Meet the Band: Riddle of Steel
A look at a band with local ties.
By JULIE GARISTO
Published August 31, 2006
The guys: Andrew Elstner (interviewed here), guitar and vocals; Jimmy Vavak, bass and vocals; and Rob Smith, drums.
Sounds like: An unlikely mixture - what someone who grew up on Van Halen, the Police and Jawbox would get into.
Their live show: The bassist and guitarist trade lead vocals while the drummer pounds like a savage - all hair, sweat and spit.
Current CD: Got This Feelin' (2005, Ascetic Records).
Long-distance drummer: "Our drummer lives in Oklahoma, and Jimmy and I live in St. Louis, so whenever he comes up here, we try to do extended marathon jams. On the weekend, he'll come up and write. We've been getting more done with a drummer who lives eight hours away than we ever did with a drummer who lived in town."
Boys dig their name: "It's from Conan the Barbarian. This was like '97-'98-ish, I played drums in a goof-off metal band called Thulsa Doom. Thulsa Doom was James Earl Jones' character in the movie. . . . We had a song called The Riddle of Steel. Jimmy and I were playing together and were trying to come up with a name for another band, and we talked about the band, the song titles and how we had a good time. He really latched on to Riddle of Steel. I was like, 'Sure, why not?' "
It's also a role-playing game: "Yeah, I guess. It's sort of like a Dungeons and Dragons sort of thing."
Tastes, influences: "Rob is a huge prog rock fan. He's very big into Genesis and King Crimson, as much as he's into Led Zeppelin and the Police and indie rock bands, Fugazi. Jimmy would be into those bands, but he used to be in a band called the Five Deadly Venoms, which is more of a Jesus Lizard kind of thing. . . . Jimmy is more into angular, textural guitar stuff. . . . I'm much more into the Kinks, the Beatles, and Aerosmith is one of my favorite bands of all time."
How prog will they rock: "There's a lot of prog rock stuff I think is cool, but the more theatrical aspects of it I've never been into, or any of the corny lyrics. I don't know if we'll ever have a flutist in the band."
What lies ahead: "We have a handful of songs recorded already, and we're going to finish, hopefully track some more stuff in October. If anything, the stuff we're writing now goes along with the natural curve of bands, to start off A little more manic, a little more complicated and as time goes by, mellow out. The stuff we're writing now is more straightforward - for us."
Tampa rules: "We actually have the best shows anywhere in Tampa, for some reason. I think it mostly has to do with Jack Spatafora, who books the shows for us. He's been so great to us and it's been such a huge help having him down there going to bat for us."
Check 'em out: 7 p.m. Sunday with Auto!Automatic!!, Retisonic, Mouse Fire and History at the Orpheum, 1902 Republica De Cuba, Ybor City. $8, $9.