While they were active on campus and in the area last year, the UMass-based band Red Velvet Ribbon has been making waves across campus with a brand-new lineup and a sound that is like no other group around, and they’re just trying to get their new music out there. Guitarists Dave Whitaker and Kyle Ostrander, bassist Corey Lambert, and drummer Eric Marcantonio have kept busy these past few months, but they recently sat down with Her Campus for an interview.
HC: So how did the name “Red Velvet Ribbon” come about?
Kyle Ostrander: Our old guitarist and bassist were having some PBR out of a Red Solo Cup, and thinking of PBR and Red Velvet Cake, we kind of smushed them together to make Red Velvet Ribbon.
HC: How did this new lineup come about?
KO: I’m the only one left from the original lineup, and when we heard that some of our members were leaving, Corey was the first person who asked me about joining. He’s a very good singer, and he was a great addition. Our last drummer, Raj Sachdeva, was friends with Dave Whitaker, my co-guitarist, and recommended him for the band. Unfortunately, Raj had to go back to Vermont, so I asked the bassist of a group we played with a few times called Watts’ Closet for suggestions on drummers. He had seen and played with Eric a few times, so he recommended him. He turned out to be a really nice guy and kept a groove well.
HC: That’s good. How have shows been going with the new lineup?
KO: It’s been fun!
Corey Lambert: They’ve been getting better every time.
KO: They’ve been a learning experience. You always learn from other bands, and watching them and thinking about your own performance can let you know what does and does not work.
Dave Whitaker: To supplement these shows, we’re actually planning on recording a full album over winter break.
HC: Do you have a name for the album yet?
CL: Nah, we probably won’t have a name until something hits us.
KO: As true musicians, we’ll wait.
HC: How had the music changed with these new people?
CL: I caught a show of the lineup before I was in it, and I think we’ve changed a lot. We’ve been taking a lot of shots in the dark from country pop to scathing grunge, and it’s going well. We all bring songs to the table, and it’s gotten to the point where we can write songs at practice.
KO: With the last lineup, we kind of pigeonholed ourselves as a “blues-rock band, ” but now we’re not really defining ourselves in that way, which allows a lot of our different influences to be brought to the table and make a new sound. I think the only thing that’s been a bit problematic about that is people asking us what kind of band we are.
DW: Well, what kind of band are we?
KO: We’re kind of like a mix between the Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, some randomness, and a few other things. And I hear a bit of (Western Mass alternative band) Sebadoh in Corey’s influences.
CL: Well, I am from the lead singer’s hometown, but yeah. I dunno, when I get sick of the music I’m listening to, I try to make the music I want to hear for myself.
HC: What was your strangest gig?
KO: My strangest, when I wasn’t with these guys yet, was at this place in Southwick, MA, in a cover band. I wasn’t 21 yet, and the bar was the local watering hole for the town drunks. They were trashed and yelling at each other. It got to a point where they were screaming at us to play more after our time slot, but we’d just ran out of songs we knew. We got locked out and almost didn’t get paid.
CL: My strangest was probably last year at the Hillel house for a run they were doing. A friend from my freshman year dorm and I were trying to play two songs from every decade, it didn’t go particularly well.
KO: I’m kinda waiting for a really weird gig. Having to dodge beer bottles, deal with crazy people, etc. Those are the kinds of gigs you cut your teeth on and give you good stories to tell.
HC: Awesome, so what’s next with you guys?
CL: We’re gonna play a couple shows in the near future and hit the studio, hopefully we’ll get a good product out.
KO: As long as we keep making progress, we’ll be fine. It kinda bugs me when a band stalls, but we’re always looking in different directions. In fact, Corey recently brought a funk tune to practice, so we’ll be covering new ground for us in a bunch of new ways.
CL: We’ll try to bring in a whole new spectrum of people to listen to our music, because we like it all and hopefully we can get some new folks to like us. We actually played a metal show recently, and even though we were the least heavy band there, they all liked us a lot. The local metal kids are awesome.
HC: Cool, and last question- what do you think of the music scene out here?
KO: It’s pretty awesome, you see a lot of local bands and they all collaborate with each other, and you can see how they work, how they write, how they operate, and there’s so many different styles of it. I’m always surprised by the folks that come out of the valley.
Check out Red Velvet Ribbon on Facebook, where you can find their new single “Mulligan”, and if you feel so inclined you can check them out at the Cabot II Pub in Chicopee on 12/12.