarily indie acts. A band that has "the goods" can penetrate the Web's membrane and reach listeners on a global scale – literally. Seriously, do you really think the RAA thought they would be playing Indianapolis when they formed four years ago? The band's debut has been on the greater WWW for approximately eight months; that's light years in the age of the Internet. Undoubtedly, the Web has greatly accelerated time, or at least the sense of time, so other obscure indie acts take heed: the beam of countless eager listeners could be focused on you in the click of a page. Will you rise or plummet under the Wavves?

It could be worse, of course. Bloggers like myself could be pleading for less live music from "the next big indie band" and not more.

Visit the RAA's MySpace page for upcoming tour dates.

I snapped a few pics and uploaded "Drain the Blood" and "Frank, AB" to YouTube, which you can view below. (The audio in the vids is poor because they were shot with my digital camera – a Canon PowerShot A570IS.)

xx