5 Questions With: Eldridge Rodriguez
The noise-pop band stops by to discuss their latest release and what's coming next.
Good morning!
Today we’re talking with Cameron Keiber of Boston’s Eldridge Rodriguez.
Eldridge Rodriguez began as a songwriting moniker for Cameron Keiber and then used as a catch-all for his musical projects, starting with his work with Boston noise rock outfit The Beatings in the late 90s.
Cameron had recorded two full-length albums and 3 EPs under the E.R. name while in The Beatings before the Eldridge Rodriguez studio and live band took on a formal shape with Clayton Keiber (guitar), Dennis Grabowski (drums fr. The Beatings) and Dave Grabowski (bass, synths).
The first album recorded as a proper band was the electro rock-infused The Castrati Menace, recorded by Dave Grabowski at his BlueTone Studios in Somerville, MA. This was followed by the Slightest of Treason long-player, along with several singles and EPs.
Atrophy is the band's latest album and was released this past Friday.
I was lifting ideas from John Cale, No Age, The Jesus and Mary Chain, REM, The Jesus Lizard, Fabrizio De Andre, Dylan, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Taylor Swift, and the weird piano music during the hearse loading scene in the movie Phantasm. Then, the rest of the band added whatever they wanted to bring to it.
Clayton and Cameron Keiber run Midriff Records out of Boston/Brooklyn. Eldridge Rodriguez has been described as modern blues, sad-pop, and noise pop. With (or despite) much of the record being written during the pandemic, it has a decidedly more pop sound than their previous outings. There’s no shortage of jangle here.
The music explores classic themes such as man vs. nature, religion and race, entitlement vs. theft, willful ignorance, memory, aggressive stupidity, forgiveness and redemption in a smart mouthed, sometimes vulgar and irreverent way. Album tones swing from indie pop to ballad to gospel to noise and beats.
Keiber describes it as music for people who like to dance in the dark, alone.
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I recently had a chance to catch up with Cameron Keiber via email. In a wide-ranging chat, we talk about his music history, the Boston music scene, and of course, the music.
Our chat has been lightly edited for clarity/flow.
KA: Can you fill in a little bit of your backstory? Walk us through what made you get started playing. Are there any other bands that you are/were involved in?
CK: Dennis and I played together in The Beatings for around 20 years. I’d been using the Eldridge Rodriguez tag for my musical projects inside and outside that band. I used it as a project name when I started doing solo albums.
Clayton was already running Midriff Records with me. Dave was playing in Louder My Dear, who were on the Midriff roster and had just started to get his studio going. That eventually became Bluetone Studio in Somerville, MA.
The solo project had a revolving lineup of local folks for the first couple of albums. People would come and go, but it started to take permanent shape when I asked the combo of Clayton, Dave, and Den to play with me somewhere around The Castrati Menace album. Dennis and I have been playing together since we were 19, so a shorthand was already established between us. Clayton knew all the material because he had been releasing it, and Dave envisioned where we could take the songs. The lineup works.
KA: Boston is obviously a city with a rich music history. Who’s playing right now that we should have on our radar?
CK: Many of the Boston bands I love are on the roster at Midriff Records. And there are bands we’ve come up with who are always doing interesting stuff like Hallelujah the Hills, Hands and Knees, and Arron and the Lord.
Then there are the artists who came before us, who I’m fascinated with, like Thalia Zedek and Minibeast (technically Providence, but…). There’s always something going on in this town.
KA: I can hear quite a few different influences on the record. Who would you include here?
CK: I honestly don’t know how we got to where we ended up with this album. It’s vastly different from what we initially discussed it would be.
I was lifting ideas from John Cale, No Age, The Jesus and Mary Chain, REM, The Jesus Lizard, Fabrizio De Andre, Dylan, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Taylor Swift, and the weird piano music during the hearse loading scene in the movie Phantasm. Then, the rest of the band added whatever they wanted to bring to it.
We never really discussed where it was going or compared it to anything while we were recording. Each song came from someplace different because we made it up as we went along and didn’t tie ourselves to anything.
KA: For anyone coming to your music for the first time, what do you want them to take away from it?
CK: I’m not really concerned with “what” they take away from it as long as they get something out of it. I don’t expect a consensus. I know specifically what I’m writing about, and ultimately, I write for my own edification. But that doesn’t matter; really, intent doesn’t matter.
How a message is received is the only real metric of communication. So I’d hope people would get something out of our work. Conversely, if they get nothing from our work, that’s not my problem either. You can only do the work and hope it connects.
KA: What's next for the band? What does the rest of 2023 look like for you?
CK: Shows and more shows. This album took us three or so years to wrap up, so I wouldn’t expect to start work on the new one until after the new year. For my part, it’s written. But these things take time.
Eldridge Rodriguez | Atrophy, 2023
Click on the record to listen on your platform of choice.
To connect with the band and purchase their music, click here:
| Website | Midriff Records | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp |
5 Questions:
1. Describe your music style in one sentence.
Post-modern blues for people who like to dance alone in the dark.
2. What music played in your house(s) growing up?
A lotta Zevon, lotta Stones, lotta Eagles, and a lotta Randy Newman. In my bedroom were standard “The” bands- The Cure, The Smiths, The Church, The REM, etc.
3. What are you listening to these days?
Demos for the next Eldridge Rodriguez album and my 14-year-old’s playlist of Boygenius and Arctic Monkeys
4. What are your 5 Desert Island Discs?
The 5 Eldridge Rodriguez full-lengths so I can play “woulda, shoulda, coulda” with myself and my anxiety
5. If you could collaborate with any artist/band, who would it be?
I don’t play well with others. The guys I collaborate with now make me extremely happy. I’m just not all that interested in other people’s work and certainly don’t want to be a part of it.
Thanks to Cameron Keiber for stopping by, and thank you for being here,
Kevin—