It's been 12 years since Rusted Root started packing houses with their eclectic jam band grooves. Tuesday, the band brings its world music-influenced rhythms to Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. recess' Ben Freedland caught up with vocalist and guitarist Liz Berlin to discuss the band's recent musical directions.
recess: Many college students became Rusted Root fans when you released "Send Me On My Way" in 1994. What should old fans who may have missed some of your newer work expect out of a show today?
Liz Berlin: We definitely stay true to our old school stuff. but we also play a lot of newer stuff from the most recent studio release. The thing we have been doing the last couple of tours-which has been really fun for us and really exciting for the audience-is we have been re-addressing a lot of the old material.. Even though it might be a song you've heard before, there might be totally new chords or it might go in a totally new direction.
While some of the players in the band are doing their own side projects these days, is there an excitement when the band reunites for shows like the one coming up at the Cradle?
Definitely. I mean, it recharges my batteries. It definitely is a really positive thing for me that lets me come back to the group with a totally fresh bag of tricks.
Each Rusted Root song seems to have a different mood or feeling. Do you enjoy playing in a band with such totally different sounds?
I really enjoy it. I think I would be bored in a band that was all one vibe.. We are always totally willing and eager to have the music take whatever direction it was going to take naturally. If that meant that each song on the album was going to be a different genre, we embraced that.
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