Despite only being a band in for roughly nine months, Chicago musicians The Ragtones have a pretty sizable number of reasons to brag. The boys have opened for Little Joy, played the Metro and in June of 2009 they released a self-titled 5 song EP. More recently they’ve been working on the final touches of their first full length, due out in late spring/early summer of this year, recording with Colin Sipos, who the band says is “now like the 4th member of our band”. Besides the completion of the record the band also plans “on shopping the hell out of the record and getting more people familiar with The Ragtones.”
Offering a blend of indie rock and blues, The Ragtones combine a number of elements such as rock and roll vocals and jazzy-bordering-on-dance-pop-keyboard to create their sound. You can check out this still relatively new group this Thursday as they play a free show at the Double Door alongside Dorian Taj, Soft Speaker, and Bitterwigs at 8pm.
The Ragtones online:
Myspace
Theragtones.com
Chris Oakes, Mike Mazzola, Jeremy Tromberg- the musicians behind The Ragtones- talked with Telegram Sam this week about musical favorites, first concerts, and what we can expect from the up and coming band.
Telegram Sam: What are your top three favorite cities/venues to play?
CO: Of the venues we’ve played in Chicago, my favorites are the Double Door, Metro, and Darkroom
JT: Quenchers is always a good time, too …
MZ: I know that’s four, but there’s so many great venues in this town, and we have yet to play some of our other favorites like The Hideout, Empty Bottle, and Schubas, etc..
T.S: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
CO: Elvis – no explanation needed.
JT: Nick Cave and Modest Mouse
CO: Nick Cave and Modest Mouse??? That’s just stupid. I mean, they’re great and all, but out of ANYONE? Seriously??? So, I’ll add The Doors (for the drugs) and Willie Nelson (for the RV) … and the drugs.
MZ: I’m not a huge Elvis fan- Chuck Berry perhaps.
T.S: Give us some background on the current roster of songs you play with
CO: Lately, we’ve been trying to write more pop-inspired, happy songs … but as usual, they keep turning out dark, brooding, and more mysterious than expected.
MZ: We have pretty diverse tastes between the three of us. So I think we strive to make music that all three of us would want to listen to. As far as direction, I’d have to say it’s mostly feel. We get in a room and toss around ideas until things gel. Most of the songs write themselves if they’re right for us. The good ones tend to pour out naturally. Not to say we lack vision, but I don’t think we’ve sat down and talked much about “we need to write something that sounds like (or is about) this or that”.
T.S: What are your top three musical influences as a band?
The Ragtones: Not sure. In addition to having diverse tastes in music, we each play vastly different styles, so our 3 biggest influences may be each other… we’ve been compared to Tom Petty and NIN in the same sentence … so that should confuse you.
T.S: Give us a little history behind The Ragtones- how did the band come to be what it is today?
CO: Mzzo filled in on drums with me in the last year of Jesus and the Devil. I had been writing some songs that weren’t fitting into the standard garage-rock model that was J&D, so naturally a side project ensued. We initially thought of keeping things a very minimal two piece deal, but kept wondering if something was missing. To get the right pieces in place, we tried out bassists, keyboardists, and various guitarists. We finally decided on keeping the songs simple and keyboard heavy. Mzzo met Jeremy at a venue in Chicago who was just killer on the keys and things have been falling into place ever since.
T.S: Are there any instruments you don’t play already, but wish you did?
The Ragtones: Banjo, harmonica, chicken.
T.S: What other projects have you been a part of as individuals?
The Ragtones: Metropolis, Jesus and the Devil, and The Wisebloods, Cadillac Rope, Lasers and Fast and Shit, The Lust, Baby Scream Bizarre, Hobo and Boxcar, Mousetrap
T.S: Before you decided on The Ragtones, what other names did you come up with? Did you ever play under any of these other titles?
The Ragtones: Death Western, no … but wish we had.
T.S: Who was the first band/musician you saw live?
CO: Debbie Gibson
MZ: Neil Diamond
JT: Something gayer than Debbie Gibson? … no, nothing can top DG! … it was Susan Tedeschi
