Ra Ra Riot, comprised of six former Syracuse University students, will be back in town this weekend, playing Funk n’ Waffles Saturday night. The Daily Orange was able to talk with the group’s bassist, Mathieu Santos, about the show and the band’s upcoming plans.

The Daily Orange: So you guys have been on tour and recording for a while, what’s it like to come back and play in Syracuse?

Mathieu Santos: We always look forward to it of course because like, you know, it’s where we got our start and everything, so it’s always a good chance to come back, see a lot of friends and everything. I mean, we’ve got a ton of support in Syracuse since the beginning so it’s always like, a welcome break from shows that aren’t as successful or whatever. To come back to Syracuse and see everyone, the shows are always a lot of fun.

Any truth to the rumor that the band is real close to signing with Columbia?

We’ve been talking to some labels; there’s nothing official yet. But you know, we’ve been talking to some people like that. Basically, there’s some definite interest from them and from some other labels as well. But nothing official yet.

How’s the recording for the new EP going?

Actually, we just finished mixing and matching this week. We’ve been in Brooklyn for the past three weeks, you know doing like 12-hour days at a time in the studio. So I guess we’ll be releasing the EP officially sometime I’d say in the next couple of months. So now we’re just finishing up the nitty-gritty stuff, like the album art and you know, the final song titles and stuff. But the recording itself went very well. We’re really excited about how it’s come out.

On the tour schedule on your MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/rarariot), you’re playing South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, next month, how did that get set up?

We’re really excited about that. I’m not exactly sure how it came about, but we played at the CMJ music festival in New York in November and that went really well for us, and we got a lot of positive feedback, a lot of interest. And so I think the next step from that was we got invited to play some shows at South by Southwest by some promoters who saw us at CMJ and wanted us to play there as well … We’ve got a couple booking agents working for us now, so they’ve been getting things set up for us.

So what is the band up to after London and everything, are you planning on cutting a full-length record anytime soon?

I think the plan right now is … to spend a couple of months working on new material and stuff, and then maybe like releasing the EP officially maybe around like May, then touring, like a substantial summer tour to support the EP, in the States probably, hopefully opening up for a semi-well-known band or something. I guess the plan after that is to spend the autumn working toward a full length album, which will hopefully come out. I mean, if we get a lot of work done in the fall or winter – next spring. Then just continue touring, hopefully abroad by that point.

If you go:

What: Ra Ra RiotWhere: Funk n’ Waffles, LaTazza When: Saturday, 8 p.m.How much: $10

Published on February 14, 2007 at 12:00 pm