The Sophian

Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: Arts

Writer Erin Kokdil '12 sat down with Matt Santos and Milo Bonacci from Ra Ra Riot.

On Friday, Dec. 5, 2008, the band Ra Ra Riot brought its upbeat, classical-inspired indie rock to the Iron Horse Music Hall and attracted a large, lively crowd. Needless to say, the show was anything but ordinary. Watching all six members energetically playing their instruments and dancing around the stage with flawless chemistry, it was hard not to break into movement. The Sophian was able to secure an interview with two of the six members, guitarist Milo Bonacci and bassist Matt Santos, before the show.

I first heard of you when my friend made me a mixed CD. The title of one of the songs is "Dying is Fine," and I was a little intimidated….
Bonacci: You didn't think you could handle it?
Yeah, I thought it would be like rebellious and angry, but your music, in reality, is anything but. So how did you guys come up with your name?
Bonacci: It's really not an interesting story at all: a friend of ours thought of it. We had a show coming up and we needed a name. We'd been together for less than a week and we couldn't come up with anything. It's really hard to come up with a band name when you desperately need one.
Santos: Yeah, now I think of band names all the time. But when we really needed one, and our friend had one…so….
Can you give us a few examples of potential band names before you came up with Ra Ra Riot?
Bonacci: We only seem to remember the worst ones
Santos: Yeah, we just tried to think of them the other day. The only one I remember was Miami Noodles…
Bonacci: And there was Rat Tails…
Santos: Oh! I forgot about that one. Yeah, there was one with apples in it, but there was already a band, Apples and Stereos.
How did you all meet and decide to mix classical music with alternative rock?
Bonacci: Well, I was in like an assigned project type-band [at Syracuse University], and we played a show - Matt's band opened - and he approached me after the show.
Santos: 'Cause they didn't have a bass player, which I thought was a shame. I was like, "this is a really cool band, but they could be a lot better if they had a bass player…a.k.a me."
Bonacci: So there's that, and I was in class with [violinist] Rebecca [Zeller], so I approached her, the last day of the fall semester of class, she was into it and knew [cellist] Allie [Lawn], and [singer] Wes [Miles], I knew from like a while back.

Continued...

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