Band RAQ's the House

Burlington, Vermont natives roll into their hometown and put on quite a show

Story by Andrew Beam
Press Photo provided by RAQ's Website www.raqmusic.com

Their brand of music is a cluster of different genres, but mainly they stick to Rock N' Roll. RAQ, pronounced rack, are an outfit from Burlington, Vermont, and on February 8, they were able to ignite a fire underneath the feet of the crowd at Higher Ground, turning the show into a giant dance party.

Their setup is simple, a bass player named Jay Burwick, Chris Michetti rips his guitar to pieces, Greg Sturkey lays down the beat on his drum kit and Todd Stoops enjoys the plethora of keys that are laid out in front of him. The mood of their entire set was fun; everyone in the band had a giant smile that reached from ear to ear for almost the entire show.

They began the night by dedicating their first song to Hannah, which was not followed by any explanation of why. They proceeded to play the song "Hannah Can," where Stoops started the song off by swatting at his key board as if a swarm of bee's covered them, creating a funky organ sound to get the crowd moving. A funk filled song, "Hannah" continued on into a finger tapping solo played by a sleeveless Michetti during bombastic tune.

There is a certain uniqueness to their show where songs never seem to be over for good. They would start out playing a song that would trail off into a translucent jam. When the song finally came back from the jam, they were playing a completely different song than what they started creating an overlap of songs.

For example, for their second song of the night they started out with "Botz," an organ driven song where the tempo changes are constant, and then trails off into other songs such as "Will Run" and "Papasta," until the band finally returns to the song to close out the first set. There was a surprise which a occurred near the end of the first set.

After being at the bar all night, Mike Gordon from Phish joined RAQ to play bass on a cover of the song "Them Changes," a Buddy Miles tune, that blew the roof off of the place. With Mike Gordon being a crowd favorite, Burwick showed off his vocal skills while stoops played a laser-like synthesizer. With a jam that would constantly build back to the main theme, the song ended with a crunching metal sound. Michetti then began a "Mike" chant as Gordon left the stage.

Members of RAQ were incredibly playful while performing, synchronizing the swaying bodies during the breakdowns and posing in similar stances adding to the fun of their live show. At one point, Burwick took drumsticks of his own and tried to help out band mate Sturkey while Gordon played his bass.

After a short ten minute break, the band was ready to go at it again for another set of songs. A portion of "Otis Spode" began the second set with a string of sing-along lyrics backed by a hard rock riff. Like "Botz" from the first set, "Otis" would soon return later on in the set.

There were some songs that were never finished like the song "Hitchhiker," which never resolved after it trailed off into a funky jam.

During the song "Ventriloquist," Michetti walks over to Stoops' keys and in between his soloing riffs, he would manage to hit one key on his organ.

The crowd stepped away from its normal dancing styles and began slow dancing during "Silhouette," a ballad-style song that is not featured on any of their albums. Stoops sang lightly, a completely different feel from the rest of the song, along with a distorted synth backing him.

A sudden sense of euphoria washed over the crowd when the haunting notes of "Shine on You Crazy Diamonds" began to eerily seep through the speakers, as Michetti teased the crowd with the Pink Floyd hit. The tease soon led to another recognizable Floyd number "Have a Cigar," which was nice after the audience had their leg pulled.

"Chuck" was a song where the band repeatedly asked "Who’s Josh?," sounding like something from a rock musical or anything by Rush, then would trail off into "Reason" and "Cigar," soon returning near the end of the set.

The night closed out with a rocking version of "Tumbling Down," as an orgy of colors splashed the stage.

The crowd, which nearly filled the ballroom, displayed some of the weirdest dancing that would prove any stereotype that white people can't dance; the twirling windmill was a favorite .

Still, the crowd enjoyed the high-energy show as the band rightfully did as well. Even if the nearly three-hour set ended at 2 a.m., people still left with a large amount of energy.

Have you ever seen RAQ?