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Do Yourselves a Favour and Check Out RAQ!!!


shainhouse

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They were at (a side stage at) moe.down last year, but I missed them. They played the afterparty for Trey in Utica, and we (me, Booche, FreekerByTheSpeaker, Jaybone, and maybe one other, I think) were floored by them. Bought the album then and there (which also got a free [copiable-for-your-friends] live CD). Loved how they played some serious Zappa that night ("Andy" and "I'm The Slime", IIRC). I hyped Ottawa as much as I could, but it's a longshot they'd make it up here.

The website is http://www.raqmusic.com .

Aloha,

Brad

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I heard them once and thought it was Phish until a few minutes in...

Some of these up-and-coming American jambands sound way too much like Phish - when I hear more than one similarity, it turns me off the band. They might as well be a freakin' cover band. I don't care how good they can play, if it sounds a lot like Phish, then it aint' original. Bands like this should be playing small bars as tribute acts.

It's because American's are SHAMELESS in every way, especially capitalism. "If Phish is making money, then so can we if we imitate them..."

Perhaps it's also because the country has thrown morality out the window and therefore, no longer has a soul.

whoa.... I'm WAAAAY off topic... sorry...

(I'm feeling a bit jaded today... my apologies to any shameless American's without souls)

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sorry, I should have qualified that..

The guitarists sound EXACTLY like TREY. And Trey IS Phish (main writer, leader, biggest ego) When you hear his guitar tone and technique, it's hard to miss. So when someone imitates it, all I hear is Trey's sound. (same problem with Umphrey's McGee) That's what I was ranting about...

Also, often these jambands have a keyboardist who plays EXACTLY like Page, matched up with a Trey sound-alike. I mean, come on!!

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, it's been discussed ad nauseum on this board. It's the biggest problem with the evolution of the scene. Nothing evolves when it's too busy being recycled.

...just my opinion...

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I beg to differ, this scene has the widest range of musicians compared to any other, each with their own style to throw in the mix, I've seen dozens of canadian jambands that all differ from one another yet most are often influenced by phish in one way or another, I can't say that is anything to complain about.

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Raq are from Burlington, VT and grew up all playing w/the Phish guys as they come from the same circle of friends, so they have Phish in them. Still, they are straight up, aggresive, improvisational rock. They have their own style and to me, it doesn't matter what or who they sound like as long as I'm getting down to their tunes.

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quote:

The guitarists sound EXACTLY like TREY. And Trey IS Phish (main writer, leader, biggest ego) When you hear his guitar tone and technique, it's hard to miss. So when someone imitates it, all I hear is Trey's sound. (same problem with Umphrey's McGee)

I agree with every word you said! My sentiments exactly. [Cool]

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I listened to some of their MP3s, and to me it sounds like they write tunes, for example, as if you're a student who has to hand in an essay so you take the easy way out and copy someone else's essay by finding and changing nooks and crannies around so it doesn't seem too obvious that you cheated.

Otherwise they have some nice grooves, yet their lyrics come nowhere close to Marshal's.

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It's weird because Raq plays one style of music while Phish plays every style of music. My god, everyone has borrowed and copied from Phish, Miles, the Dead and so on.

It's so aggravating. just enjoy the tunes or not, don't judge them on how another band sounds.

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....some folks seem to forget all the bands that Phish sound like. When I started seeing them in the early 90's they sounded like, allmans, zappa, santana, many many american anthem rock bands. I have yet to hear something totally original in the jam scene, every link that I have checked out has a young band whosort of sound familiar but a bit different. Phish only sound like phish because they have been on the road for years...it takes time to develop a unique sound.

As a guitar player there is nothing wrong with sounding a bit like trey...he certainly didn't create that tone without copying a whack of other guitar players...in the states there are way more bands, way more guitar players, way more of everything.

Was stevie ray vaughn a tribute player simply because he sounded alot like Hendrix and Albert King. Was Danny Gatton a Roy Buchanan wannabe?

Jamband music has a jamband sound so stop complaining and enjoy! [big Grin][big Grin]

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I'm a controversial bastard...

My point was about my personal preference for bands to create more original sounds. Of course everyone borrows from everyone - but some borrow a lot more than others.. there's a fine line - and it's painfully obvious when it's crossed.

Jon there's lots of originality in the jam scene, along with lots of copy-cats. How about Drums and Tuba for instance, or STS9, tND, GTB, Wassabi etc.... None of them sound like Phish to me...

RAQ however.....

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I have to step in on this one. raq is one of my favorite bands. Anyone who was in Chatham for the nero show might have spotted me wearing a raq t-shirt during the second set. I saw them live for the first time in February, and let me say that there are Phishy elements to their songs, jams and even history. There are way more Frank Zappa influences, but I digress. What it takes to appreciate these guys is their ability to play and jam. They've been together for less than 2 years, and only 1 of those has been with the current keyboardist. These guys are tight, and as I said, the jams make this band. So get over the whole "They sound like Phish thing" and start listening to these guys. They are seriously phat. I have a bunch of shows on my list at: www.phishhook.com/lists/PhishRaver and I'm sharing some on DC under the name Del-Head. Great band, I won't hear any different.

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