River City Extension - An Amazing Band With Some Amazing People
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing River City Extension; a band I had never heard of until last nights show. As an opening act for a legend like Max Bemis, I would imagine that would be extremely intimidating. Not for RCE though, they came on stage strong, and ended just the same.
It was something totally out of the ordinary, an opening act truly being great. Let me just tell you, this is not the type of band you yawn with your arms crossed, start conversation with the guy next to you, and text your buddies. This is the type of band you wish you were prepared for; you wish you’d known all of the lyrics before hand so you could sing along. I will say, in a way I was glad I didn’t know them before hand. For me it was way more exciting especially being dead center in the front, right against the stage. The Three members that were there (Out of 8!) really blew us (The Audience) away. I was not just bopping my head, I was stamping my feet and trying to sing along to choruses. Mike Costaney had incredible skill, he used Brush Sticks which I have seen before, but not done this well. His beats weren’t your average and boring, bass-snare-bass-snare-highhat. He utilized that whole kit, in a totally appropriate and catchy manner. That’s not to say he wasn’t thinking outside the box, because he most certainly was. I have seen drummers who have been playing their whole lives who couldn’t pull off some of the rhythms he was creating. He really had some amazing focus yet didn’t play with that goofy straight face most drummers often play with. He was smiling and looking out, and having a blast. He truly helped create a great atmosphere for us all. Next up was Joe Michelini the front man, the singer-songwriter behind it all. Joe is not the type of guy to not throw his emotions into his music. Every song he played/sang I could really feel, I could relate to him- which In my opinion is one of the greatest things an artist can achieve. His raw vocals (Which were always in tune) really added to his intense strumming patterns on his beautiful guitar. His guitar depicted mountains all over his fretboard, I thought it was genius, it looked fantastic and played just as well. Fortunately Joe wasn’t a boring singer/frontman, He was very intimate with the audience for an acoustic show. He stomped around on stage and got right in the audiences face, and made tons of eye contact. Like I said, there was no way you could stand there with your arms crossed. Also, before one of his songs Joe gave an extremely concise explanation of a song about a beautiful sunset in Pennsylvania. It really added some depth to an already meaningful song. I’m glad he had done that, it really shows that him and his buddies truly love their music. With his friends, they’ve traveled the country side and have gotten to see some pretty amazing things which in turn has been written about and performed for us. Now last but not least (Seriously she was awesome) is Jenn Fantaccione; who played both Acoustic Guitar and Cello on this tour, and not just boring ‘let me add some strings to the song to make it sound pretty’ cello. We’re talking, Let me get a good groove and feel on this kind of cello. One of Joe’s finger plucked songs (which was impressive as hell, this coming from a musician) had me staring at her cello for this crazy bass sounding part. Her fingers didn’t have to be all over because they were in the exact right spots at the exact right moments. Her acoustic playing, which was only one song was fun too, she was plucking chords from mid range, to higher up frets. They really flowed together perfectly. These musicians which I discovered are all around 21 have really blown me away. I was still craving more when it was over, which led me to buy a CD after the show.
RCE was kind enough to sign my CD
As a side note, the band as people are some really tight people. This is the kinda band I would really love to jam with. I would hate to sound like that ass kisser saying we hung out but I had a really great time hanging with them after the show. They signed a CD for me, Chatted, and even danced a bit. (Jenn and Mike did, more so Jenn, she had the moves) I took a few pictures with them (Mostly ruined because it’s crummy cell shots in a dark room) and even got to interview Jenn a bit about the band. She had told me that her and Joe had known each other since early on in grade school. They had played cello together in school and reconnected later on in high school to form RCE, which had been Joe’s solo project for a long time. They had a crazy line-up of eight people, which had driven previous tour managers nuts; which made me laugh. Jenn said they felt like they had been babysat, told when to eat, when to wake up etc. etc. but despite all of it, she was still a completely normal and fun human being. In fact they all were, which makes me fortunate I was able to hang with them for as long as I could.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Mike, Jenn, Me, Joe
Word of advice to you guys, if you want something new to really get yourself into, check out
