Raffica: A new band coming out of Park High School

On my search for new up and coming bands within our local community, I came across the dynamic group called Raffica.  This exciting band uses the sounds of grunge style chords and rhythms, mixed with funk and blues inspired bass riffs, all tied together with a heavy rock core.  They utilize lyrics about the frustrations of teens, which let them reach out to their target audience.  The best part about this band though, is that they come right out of Park High School.  I had the pleasure of sitting down with the band in a face to face interview and this is what they said:

Q: Let’s start out with telling me your names and instruments.

A: Brandon Brooks, I play guitar; Michael Franz, I also play guitar; Josh Jensen, I play the bass guitar; Ben Hunder, I play drums.

Q: What is the name of your band and how did you get the name?

A: Well, the name of our band is Raffica.  We just happened to stumble across the word and found out that it means fire, storm, and to burst. Naturally, we kept the name then.

Q: What kind of music would you say your band plays?

A: If we had to put a label on it, we would have to say rock; although it does have parts of Heavy Grunge and Metal.

Q: What are the inspirations of the sound and rhythms you create?

A: We all draw a lot of what we play from the band Tool. They are our band’s inspiration.

Q: I’m sure you all have individual inspirations for starting the instruments that you play. What are they?

A: Brandon Brooks: I got into guitar because of music. I love the sound of Barry Stock from the band Thrice and Teppi from the band Three Days Grace. They play guitar phenomenally and I pull some of my music from their styling.

Michael Franz: I draw all my music from Jimi Hendrix and Dan Donnigan. They inspired me to pick up the guitar, so now they inspire me to play on.

Josh Jenson: Ah, I got a funny story about how I became a bassist.  My sister had picked up bass and I just wanted to get better then her at it; a natural sibling rivalry. Some inspirations of professional bassists would have to be Flea from the band Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tim Commerford.

Ben Hunder: I was born into the house of a rocker. My dad had been playing drums almost his whole life, even being in a band. He taught me the ways of the drum set and I have been drumming ever since I could.  Some professional drummers who inspire me are Mike Portonoy from the band Dream Theater and Daniel Adair from the band Nickelback.

Q: What does your group as a band want to accomplish in the near future?

A: We want to play gigs all over the world; especially in places like Germany, Egypt, and even the Moon.  We want to be sponsored by the fine people at Jack Links because we love jerky, it’s really expensive and we want to get it for free.  But in all seriousness we want to get a gig at First Avenue right here in Minnesota and we want to play our music for as many people as possible. Whoever wants to hear our music we want them to be able to hear our music.  We also would love to open for some of our favorite bands including Chevelle, Avenged Sevenfold, and Seether.

Q: Any last words for your public?

A: Just come on down to one of our performances and support our group. We have a Facebook page that has all of the details about our band and when we are performing next.

Orchestra – The Forgotten Music Program

I asked all students I questioned if they had guesses on why orchestra wasn’t offered at Park, with very similar answers from most students. Many believed that the budget might have something to do with it. That in order to add an orchestra program money would have to be taken from another to support in. Others mentioned space or the inability to find a teacher qualified to instruct an orchestra. Even fewer who understood the dynamics of an orchestra mentioned the lack of students. Finding forty that were able and willing to play in an orchestra may be hard. Whatever the reason, most were dismal at best.

Park High School has an excellent set of students to perform in band, but is it right to let those talented in other instruments stay in the dark? The pros of a happier, more complete, and sense of fairness in the student body – is it worth the costs of time and money that it would take to create and sustain an orchestra program? I don’t have the answer to that question, but I’d like to make it aware to you. Orchestras along with bands bring unity and a musical touch to schools. Students should not be asked to step down because they prefer one instrument over another but others should not pay to make changes happen for those students.

 

 

 

 

Music Review: Nine Inch Nails

On November 20^th, 2007, Trent Reznor’s contract with Interscope Records expired with the release of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, or “Year Zero Remixed,” leading to a writing and recording binge for the industrial rocker more commonly known as Nine Inch Nails (NIN.) On March 2^nd, without any real warning, Ghosts I-IV was released via the website. As a two hour instrumental album, it is seen as a major creative endeavor. Then two months later, radio stations across the country received a mysterious disk marked “DISCIPLINE.” The disks contained NIN’s new radio single, from some unknown album. The message boards were rampant with speculation. Finally, on May 5^th, a brand new album The Slip, a swift ten-track-punch-in-the-face, was released for free.

“Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years,” Reznor said to his fans. “This one’s on me.”

The album starts with the droning ambience of “999,999.” Although it certainly isn’t the most exciting song, it certainly does set up the rest of The Slip, when you hear Reznor say, “How did I slip into-” and then he gets cut off by a powerful drum beat as “1,000,000″ starts. This song is a strong start to the album, and gets you right into the action, with references to several classic NIN songs, such as “Down In It,” “Hurt,” and “All the Love In the World.”

The song “Letting You” starts with another drum beat, that although similar, has it’s own unique tone to that of “1,000,000.” This song brings back some of the scratchy noise that has been missing from NIN’s repertoire in recent years. Even though this is a generally good song, it gets to be rather repetitive towards the end.

The next song “Discipline” is definitely the most radio friendly of the ten songs, and showcases the new sound and direction NIN has taken since leaving Interscope. The guitar riff is catchy, yet varied, and the piano is absolutely beautiful. Josh Freese’s drumming gives the song a “dancy” quality. Then the song slowly fades away into “Echoplex.”

“Echoplex” is the only song on the album without any real drums, all are played on a fancy drum machine instead. This song is actually very similar to “Discipline” in that it is catchy, it has great guitar parts, and has an awesome piano undertone. Additionally, this is the first NIN song to have an extensive amount of “la-la’s.”

After a cornucopia of new sounds on The Slip, “Head Down” is the closest to old-school NIN. The verses contain droning guitar, angst-ridden vocals, and pounding drums. In contrast, the chorus has pleasant vocals, with a backdrop of pleasant piano.

“Lights In the Sky” is vastly different from the other songs, with nothing but Reznor’s gentle vocals and simple piano instrumentals. The track gives way to the almost completely ambient “Corona Radiata.” This song is rather redundant, and ridiculously long, but it gets mildly interesting near the end.

“The Four of Us Are Dying” is an instrumental track with some very interesting rhythms and beats. The final song “Demon Seed” is a powerful finish to the album, with its layered lyrics, crazy beats, and flowing guitar rhythms. Ultimately, it gives a very nice sense of closure as Reznor sings “Now I know exactly what I am.”

Overall, The Slip is a strong album establishing new directions for a band launched almost twenty years ago. Although it does contain a lot of the same elements, they are used in a varied enough way to keep the album interesting. The Slip gets 8.5 out of 10.

You can download The Slip for free at theslip.nin.com, and Nine Inch Nails will be at the Target Center for the Lights In the Sky Tour on November 25^th.

by Gerard Van Wijk