Rickie Mazzotta says he's being bad today. Instead of eating one pack of beef-flavored Ramen, he's having two.
The 28-year-old is currently at home in Philadelphia, taking a break from some homework. He's a junior at Villanova University studying sociology, but don't let the homework and the Ramen fool you. He's not just a traditional student. He's also the drummer for mewithoutYou, an experimental rock band from Philadelphia.
For the next month, mewithoutYou will be taking the Ramen out on the road as it embarks on a handful of college shows in preparation for an upcoming summer tour in support of the fourth album, it's all crazy! it's all false! it's all a dream! it's alright, to be released in May. Because of the Asylum, a student club that organizes concerts, one of the band's stops will include a free show at Paul Robeson Cultural Center's Heritage Hall at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Asylum Vice President Megan Harrell said a number of pre-event tickets are available for students on the first floor of the HUB-Robeson Center, from 2 to 9 p.m. today and Friday. These tickets guarantee entrance to the show before those without tickets; and only those with a student ID can obtain these tickets. However, community members can attend the performance, but are not guaranteed entrance, Harrell.
Asylum President Josh Krantz said after the last Asylum show featuring A Day to Remember the club decided to open admission to non-students as well.
"For our last show we had to turn away like 200-something community members," Krantz (sophomore-mechanical engineering) said.
Harrell (sophomore-graphic design) added to that, saying the addition of community members should boost the turnout for the show.
"We got a pretty nice backlash from angry non-Penn State students who didn't get into the Day to Remember show," Harrell said. "I'm definitely thinking once we get fliering up and promotional stuff out, it's going to be another 500-person-plus show."
Evolving out of labels
Since its beginnings in the suburbs of Philadelphia in 2001, mewithoutYou has been a band that's been tough to categorize for those with a predilection toward pigeonholing.
Some hear the loud, chaotic angst of the band's first record, [A->B] Life, and lump them in with the post-hardcore crowd; others hear the spiritual, religious insight contained in singer Aaron Weiss' lyrics and are quick to label it a Christian rock band.
All of this is frustrating for Mazzotta, to say the least, especially if you call them an emo band.
"It's always people talking about styles and scenes. It's a total bummer," Mazzotta said. "For some reason, we always get written about as being this emo band. I hate being lumped in with all that stuff."
Harrell, who has seen the band six times in the past, agrees with this sentiment, describing claims of the band's emo status as baseless.
"They're definitely not a typical emo band," Harrell said. "Most of the stuff they write wouldn't even fall into that category. MewithoutYou is a much deeper band than that."
Those unfamiliar with the band can expect a mewithoutYou song to feature Weiss singing or shouting -- like a preacher at times -- lyrics laced with religious tones over atmospheric guitars, driving bass lines and flourishes of accordions and trumpets. Compared to its beginnings as an aggressive rock band, the band's sound has changed immensely.
On their newest record, Mazzotta said there is a lot more happiness compared to past records.
"We didn't intentionally change, it's just what felt right for us," Mazzotta said. "We wanted to make a progression from all those records and put out something that felt new to us and, I'm sure will feel new to a lot of people. We really wanted to make a record representing where we were at. That's a big part of our band: not just making music for the sake of making music, but to have it be a direct representation of our band."
Harrell said the band's evolution has been natural, arguing while some elements have been added or taken out, the style has remained consistent.
"Sometimes bands evolve and they really shouldn't, like Green Day," Harrell said, referring to the band's 2004 album, American Idiot. "MewithoutYou, although they've changed, I think they've gotten better musically. They haven't really changed their style, just added things as they've grown as a band. It's not really about the transition of being harder to what they are now, it's just the addition of more and becoming better artists."
Unorthodox song arrangements and eclectic instrumentation can save the band from falling into the cookie-cutter emo label, but Weiss' musings about God and religion make the band an easy target for Christian rock tags.
"I don't even know what that means or is supposed to look like," Mazzotta said, referencing the style of music that relies heavily on remixes that incorporate Jamaican and reggae influences. "In dub music, there's spiritual aspects of it but no one's calling it 'Christian dub' even though they're talking about Jesus. It's a very bizarre way of looking at art or music."
Going to college
Though the band is from outside Philadelphia, Mazzotta hasn't run into any fans on the Villanova campus.
"Villanova's just a different group of people than I'm used to," Mazzotta said. "There's no real arts at Villanova. Maybe one day I'll see a T-shirt or something."
The band has other chances to be possibly recognized and accosted by die-hard fans on college campuses, since more than half of the band is currently in college. Weiss is in the process of getting a Masters degree at University of Pennsylvania, while bassist Greg Jehanian plans on enrolling at Temple University. Taking a different route, Weiss' brother, Mike, a guitarist, is substitute teaching at inner-city schools in Philadelphia.
Though the desire for higher education is admirable, fans of the band may question if this means the band is preparing for the end. Mazzotta has no sure answers in this area except it "remains to be seen" as to whether or not the band will move forward after its summer tour.
"We're all getting older," he said. "A lot has happened this past year, on a personal level, with all four guys in the band. We're just at weird places in our lives ... and I think people are preparing for the future because we know this isn't going to last forever."
Mazzotta wouldn't get into specifics as to what exactly happened, saying it's the type of issues that people who've only known each other for 10 years should talk about. But even though mewithoutYou may not exist forever, Mazzotta is confident the four friends will still create music together.
"I can't imagine us not making music together, but there's no set plan," he said. "We'll do this tour and see where we're at."
