Show at World Cafe at The Queen, Sept. 16
By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times
Rusted Root will be at the World Cafe Live at The Queen, Sept. 16.
Rusted Root, which is performing on September 16 at the World Café Live at the Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, 302- 994-1400, www.queen.worldcafelive.com), has a long and interesting history.
Actually, the veteran group of musicians has a 25-year history as one of the premier rock bands to come from Pennsylvania. The group, which still includes three of the original five members, continues to write, record and tour. And, it still calls Pittsburgh home.
The trio of founding members includes Michael Glabicki (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin), Patrick Norman (bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion) and Liz Berlin (percussion, backing vocals). Rounding out the quintet are Preach Freedom (percussion, backing vocals) and Dirk Miller (guitar, backing vocals).
“We’ve had this lineup together for over five years now,” said Glabicki, during a phone interview Friday afternoon from a tour stop in nearby New Hope. “Colter (Harper), our other guitarist, left after the last album to teach school in Ghana. Preach has been our drummer for six years. Before that, he was our percussionist.”
Rusted Root has been touring for awhile in support of its most recent album “The Movement,” which was released on Shanachie Records in 2012.
“We’ve been working on demos and pre-production for our next album,” said Glabicki. “We’ll probably start recording in January. We have about half the record figured out. Once I see it, then a lot of songs get written.
“I’m in a writing phase right now. I just wrote two songs earlier ths week. It seems like writing is getting easier as it goes. I’m more willing to not get hung up on a song. If it’s not working, it’s O.K. because I know something will come along soon that will blow it away.”
While “The Movement” was more of a spiritual, highly-creative work, Rusted Root’s next album looks to be heading in a different direction.
“It’s interesting,” said Glabicki. “I want to see that it’s a little more rocking — more electric guitar. And, the vocals are playing a different role. There are different vignettes throughout the song instead of a whole song being just one vignette.
“‘The Movement’ was a celebration of what we learned over the first 25 years. The new album is the start of the next 25 years. I can see the band being together for that long. I don’t see why not. The band keeps getting better. There are more landscapes to explore musically. And, we’re still getting bliss from the audience.”
Rusted Root’s first major success came with the band’s 1994 album “When I Woke,” which went platinum, and its breakout song was a catchy tune called “Send Me On My Way.
“We’ve been playing that song so long that it has a life of its own — we just follow it where it goes,” said Glabicki. “In our live shows right now, half of it is acoustic with Preach doing a djembe solo in the middle. Then, there is the full band at the end. It connects nicely.
“We currently play six songs from ‘When I Woke,’ some from ‘Remember’ and three or four from ‘The Movement.’ And, we play about four songs from the upcoming album. We’re cycling them through.
“We’ve been getting great responses with the new songs. It’s a little scary because the sound is different — but the crowd gets it. The grooves are more organic and moving. There’s a little bit of funk — and some straight-ahead rock grooves.”
The show at the World Café Live at the Queen is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. with Flux Capacitor as the opening act. Tickets are $22 and $27.
