Oakland-based Rogue Wave played to a sold-out Fillmore crowd in San Francisco on Saturday night, rocking college students and local friends with their folk-tinged anthems in a powerful set of perfectly calibrated peaks and cool-downs, finishing off with an extended encore. The show probably should have ended with their lavishly embellished Neil Young cover (this author couldn't even identify it), but singer Zach Rogue wanted to sneak in another lullaby before bed time. To their credit, almost the entire crowd stayed through to the end.
The quintet has a fair degree of geek cred, whether they know it or not. They met on Craigslist, and their dreamy "Lake Michigan" single gained popularity through a mesmerising commercial for the Zune 2. They've also got a bit of the gadget lust themselves when it comes to effects pedals (photos below), as the band explained during a short interview.
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"We're gear nerds for sure," says guitar player and keyboardist Gram LeBron. "I just got Ableton Live 7 with an M-Audio keyboard controller and I was able to transfer all my samples from a big hardware synth I had from the '90s. So now I just have this laptop and a controller with USB power. I've reduced all the plugs and cables and it sounds great." (See below for photos of the band's setup)
Affording new gear isn't always easy on a musician's salary, LeBron thinks, as he looks forward to what could be a money-losing European tour, even for a band that just sold out the Fillmore. "It's a really hard thing to make money doing," he said.
Although some bands worry about their income being threatened by online piracy, LeBron's not so sure. He's gone to shows and bought music by bands that he discovered through theft. "I haven't stolen any music since I got my new computer," he assured me, and said the band is excited about the new trend of including free download codes with the purchase of vinyl albums. Drummer Pat Spurgeon seems a bit more pessimistic about online theft. "How do we fit into the online piracy scene? By having people steal our album online," he quipped.
Modest record sales and financial difficulties could become things of the past for Rogue Wave, well on its way to attracting a wider audience with a live show that's already on par with larger acts like Wilco or the Shins.
It's not easy reproducing the sonic landscape of their latest album, Asleep at Heaven's Gate on stage. Check out the gear they used to do so:
Gram LeBron's setup includes a MacBook running Ableton Live 7 with an M-Audio keyboard controller. This makes it a breeze to trigger samples and sound effects.
LeBron's pedal collection is impressive, including a Boss Tremolo, an Electro-Harmonix POG octavizer, a Big Shot true-bypass effects loop switcher, a Fulltone GT-500 discrete booster/distortion, an F5-5U footswitch, a Boss Digital Delay and an Ibanez Analog Delay.
Rogue Wave in general is crazy about Fender amps. Here's a Super Reverb (center) and a Fender Tweed (right). A Fender Deluxe Reverb sits out of frame to the right.
Guitar and pedal steel player Dominic East packs an Ibanez Analog Delay, an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb, a Boss Tremolo, a Fulltone Full-Drive 2 distortion and a Big Shot true-bypass effects loop switcher.
