This past weekend provided plenty of photo ops, that’s why we were heavily pushing our official Instagr.am hashtag #greenroomftl. Not a ton of people decided to hashtag us, but I did manage to find some filtered gems. Remember, the hashtag #greenroomftl doesn’t apply to just this past weekend; anytime you come out to Green Room and snap Instagr.am pics, make sure to tag us so we can find them the next day and give you some love (or at least a heart symbol).
Pterodactyls and monsters, sounds like budding plot idea for a Syfy original movie; however, it’s actually the first two opening acts for our souped-up Cinco De Mayo lineup, Pterodactyl Sleepover and Raggy Monster (LA’s Eyes Lips Eyes are the third band on the bill). Yesterday, we posted our interview with Mike from Pterodactyl Sleepover. Today we post our conversation with Billy from indie rock quintet Raggy Monster.
When was Raggy Monster officially founded? How has your sound/songwriting craft changed over time, and what do you think personally accounts for the maturation/evolution in sound within Raggy Monster?
Raggy Monster (The monster) was created when I was 4 years old during arts and crafts time in Kindergarten. He was my imaginary friend/body guard from bullies/crime-fighting alter-ego. He prefers to stop bad guys with kind words, but occasionally is forced to de-bowel the stubborn ones with his razor sharp claws. Raggy Monster (The band) started playing with the full group we have now about 9 months ago. The sound has changed a great deal since then. Probably the biggest change came when I met Rachel about 2 years ago. She sang for Orlando Opera for 3 years so it would have been stupid for me to not let her sing. We did a lot of acoustic open mics before finding the others. Other than that, the addition of Kyle, Adolfo, and Christian allowed me to focus on what I do best, which is piano.
How does the band’s live show differ from your recorded output? Any plans to head back into a studio to record more material?
Unfortunately our live sound is far superior to our recorded output at the moment because we don’t have a professionally recorded CD. Anything we have online is just a mix of “first draft” versions of our songs that I recorded in my bedroom so I wouldn’t forget them, and also a couple outdated, crappy live recordings. We are headed into the studio in late May/early June to record a 5-7 song EP, so we are extremely excited about that.
What is Raggy Monster? And is he a vegetarian? Carnivore? Omnivore? Cannibal? Please provide a detailed list of said monster’s sustenance.
Raggy Monster actually does not eat. He is a peacemaker, and has no time for such petty activities. I guess you could say that he feeds off of the gratitude exuded from the helpless people he saves every day. I like the Cannibal reference though, which alludes to our song, “I’m a Cannibal” which is actually a very metaphorical song that was inspired by a crazy dream I had about attacking and eating unsuspecting runners on Palm Beach island. To answer what Raggy is though is pretty much impossible. I guess maybe part dinosaur part alien? I don’t really know, I’ll ask him and get back to you.
Raggy Monster performs at 10:30pm, followed by Pterodactyl Sleepover, and Eyes Lips Eyes @ Green Room 109 SW 2nd Ave, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33312. Doors at 9pm, 21+, no cover. $7 Jose Cuervo shots + PBR, mention “I’m A Cannibal” at the door for a FREE draft before midnight.
Cinco De Mayo, the holiday that everyone THINKS is Mexico’s Independence Day (check the wiki, who knew?), just happens to be one of the best party nights of the year. It doesn’t matter that the majority of Mexico doesn’t even recognize the holiday; we’ll do the celebrating for them and we’ll do it with live bands, booze, and borderline politically incorrect fake moustaches. One of the bands on our weekend lineup is Pterodactyl Sleepover, a newly formed foursome comprised of members of the now defunct Attention Radio. This Saturday night is the band’s debut performance, so we asked guitarist Mike Locke a few questions regarding his first times….
First things first, describe Pterodactyl Sleepover’s sound? How did you guys form?
Pterodactyl Sleepover is a project that spawned almost overnight, with the only guidelines being that we wanted to play hooky, up-tempo rock music that’s fun to sing along with. If you had to put a label on it, I would describe it as “pop-punk with balls,” but if you listen carefully, there are nuances of 80’s rock and synth pop, and garage rock as well.
The band began a few months back when I was in a “career transition,” (read: unemployed). I got the call from our bass player, Noah, who told me, Joe, our drummer, was itching to do a new project. Since I had a great deal of free time, I was able to write the framework for a full-length album at home, and the three of us spent many nights and weekends refining the material at our studio. After two months, our album was musically complete, but we hadn’t yet found the right frontman for our band. After two weeks of grueling tryouts, we found the right singer, Kenny, and our lineup was made complete. (For those doing the math, he joined two weeks prior to our debut show!) Continue reading
