How many generations ago were rRope a band? It's hard to track this kind of musical progression these days. We can mount something on a physical date (for instance, rRope performed their last show opening for Sonic Youth at the Fillmore in 1998) but that doesn't really show up how many times in between then and now the cycle has refreshed, or recycled, or returned, or refreshed again. In the fourteen years since rRope has been a band, noisey rock bands have gone in and out of style, and so have several other genres, but perhaps right now we are seeing a resurgence. The recent success of bands like The Men and Pop.1280 might be a testament to heavy, technical rock's return.
If that's the case, then we should all be fighting for one of the 300 copies of rRope's new box set, We Are You There, coming out in May on vinyl from Deathbomb Arc. The band's echoey drums and sciencey, grindy guitars sound completely fresh in this climate, and the quickly spoken vocals bring back recollections of when lyrics were worth memorizing, so you could scream them in the front row. Brian Miller, proprietor of Deathbomb and Foot Village main dude, claims that they inspired him to start the label and wade into the underground. Hopefully the inspiration continues. The set includes every recording the band ever made, including live recordings of that set at the Fillmore, and it seems like it would be a required piece of the collection of someone trying to re-assemble the history of the genre. The pre-order for the set, which ships in May, comes with an instant digital download, so you can start being influenced right away.
