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Video Interview | Riverside
Obnoxious Listeners - Riverside from Dan Cutright on Vimeo.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Riverside’s lead singer, Mariusz Duda, at the Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey on September 12, 2008. Check out the video to learn a brief history of Riverside, insight into their creative processes, what separates them from the pack, and if/when they plan to take over the world. I had to travel more than 8 hrs each way via public transportation from just outside Boston to meet Riverside… and let me tell you, the show alone was well worth the investment. Don’t pass up a chance to see these guys live next time they come around!
The venue itself was great. The show was sold-out with roughly only 400 seats, which is just about the perfect size in my opinion. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house, but of course Nirav and I were there early and situated ourselves right in the center of everything. Although the show was sold-out, we noticed the average age of audience was mid to late 40’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that this supports our notion that Riverside has not yet really hit their key demographic in the US. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the names Joe Satriani, Steve Morse, John Petrucci, etc. I guess my point is that there wasn’t much diversity in the audience. This is just because Riverside is relatively unknown to the US. We think this will change in the not so distant future.
Riverside is the best find I’ve come across since Nirav and I started this site. Riverside formed in 2001, but we only just found them May 4th, 2008. I know this date because I was so excited before even finishing my first listen of Rapid Eye Movement (2007) that I immediately wrote a post and published it that night. Over the past few months I’ve purchased all three full length albums and two EPs. Trust me, if you already have one album and liked it… you need them all. You won’t be disappointed. These guys are only just now breaking into the US, but they’ve made a mark over in Europe between collaborations with other well-to-do musicians and opening for Dream Theater on their European tour. I’ve also learned their artwork was created by the same artist (Travis Smith) who created Opeth’s album artwork. It’s my firm belief that Riverside is going to blow-up in the US over the next couple years, and I feel very privileged to catch their first show of their own in the US as well as meet them.
We want to thank Rob Palmen (Riverside’s manager) for working with Nirav to set-up this interview and for being so helpful and flexible. We’d also like to thank NJ Prog House for managing to book Riverside for their first non-feastival show in the US.
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