Photo by Scott Harris
RAQ returns to the East Coast next week for a five-night Halloween run, marking the band’s first mini-tour since last fall. Natives of Burlington, Vermont, the quartet is known for its unique progressive compositions and high-energy live performances.
In addition to building a loyal following as RAQ since their formation in the early 2000s, band members Jay Burwick (bass/vocals), Chris Michetti (guitar/vocals), Todd Stoops (keys/vocals), and recent addition Scotty Zwang (drums), are known individually for being involved in a variety of other musical projects, which has kept the band from touring as rigorously over the past few years.
The forthcoming East Coast run will include a special “Foo-Q-Azi”-themed Halloween performance in Washington, DC—in what should prove to be a bizarre fusion of the music of Fugazi, the Foo Fighters and RAQ—followed by stops in Stanhope, NJ, Harrisburg, PA, Albany, NY, and Hartford, CT.
As Todd Stoops emphasized during our recent conversation, “RAQ is fun … And fun is coming!” In the following, Stoops shares his thoughts on RAQ’s upcoming Halloween run, playing musical chairs with Dopapod, maintaining a healthy musical diet, and recording their first studio album in over a decade.
You guys are known for being prolific—at any given point you’re involved in a variety of projects. Could talk a little about what the guys in RAQ have been up to recently.
Todd Stoops: Sure! I’ve been working and performing with Reed Mathis, Jay Lane, and Clay Welch in Electric Beethoven for the past year and a half. The band is an instrumental project that uses Beethoven’s forms to create new improvisations—it’s been pretty wild! Scotty is in a bunch of different things—I know he was on tour with a country artist, and he has a duo called McZwang on the East Coast. Jay has a couple bands in Denver; I’m actually here with him now working on the new RAQ album. Michetti has produced and toured with Conspirator, as well as worked on commercial music and a few other things…he’s also producing our new RAQ album, which we’ve been working on for the last month or so. So, we’ve all been keeping busy. But we’re going to focus some energy on RAQ and make this album the best it can possibly sound…and hopefully engage our old fans and impress some new ones!
I want to get to the album in a minute, but speaking of Scotty, you guys seem to be playing musical chairs with Dopapod. Scotty replaced Dopapod’s original drummer, Neal “Fro” Evans, and then Neal joined RAQ. Now, Scotty is joining RAQ and Neal is returning to Dopapod, correct?
Todd: [laughs] We like to refer to ourselves [RAQ] as being the “home of the wayward Dopapod drummer.” But no, it was more of a coincidence. I’m good friends with the Dopapod guys—I’ve known them for a while and we’re all pretty close. When Neal departed from RAQ to rejoin Dopapod, it seemed like a natural thing to take Scotty in. He’s a rocker and he fit the bill immediately. Scotty and I have had a project called BangBang for years, and he also played with Conspirator—so we’ve known him forever and it turned out to be a great fit.
You mentioned Scotty playing with people like Dopapod and Conspirator, and the other projects inhabited by the RAQ guys—Michetti’s work with Conspirator and your work with Electric Beethoven and others like Oktopus… How does that collective experience fuse back into the RAQ sphere?
Todd: Good question! RAQ is always there… It’s like an application on your phone that’s running in the background at all times. RAQ is how we got our start in this scene—it’s how we ground our teeth, from the early 2000s onward. It also informed us as to what we like musically, etc. So when we come back to RAQ, it’s like coming home from College for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s a great feeling. There are no curveballs; we know what to expect from each other!
In terms of the current incarnation of RAQ, this lineup has performed live a handful of times together already…
Todd: Yes, we’ve done a bunch of shows with Scotty! He’s a solid human being, and one of the most solid drummers I’ve ever played with. The old adage that your personality matches your playing—just listen to the guy!
I have to ask about the “Foo-Q-Azi” theme for the upcoming Halloween show. What was the inspiration behind that…blending the music of the Foo Fighters and Fugazi with RAQ?
Todd: When we were in college, Fugazi was our skiing soundtrack. We even covered them some in my college band. It’s energetic and aggressive, and we relate well to that kind of music with an edge. Same with Foo Fighters. Sometimes it’s fun to throw on a musical costume for Halloween! There aren’t many nights out of the year that you get to do something like that. I think that if we did that in say, April, people would be like, “Huh?”
I’m picturing you guys playing “Waiting Room,” and it seems like a pretty epic evening in the works…
Todd: [laughs] There’s a pretty, pretty, pretty good chance we might be playing that song… I can neither confirm nor deny.
What will the show look like for fans that maybe haven’t seen you recently? Are you planning to throw in some classic RAQ songs as well as maybe some of the new material?
Todd: It will be a mix of the “Foo-Q-Azi” theme, in addition to some of the classic RAQ stuff that we love. RAQ is self-indulgent for us, we get to play the old tunes that we love—some of the stuff that we’ve been playing since the early 2000s and always have fun with.
This will be the first new studio album since Ton These over a decade ago…
Todd: Yes it is! 12 years! We released Ton These in 2005, and used that as a vehicle to tour pretty steadily through 2008. My son was born so I took some time home with the family, and eventually we all started working on different projects and working with other musicians, etc.
What’s the recording process been like so far? You mentioned that Michetti is heavily involved, given his experience producing other material.
Todd: Definitely! Chris has become one of the best producers I know. We weren’t really in that space in 2005 for Ton These, or on the earlier albums. That said, there are a lot of new ideas, and definitely a new approach at doing this. A lot of the recording we’re doing together, but some of it is also done remotely. It’s tons of fun and we’re all really excited about it.
And this will be all original material?
Todd: It’s definitely going to be original music. Unless something completely crazy happens!
Could you also talk a little about the songwriting process? Has material been bubbling over this last decade, or is this newer material that has evolved more recently?
Todd: Another good question! This new album will have RAQ songs that we never recorded but have performed live. But…there’s a lot of creative energy flowing right now, so the possibility of new music is high!
Do you write together, or mainly bring your own stuff to the collective table?
Todd: A lot of the real classic RAQ stuff we wrote together. I would write some of the ideas on my own, but I’d go over to Chris’s house and sit down with him and we’d finish it together. Or we’d go over to Jay’s and finish it with him. And as we evolved…when we got our first rehearsal studio space in Burlington, Vermont, back in like ’02, we had this process called “The Whiteboard.” We’d put whiteboards up and write down the original skeleton of an idea, and everyone would have a chance to flush their own ideas out. It gave everybody equal songwriting exposure. We all had our own individual ideas portrayed, and everybody was part of the process.
On the upcoming East Coast run, Goose is supporting RAQ on all five nights. Is there any potential for collaborations during the run?
Todd: Oh, I’m sure! We love to mix it up! We like to have the best time possible. RAQ is fun. That’s been our model for years—basically, “If it’s fun, we’re doing it.” We like to have fun. And fun is coming!
You’ve already touched on this, but looking forward to the next couple years, do you see RAQ remaining at the top of everyone’s priority?
Todd: We all have a bunch of different music to express and get out there to the world, but we’re definitely going to put effort into RAQ and tour as much as we can. I have a family, and everyone has their own different responsibilities that would keep us from jumping in the bus and getting out on the road for five months, or something like that. I don’t see that happening, but I do see us putting more time and focus into RAQ.
Are there any other special events in the works?
Todd: There are some things in the works, but details have yet to be completely ironed out…
You mentioned that you’d all continue working on other projects. Are there any other new projects underway?
Todd: I’m in a new project called Katharsis. It’s Dave Watts [The Motet], Marcus Rezak [Digital Tape Machine, Shred is Dead, and others], and Chuck Jones [Dopapod].
You guys just played in Denver, right?
Todd: Yeah! We just played in Denver a couple weeks ago. We’ll absolutely be doing some playing in 2018. I also have some shows coming up with John Kadlicek [Furthur], Jay Lane [Furthur, RatDog, Primus], and Robin Sylvester [RatDog]. That’ll be in California. So lots of stuff will be happening next year.
You all seem comfortable being involved in a variety of projects, which brings us back to where we began the conversation. What drives you to maintain such a variety of creative vehicles?
Todd: One night you may want Vietnamese, and then one night you want a steak, and the next night maybe it’s Italian [laughs]. Personally, I treat it like changing up the menu. I try to make time for every project that I possibly can. That said, collectively we are members of about 15 bands!
You posted a video of your son playing the keys recently. Does he ever get to come out to your shows?
Todd: He does! As much as school and being a 9 year old allows. I brought him onstage in front of thousands of people at Gathering of the Vibes in Connecticut a few years back, and had him help me play a solo… That was pretty epic for the both of us! He’s been playing the drums since he was three, and playing the piano since he was old enough to stand up and bang on it. Nothing makes me more proud than watching him grow as a human and as a musician…
That seems like a special experience.
Todd: It was super cool, and I hope he remembers it when I get a phone call at some point where he’ll be saying, “Dad. I just ate a two-day old piece of pizza… I’m starving. Can I borrow a hundred bucks?” I know those phone calls are coming, because I made them myself!
Any final thoughts on RAQ and the upcoming shows?
Todd: We’re primed up for this. We’ve been really excited about this run, and we’re excited about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff we have in the works for 2018. So come check it out!
