EXCLUSIVES

By Joshua Rotter

November 2004

The Rapture, once an underground dark wave secret, broke through in 2001 with their scratchy post-post-punk sound, spearheading a revival, started in the trendy Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, and later sweeping the nation.

But the shaggy-haired, tight t-shirt wearing, New York-based band, like their contemporaries Interpol, Radio Four, and The Liars, are still plagued by associations with the dime-a-dozen "scene" they founded, and the critical comparisons to influential forefathers, Gang of Four and The Cure.

But that did not stop the band, who recently released their first LP, "Echoes" (2003), produced entirely on PowerBook® G4's, from signing on to the Curiosa tour, which runs through late August, alongside indie bands, Interpol and Mogwai, under the auspices of headlining act-you guessed it-The Cure.

"How could we not do it?" asked the band's 23-year-old bassist Mattie Safer from his Manhattan apartment. "The Cure is one of the greatest bands of all time, and twenty-five years later, they're still putting out some of the best music. And there are worse bands to be compared to."

The band also plans to release "The Rapture Is Live, And Well, in NYC" DVD, which captures the band's recent three-day run at New York's legendary Bowery Ballroom. "Those were three nights where we were at our best," Safer said. "And we were really lucky to be able to make a concert film this early on, because some bands don't get to do that until well into their careers."
Started in San Diego by guitarist/vocalist Luke Jenner and drummer Vito Roccoforte in early 1998, the group toured widely before releasing "Mirror for Gravity" (1999).

Banding with fellow indie-rockers Sunny Day Real Estate and Nuzzle, The Rapture played shows across the U.S. from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., where aspiring bassist Safer saw them.

A longtime follower of the band, Safer was already a fan, drawn to the group's intensity, at a time when he said most indie rock was really "goofy and dorky", even predicting he would eventually join them. "When I was in DC, I joked with my friend about it," he said.

But when the band relocated to New York City and lost their bassist, the laugh was on everyone who didn't take Safer seriously. "Once I moved there to go to NYU music school, it seemed like more of a reality, because they needed a bassist, and I played bass," he said. "And we knew some of the same people, so it worked out.

After some more touring, the band recorded the six-track EP "Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks" (2001) for Sub Pop Records, showcasing their new dance-oriented sound. "It happened because when I joined, we needed a shared sound, and dance was the thing we could all agree on," he said. "And Luke, who had been in The Calculators, a synth new wave band, had felt very limited, and he didn't want to feel limited again."

Adding multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Andruzzi, their profile increased dramatically with 2002's "House of Jealous Lovers," preceding the full-length "Echoes" in 2003, which the band completed in six long months. "If you were a fly on the wall, you would be dead by the time it was over," Safer said.

But from the Police-influenced Jamaican guitars and prominent bass of "Sister Saviour" and the Gang of Four dance-beat driven sound with a Cure-like squeal of "House of Jealous Lovers" to the sample-heavy ballad "Open Up Your Heart," the band did little to mollify their derivative reputation.

Safer disagreed. "'Echoes' is all about taking risks, and we risked doing all our songs, particularly 'Killing,' in a totally different way, not being afraid to restructure it to go along with the rest of the album," he said.

But recording "Echoes" on a Mac® in Andruzzi's home studio in Williamsburg was more of a sure bet, according to Safer. "It is really the only way to go, because everyone in the music industry uses it, and it's the easiest to use."

Safer has been Mac®-friendly since the age of five and said his bandmates feel similarly. "We all own Titanium G4 PowerBooks® that we bring on the road with us, for email mostly, but theoretically also for recording," he said. "But we usually don't have much time to record."

Following the Curiosa Tour, and several European dates as part of Summer Festivals-"It's going to be short and sweet."-and finally a few dates with Belle and Sebastian, The Rapture will finally get some studio time in the fall to begin work on a follow-up to "Echoes."

They are still undecided though about which musical direction to take next. "There is no theme yet," Safer offered. "It's on a song-by-song basis."

For more info on The Rapture, logon to www.therapturemusic.com