It’ll take an excess of positive mojo to erase the debacle of a certain Vermont music festival, but that state’s second most famous rock foursome is itchin’ to try. Come July 21-22, RAQ will welcome all comers to the second installment of the Lew-Au, the band’s very own festival on Hillcrest Farms in Newport, Vermont.
I’m not sure throwing a festival down the street from the Great Coventry Trainwreck of 2004 is the best way to draw a like-minded crowd, but if the rapidly growing, rabidly impassioned fanbase is any true indication of what’s in store, RAQ should have no problem expanding on the 600 attendees that braved a foul-weather weekend in August 2005 for the first Lew-Au.
The band made the initial Lew-Au II announcement at RAQ’s most recent trip to New York’s Bowery Ballroom, a truly raging part of last month’s otherwise lackluster Green Apple Music Festival. That night’s show displayed the immense kind of talent each individual band member possesses, and it’s always a genuine pleasure for me to watch a group of musicians so at ease on stage, having fun with each other and whipping the crowd into a total frenzy. I like a total frenzy.
I caught up with RAQ just before they went on stage that night, and I was surprised by how level-headed and grounded they were. Read on after the jump for parts of my conversation with RAQ, fantastic pictures from Jonathan Healey and a clear soundboard matrix of the audio sodomy unveiled at the Bowery…
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He was standing on the sidewalk beside his brother when I spotted him. They’d just returned from their nightly tour ritual: dinner and a visit to a comic book store. Johnston sucked on a cigarette, standing beside his brother, as fans flocked to him. Politely he shook hands and nodded hello, a bag of comic books protectively tucked under his arm. Dressed in grey – dark sweatpants and a light t-shirt, his bright white shoes and socks pulled up high – he couldn’t seem to get away from the hubbub fast enough as he hurried downstairs. I followed closely, thanking the musical gods for their kindness.
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