Photo by Adam Parshall
December is here, and we’re feeling a bit like houseplants. Speaking of which, did you catch Raavi & the Houseplants single, “Sticky,” when it dropped in October? In case you missed it, we’ve got you covered. Discover all the sticky secrets of the Boston indie stalwarts below.
Raavi & the Houseplants’ founding members Raavi Sita and bassist James Duncan met in high school while touring with a Boston area choir. After graduation, Duncan enrolled in Berklee while Sita began working full-time, and the current iteration of the band formed through Duncan’s college orbit. This includes guitarist Josef Kiefer, guitarist/producer Justin Termotto, and professional drummer Madden Klass, who is endorsed by percussion companies such as Meinl, Vic Firth, Ludwig, and BFSD.
It’s Klass’ shuffle beat that gives single “Sticky” it’s immediate atmosphere, and the framework for the innumerable hooks to follow. “In a way we confine her when she’s in our band…For our band she writes [parts] that are a lot less showy…she writes for the song. That is a good quality about her and any musician,” says Sita.
When Sita describes Klass underplaying her talents to support the song, she may as well be describing the whole band. This is where “Sticky” is tricky. It brings so many left-field influences in three minutes – math-rock, prog-rock, jazz, etc. – that it would be unimaginable to imitate. What’s left at the end is a tune that is so breezily executed that the heart enjoys listening as much as the head. Everything thrown at the wall seemingly sticks, forming an indie-rock Pollock painting.
The industry has taken note, as the band has opened for a list of who’s-who in indie-dom, including Ritt Momney, Adult Mom, Sidney Gish, and Vundabar. At many such occasions, these shows were at the recently shuttered Once Ballroom. With the closing of renowned Boston-area independent venues such as Once Ballroom and Great Scott, Covid has exposed a vulnerability and precariousness with indie stages in the Boston music scene. The band communicates that a future reliance on the underground house-show circuit is inevitable.
Photo by Veronica Bettio
Sita comments that “with all these venues closing, it is really sad, especially Once Ballroom in particular, gave us a lot of opportunities to play with bands that were touring and that was really cool of them, along with the booking agencies…it’s going to have to push the scene underground. Shows are going to start happening again and DIY is going to have to hold the scene together.”
Perhaps it can, as the house show circuit was thrumming before the pandemic hit. Sita explains that “the semester before quarantine were the most insane house shows I’ve ever been to because of the amount of people… [At a gig in February] it was so packed you could not move. It was so hard for me to get to the stage. People were all swaying together during our set because they could not dance individually. It was like Jell-O…it was too big.”
Yet the lack of standards and quality control of DIY gigs can be off-putting. As Sita explains. “It’s so easy to go to the best house show you’ve ever been to one night and the next night can be the worst… Like why is there a DJ here? I want to go home.”
On a parting note, Termotto implores local musicians to “support your friends [during the pandemic]… I think it’s a really good time to look around you and see your peers and notice they have skills [such as recording, for example].”
Stream Raavi & the Houseplants self-recorded track below and be sure to check out their next livestream performance on December 11th at 7 pm. Email Vincetheband@gmail.com for details.