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<\/p>\nAndrew Scotchie and the River Rats recently debuted their third album, Family Dynamo<\/i>. The album represents a step forward for Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats. \u201cIt definitely has more of a theme\u201d than the band\u2019s previous efforts, says leader, songwriter and guitarist Scotchie. \u201cThe production is better, and I feel like it\u2019s going to attract people who maybe didn\u2019t like the last album.\u201d He describes Family Dynamo<\/i> as \u201cnot just a rock album. It\u2019s a little bit more artistic and thought-out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s third release does showcase a noticeable shift in the character of the band\u2019s music. \u201cWe\u2019ve listened to so much more since the last studio album,\u201d Scotchie says. Drummer Eliza Hill adds, \u201cWe\u2019ve gained so much perspective by being able to travel, and play different festivals and venues.\u201d The addition of bassist\/keyboardist Keith Harry has made a difference as well, Scotchie says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bluesy, melodic rock is a hallmark of Family Dynamo<\/em>, but it’s varied: \u201cHeartless Games\u201d is Scotchie solo, and on the brief instrumental \u201cUpside Down\u201d the guitarist channels his inner David Gilmour.<\/p>\n And while some groups write in the studio, Scotchie takes a more traditional approach. \u201cYou have to road-test the songs,\u201d he says. That has been the River Rats\u2019 approach since the beginning. \u201cWe used to play these long bar gigs, and we\u2019d have all this extra time,\u201d Hill explains. \u201cSo we\u2019d just kind of jam and make up stuff on the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n In those days, the group didn\u2019t have enough material for a four-hour show. \u201cSo we kind of didn\u2019t have a choice,\u201d Scotchie says. Today the group\u2019s more focused, professional approach applies to making albums as well. \u201cIt\u2019s not really a record until it\u2019s released,\u201d says Harry. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole process\u2014pre-production, packaging, all that\u2014and you have to see it to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n The group\u2019s own history tracks with the growth of the Asheville Barnaroo, a festival Scotchie launched in 2009. Today a thriving annual event, it had humble beginnings. \u201cWe started it in my mom\u2019s back yard in Weaverville,\u201d Scotchie recalls. \u201cWe did as much as we could there until we ran out of parking, the cops got annoyed, and I almost got taken in for a noise violation.\u201d Since 2013 the festival has been held in September at Franny\u2019s Farm in Leicester.<\/p>\n Though the group plays its share of club gigs, the River Rats are often at their best onstage at festivals. \u201cWe love Asheville very much, \u201cScotchie emphasizes, \u201cbut when we started getting out in front of new people in 2013 or so, building fans outside of town, that was a huge turning point.\u201d<\/p>\n Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats are beloved locally; the band won Mountain Xpress<\/i>\u2019s Best of WNC award three years in a row for \u201cBest Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Band.\u201d But those accolades don\u2019t mean as much when the band travels to other locales. Hill notes that the band has to work even harder to win over crowds outside of the band\u2019s home base. \u201cYou always put your best foot forward,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause people may not think twice about you if your performance is half-assed.\u201d<\/p>\n The album\u2019s title refers both to Scotchie\u2019s own nuclear family\u2014his late father was known as the \u201cfamily dynamo\u201d\u2014and to what the group considers its extended family of friends and supporters. \u201cI feel like we\u2019ve created a huge network just through doing what we do,\u201d Hill says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Andrew Scotchie and the River Rats recently debuted their third album, Family Dynamo. The album represents a step forward for Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats. \u201cIt definitely has more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,41,49,62],"tags":[194,237,1850],"class_list":["post-14927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-interview","category-new-release","category-rawk","tag-andrew-scotchie","tag-asheville","tag-river-rats","cat-9-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14929,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14927\/revisions\/14929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}