Ra Ra Riot Move Past Indie-Orchestral Party Jams

Since their inception in early 2006, Ra Ra Riot have done a lot of growing up.

From their early days as a self-proclaimed dance party band who liked to play attics and basement parties, to their current state as purveyors of lush, jangly indie pop, the members of the Syracuse, New York group have matured as musicians as well as people.

John Pike, the band's drummer/vocalist/co-founder, passed away last June. He had gone missing after attending a party and his body was subsequently found in the nearby coastal waters of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts in what authorities believed was a drowning accident.

Pike's death struck the young band hard. After a successful CMJ appearance in late 2006, they were riding a wave of interest and slowly building hype that was derailed by misfortune. After much deliberation and healing, the remaining members decided to continue on as Ra Ra Riot.

"There were questions about whether we would continue or not," says keyboard player/vocalist Wesley Miles. "But we all thought the best thing we could do is to keep on trucking.

"The music we all worked on so hard together with John is still very important to us, and I think he would have been disappointed if we had let it all go. We all thought it was the only thing we could really do. Deep down, I don't think there was ever any doubt we would continue on, but we all had to reassure each other about it."

The tragedy has made the band grow closer. Barely two years old, the group members haven't only had to deal with the loss of Pike, but have also got to know each other on the fly, as several of them only met when they joined Ra Ra Riot.

"I met half the band for the first time at the first practice," admits Miles. "Things evolved rather quickly after that.

"You get to know each other a lot because you spend so much time together. We were touring for two months straight in the fall of 2007, so we know each other very well at this point."

Ra Ra Riot's emotional rollercoaster won't stop now that the calendar has flipped to 2008. More interest continues to circulate, as the indie rock world certainly loves to see a new band who employ two full-time string players show up on the radar.

"I know [guitarist] Milo [Bonacci] was interested in being in a band with strings, or at least an auto harp," says Miles. "The string players actually joined the band before I did. They'd been in orchestras before, but never in a rock band."

The addition of strings has brought on a noticeable change in the band's sound and approach to their music.

"Our first idea of the band was to be a fun party band," Miles continues. "We'd play a lot more minimalist punk and dance music — really long songs and shouting about parties, kind of silly, ironic music.

"Now it's kind of chilled out more. But it was a conscious decision because we started to take things more seriously in late 2006/early 2007, so that's when we started writing more differently. I don't want to say 'serious' because that's not what we're going for, but definitely taking the process more seriously."

Ra Ra Riot's debut full-length is recorded and awaits mixing and mastering, so the band hope for a release sooner rather than later this year while they get out and tour as much as possible.

Ra Ra Riot play Montreal's Casa Del Popolo on Friday and Toronto's El Mocambo the next night.