NYS Music 20​12

Tag: rusticovertones

  • Rustic Overtones at the Putnam Den, November 16th

    Rustic Overtones at the Putnam Den, November 16th

    The Rustic Overtones returned to the Putnam Den in Saratoga last Friday, having played in Upstate New York fairly regularly since reuniting five years ago. I’ve seen them here at the Den before and also in Troy at Revolution Hall and in Albany at Jillian’s and every show is better than the last. I started listening to Rustic when I was attending college in Boston in the mid ’90s.  Always up for a show, some friends invited me to go see one of their favorite bands and right away I was hooked.  The band had great energy, they played hard, they liked Jager shots and their fans knew the words to all their songs.

    It’s great to see this band still playing, with Dave Gutter a phenomenal songwriter and frontman. Rustic songs cover a wide range of sounds, from bubbly melodic pop to heavy distorted rock, with a good dose of funk, jazz and occasional psychedelic trippyness.  The lyrics are catchy and clever but also honest as Dave projects the emotions in the songs onstage.

    After an opening set by Stone Revival Band, Rustic took the stage right around midnight and played for almost 90 minutes before taking a short break and coming back for a two-song encore. The solid set consisted of material from their most recent releases: 2009’s New Way Out and this year’s EP Let’s Start A Cult and their 2001 major label record Viva Nueva.

    There were quite a few memorable moments for me at this show.  I was getting a beer at the bar when “Iron Boots” started and the fan next to me was telling his friend “this is probably their best song”. That brought back memories of my friends taking me to see my first Rustic show, the first show I had seen with a Morphine cover, which was an unexpected surprise. “Rock Like War” prompted a fan at the front of the stage to show Dave the tattoo on her chest of the the lyrics in his handwriting.  He joked that she could have fit the whole song.” Going Out With A Bang” from the new EP was a great song to close the show with it’s refrain of “you’ll never be alone again because we are your friend”.

    Read an interview with Rustic Overtones’ saxophone player Ryan Zoidis

    Setlist:  All Together Now, Let’s Start a Cult, Hardest Way Possible, Iron Boots, Honey White, Common Cold, Rock Like War, I Like It Low, Troublesome, Crash Landing, Gas On Skin, C’mon, Oxygen, Carsick > Combustible

    Encore: Downside Of Looking Up, Going Out With A Bang

  • An Interview with Ryan Zoidis of The Rustic Overtones

    An Interview with Ryan Zoidis of The Rustic Overtones

    The Rustic Overtones take a swing through Upstate NY this weekend with a stop a the Putnam Den with special guest Stone Revival Band on Friday, November 16th at 9pm and the next night at Foodstock V at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, NY at 5:30pm. Saxophone player Ryan Zoidis caught up with Pete Mason after this weekend’s Bear Creek Music Festival  and discussed his role in The Rustic Overtones, Lettuce and his affinity for Upstate New York.

    Ryan ZoidisPete Mason: Playing saxophone in Rustic Overtones and Lettuce, how did you get started out with each band?

    Ryan Zoidis: I met the Lettuce cats in 1992 at the Berklee College of Music five-week summer program. I met Eric Krasno in an ensemble we were assigned to then met the rest of the guys shortly after. We all wanted to play funk music and that’s exactly what we did. We ended up meeting up after high school when we all went to Berklee and lived in the same dorm. We used to jam till 5am regularly and we started playing parties at different college dorms. Most of us left Berklee after about a year but some stuck around. A few of the guys were in a band called Fat Bag that was a great live hip hop group and they started touring a bit, so that put a damper on Lettuce.

    Meanwhile, I left school, moved back to Maine to regroup and find a gig when my good friend Tony Mcnaboe asked if I wanted to play in Rustic. I went to a rehearsal and it went well, although I didn’t love the music initially.

    My first show was in Orono, Maine at Geddy’s . The place was jam packed, the crowd was singing the lyrics, Gutter was a star. That’s when I realized I wanted to play music that appealed to the masses, and Rustic was really special. Shortly after I joined we got signed by Clive Davis and the rest is history.

    Pete: Bear Creek was a collaboration fest this past weekend. What makes the climate of fests like Bear Creek so conducive to collaboration with other musicians?

    Ryan: Our friend Paul Levine started Bear Creek because he wanted to do a funk festival. He booked his favorite bands Lettuce, Dumpstaphunk, The New Mastersounds, etc… We have done some great collaborations that weren’t necessarily planned, they just happened.

    Pete: What was your musical highlight of Bear Creek?

    Ryan: The Friday night Lettuce set was on fire!

    Pete: The Rustic Overtones took a hiatus before reuniting in 2007; how has the balance of being in two acts been a challenge in recent years?

    Ryan: Well, I’m doing this for a living. I really need to stay busy to make it work. Lettuce has never been a hard touring band, only 30 shows a year max. Since Rustic got back together we only do 60-70 a year. It’s challenging sometimes schedule wise and it’s tough to have to choose between the two. I also started a reggae band called Royal Hammer with Dave Noyes, Gary and Mike from Rustic. Our first album will be out this winter. We want to get that out on the road too.

    Pete: How do you like Upstate New York, having played festivals and venues here for many years?

    Ryan: Upstate’s always been really good to Rustic. We had some crushing shows at Revolution Hall, which was our favorite venue. WEQX, a radio station here plays us, so that helps. Putnam Den is awesome and they treat us great; Castaways in Ithaca is cool too. There’s a lot of good spots, kids who like to check out music. Getting stoked for the weekend Upstate!

    For more info check out therusticovertones.com