>>PREVIEW
ROGUE WAVE
Sunday, November 20
Broken City
In the music world, the line between pop and rock is often hotly debated. Even though many bands incorporate elements of both, some listeners argue that pop is too wussy for their liking while others claim rock lacks subtlety. Rogue Wave straddle both genres and offer texture without wimping out. When front man Zach Rogue (a.k.a. Zach Schwartz) is grilled on the great pop-rock debate, he looks to the heavy hitters for answers.
"The only thing I need to know is from Lenny Kravitz, and he said ‘rock ’n’ roll is dead,’" says Rogue. "So I’m going to believe Lenny because he seems to have all the information we as human beings need to get by."
While his ironic sense of humour isn’t quickly apparent in his songwriting, it is typical of a person who is easily able to make lemonade when life gives him lemons. Rogue was living a happy dot-com existence in San Francisco a few years back until the bottom fell out of the boom. When the company he worked for downsized, Rogue relocated to New York to follow his musical dreams. It was there that he wrote and recorded his debut album, Out of the Shadows, as Rogue Wave. A pop-rock charmer of the highest order, the album caught the ears of the folks at Sub Pop and many a music critic was astounded at his veritable one-man show.
Now Schwartz returns with Descended Like Vultures, Rogue Wave’s followup full-length. As principal songwriter, Schwartz still combines longing vocals with a whole host of instruments, but this time he has a proper band to back him up. With a full posse on the road and in the studio, Schwartz is more than happy to share the spotlight.
"The other people in the band are good musicians, whereas I’m kind of a hack," he says. "It’s nice that there are people who can execute things that I can say with my mouth."
Though Rogue and his musical compatriots are adept with an arsenal of instruments that give Descended Like Vultures a layered sound, don’t think you can lump Rogue Wave in with the new wave of poppy artists that have joined the Sub Pop roster. Even though Rogue Wave shared the stage with Fruitbats and Holopaw at a showcase performance at this year’s CMJ festival in New York, Rogue admits there are more similarities than differences in their sound.
"I don’t think our music is light-hearted or fluffy," he says. "I think some of the music we have is maybe more like folk music and some of it sounds like ambient music and some of it sounds like harder rock ’n’ roll. I don’t think any band feels comfortable – except for hip hop artists – with saying I’m comfortable with this genre, because psychologically it’s limiting.
"I think our goals vary from other bands that may esthetically share some things with us – like world domination and getting our faces on currency," says Rogue, reverting back to his dry ironic tone. "I tell you, the mint is not an easy entity to penetrate. I’ve shown them multiple pictures of my profile, both good and bad side, and they just haven’t even listened."
Though Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave claims his group isn’t necessarily a pop band, that doesn’t stop the critics from thinking so. In fact, one reviewer for the New York Times was so bowled over by the band’s debut, Out of the Shadows, that she described it as an album that makes you want to "eat sunshine" and "crap kittens." Rogue was notably taken aback when he heard that review.
"I don’t know if you have seen our band live, but I don’t know if you would say that it is ‘pop,’ not that pop is a bad word," he says. "It’s not just one thing that we try to do. If someone wants to crap kittens, I say, ‘I support you. I believe in your crapping and that is a beautiful thing.’" |
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