A Conversation With River City Extension, Part 2

Photo: Chase Heaverlo of Shady Buffalo

Lolita, New Band, New Approach

Note: This is the second in a series of posts (Part 1) in which I'll share with you portions of my conversation with River City Extension's Joe Michelini and Patrick O'Brien. We sat in my backyard, drank a few beers, and had a long chat. You'll hear crickets, dogs, planes, trains, bottles and glasses knocking around. You'll also hear some very interesting insights on music and beer.

The organizing principle, the reason, that Joe Michelini, Patrick O'Brien, and I got together in my backyard a few weeks back was beer. I had this idea a while ago to sit down with River City Extension to taste a few beers and to shoot the breeze. That's what we did.

We started things off with the Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale. It's a strong ale from Belgium that, like most wild ales, uses a yeast called brettanomyces rather than the typical saccharomyces cerevisiae in the fermentation process. The "brett" gives the beer a funky, often sour, taste and can make for some interesting flavors. We enjoyed that as we took a listen to Deliverance, the album that River City Extension will release in March.

Next up was an American wild ale called Lolita from Chicago's Goose Island Beer Company. It's another strong one, coming in at 9% abv, flavored with raspberry. This was the second time I'd had this particular beer, and it's pretty damn good.

In this clip, you can hear Joe, Patrick, and me discuss Lolita and Necco Wafers. You can also hear me knock over the recorder at the beginning, but it gets better from there.



Two beers in, and it was time to get back to discussing music. With a new five-member lineup and a new album on the horizon, I was interested in finding out how River City Extension view their past output. We got into the band's philosophy when it comes to replacing / not replacing members who have left the band. We talked about how the "new" River City Extension may interpret the old songs, and we touched a bit on the departure of vocalist Sam Tacon.





In a bit of good timing, we got a preview of the band's new approach last week with a "Gardentakes" session during which they played a re-worked "Welcome to Pittsburgh."



Check back next week to hear the next installment of my conversation with Joe and Patrick. We should be pretty far into a few more beers by then. Should be fun.

Head over to River City Extension's website for details on this year's Simple Gifts 5, taking place at The Stone Pony on November 26th.