Ra Ra Riot | |
|---|---|
 Ra Ra Riot playing at the9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Indie rock,baroque pop |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | Rebel Group V2 Barsuk Arts & Crafts México Only in Dreams |
| Members | Wes Miles Mathieu Santos Milo Bonacci Rebecca Zeller Kenny Bernard |
| Past members | John Ryan Pike Shaw Flick Cameron Wisch Michael Ashley Gabriel Duquette Alexandra Lawn |
| Website | www.rarariot.com |
Ra Ra Riot is an Americanindie rock band consisting of vocalist Wes Miles, bassistMathieu Santos, guitarist Milo Bonacci, violinist Rebecca Zeller and drummer Kenny Bernard.
Ra Ra Riot formed in January 2006,[1] playing at houses and venues around theSyracuse University campus.[2] They recorded a demo in February 2006. The band started to attract attention due to their energetic live shows, enough to gain an appearance at theCMJ Music Marathon, fewer than six months after their formation. Following this appearance, their live show received the first of several favorable reviews fromSpin, who called them "one of the best young bands we've heard in a really long time".[3] They went on to open forArt Brut andBow Wow Wow inNew York City, toured theUK twice on their own,[4] then returned, opening for theEditors[5] (footage of which can be found onCrackle); they also touredNorth America supportingTokyo Police Club. Their first solo headlining tour of the U.S. was completed in 2007, and in early 2008, they embarked on a second.[6] The band was also invited to play the Iceland Airwaves Festival inReykjavík,Iceland. They recorded three sessions on the national online radio stationWOXY and three for the acclaimed[7]Daytrotter sessions at Futureappletree Studio 1 inRock Island,Illinois.
In 2007, they made their first appearance atSouth by Southwest and headlined a show at theSeaport Music Festival in New York City. The band returned to appear again at the South by Southwest Music Conference in March 2008.[8]
On June 2, 2007, at 3 a.m., the band's original drummer, John Ryan Pike ofHamilton, Massachusetts, went missing under suspicious circumstances at a party at Wilbur's Point inFairhaven, Massachusetts, after a show inProvidence, Rhode Island. A search party discovered his cellphone on the beach atBuzzards Bay. His body was discovered June 3, 2007, at 4:10 p.m. in Buzzards Bay; Pike was believed to have drowned. No foul play was suspected.[9] Ra Ra Riot issued a statement a few weeks after Pike's funeral that they would continue as a band.
In July 2007, an eponymous six-song EP was released on the Rebel Group label. In the winter of 2007, the band signed to major labelV2 Records. To celebrate their new label deal, Ra Ra Riot released "Dying Is Fine" and "Each Year (RAC Mix)" on7" vinyl as anA/B single. In December 2007, the band announced that they had finished recording songs for their debut studio album.
On May 19, 2008, the band announced that they had signed toBarsuk Records. They released their debut album,The Rhumb Line, on August 19, 2008, in North America, and on September 22, 2008, inEurope via V2/Cooperative Music. Themusic video for "Can You Tell" won Best Music Video at the 2009Finger Lakes Film Festival on November 7, 2009.
In the spring of 2009, Barsuk released theCan You Tell EP, featuring remixes, early demos and live recordings. The band released their second studio album,The Orchard, on August 24, 2010.[10] It was produced by Ra Ra Riot andAndrew Maury. Nine of the 10 tracks were mixed byDeath Cab for Cutie'sChris Walla, while one was mixed byVampire Weekend'sRostam Batmanglij.
In January 2011, Ra Ra Riot were nominated for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards in the Pop/Rock Album category forThe Orchard.[11] Also in 2011, their song "Boy" was featured in aHonda Civic commercial and used in an episode ("A History of Violins") of the TV showRoyal Pains as well as in an episode ofShameless. On February 10, 2012, cellist Alexandra Lawn announced that she was leaving the band.
The band's third studio album,Beta Love, was released on January 22, 2013, coinciding with a live worldwide Internet broadcast of the band's concert that night atMusic Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. The album was the band's first full-length since the departure of Lawn and marked a shift in their musical style away from their earlierbaroque pop and more towardssynthpop.[12] A video was produced for the song "Dance With Me".[13]
On February 19, 2016, Ra Ra Riot released their fourth studio album,Need Your Light. The album was produced byRyan Hadlock (Lumineers,Vance Joy) with additional production by Batmanglij, who produced and co-wrote the title track as well as the popular single "Water."
On May 17, 2019, the band shared a new song, “Flowers”, along with the announcement of their fifth studio album,Superbloom. The album, released on August 9, saw the band collaborate with Rostam once again.
On February 20, 2024, the band announced the RA RA RIOT: REDIVIVUS Tour, in celebration of the fifteenth anniversary ofThe Rhumb Line, partially supporting Vampire Weekend.[14]
On May 1, 2024, Ra Ra Riot released their first new song in five years, "The Wish", co-written and produced by Rostam Batmanglij.[15]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [16] | US Alt. [17] | US Indie [18] | US Rock [19] | ||||||
| The Rhumb Line |
| 109 | — | 14 | — | ||||
| The Orchard |
| 36 | 6 | 7 | 12 | ||||
| Beta Love |
| 69 | 16 | 11 | 23 | ||||
| Need Your Light |
| — | 20 | 15 | 29 | ||||
| Superbloom |
| — | — | 41 | — | ||||
| "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released | |||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Rock Digital [21] | JPN [22] | UK Indie [23] | |||||||
| "Each Year" | 2007 | — | — | 29 | The Rhumb Line | ||||
| "Dying Is Fine" | — | — | — | ||||||
| "Ghost Under Rocks" | 2008 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Can You Tell" | 2009 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Boy" | 2010 | 34 | 85 | — | The Orchard | ||||
| "Too Dramatic" | 2011 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Beta Love" | 2012 | — | 45 | — | Beta Love | ||||
| "Dance With Me" | 2013 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Water" | 2015 | — | —[A] | — | Need Your Light | ||||
| "Absolutely" | 2016 | — | — | — | |||||
| "This Time of Year" | 2018 | — | — | — | Superbloom | ||||
| "Flowers" | 2019 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Bad to Worse" | — | — | — | ||||||
| "War and Famine" | — | — | — | ||||||
| "Belladonna" | — | — | — | ||||||
| "The Wish" | 2024 | — | — | — | non-album single | ||||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released | |||||||||
City ofSyracuse, New York | |
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