Music

Sonic Experiments

Michael Rambo Project techs out to rock on

Lauren Buelow Cunningham, photos by Andrea Paulseth |

 
The Michael Rambo Project includes Michael and Daniel Rambo, Brian Claxton, John Miller, Andrew Detra, and Aaron Hedenstrom. A Grand Little Theatre show.

If there’s a small blimp buzzing over Phoenix Park later this month, it’s not because tires are being sold – it’s because The Michael Rambo Project is rocking out. And we’re not just listening quietly.

    “Have you ever wanted to go to a concert that has a ‘mouse’ attached to it?” asked  MRP front man Micheal Rambo. “We have. We have found that many people don’t want to simply listen to music.” Though the band has been making music together for a little over a year, they recently implemented some sweet new audience participation tricks to their live shows.

    A desire to create a different concert experience inspired the band to use technology to include their audience in the music-making. MRP’s audience-enhanced concert project debuted in June at the Grand Little Theatre. The audience passed around an iPad, using it to activate preset audio cues such as ambient noises and sound effects while the band was playing.

    “We wanted to inspire a sense of creation,” Rambo said. “People would cheer for each other, and then pass the iPad on to others, and then cheer them on as well.  Musically, we left a lot of space for the audience to do their thing, and then brought it all back together.”

    The six-piece group includes multi-talented musicians from across the Eau Claire music spectrum, including Michael and Daniel Rambo, Brian Claxton, John Miller, Andrew Detra and Aaron Hedenstrom. (You may recognize some of these guys from local groups like The Shillelagh Lads, Duncan Ninja, and the latest incarnation of UWEC Jazz Ensemble I.)
 


    While they’ve reached a buzz of success in the Eau Claire music scene, the band admits that they are still discovering their sound and artistic goals.

    “We are still ironing out our direction musically,” Hedenstrom said. “Our basic philosophy is to put our spiritual and life experiences together into the music while exploring the sonic possibilities within pop genre.”

     MRP is also exploring new audience participation ideas and tweaking the iPad idea to be more user-friendly. Their next plan is to fly a mini-blimp over their July 22 show at Phoenix Park. The blimp would be controlled by the audience and have a camera attached to record footage for the next video in The Michael Rambo Project Does Things series on YouTube.

     Overall, it seems like MRP want to make sure that you have a great time at their shows, and hopefully, while you’re throwing your beats into the mix, you connect with them through the music.

     “As a band, we want to go beyond the music,” Hedenstrom said. “We want the MRP to be an unforgettable experience that people will want to come back to.”

The Michael Rambo Project (with the Jim Pullman Band) at the Sounds Like Summer Concert Series • July 22 • Phoenix Park • 6:30pm • www.themichaelramboproject.com