Talking Rose City Band with Ripley Johnson
Have you ever tripped out on psychedelic mushrooms while taking a lazy drive through the desert?
Me neither. But if I ever do, I imagine the experience would be something like the atmosphere I feel surrounded by while listening to ‘Sol Y Sambra,’ the just-released fifth album by Portland, Oregon’s Rose City Band.
Launched in 2019, RCB is the baby of Ripley Johnson. You might know Johnson from his work with space rock shapeshifters Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo. What all three acts have in common is they make sounds that are cosmic and, in different ways, lysergic. Where the other two bands take your consciousness to other words via hypnotizing, fuzzed-out swirlsthat can make you feel like you’re racing something you can’t quite see, Johnson’s Rose City Band project takes a more gentle approach in guiding you on an astral excursion.
RCB’s sound and style is easily described as psychedelic country rock. The Grateful Dead in various stages of their career is an obvious reference point. But there’s other musical associations one might detect in the patiently rollicking, hazy, pedal steel-heavy 10 tracks spread across ‘Sol Y Sambra.’ As you chug along on that happy hallucination-rich trek on the desert road in your mind, you might see trails while remembering songs you love by The Flying Burrito Bros., Mike Nesmith’s First National Band, country Byrds (natch), and other kindred musical spirits. Personally, I hear all of that as well as some more contemporary bands, like The Allah-Las (particularly their 2023 release ‘Zuma 85’)…
The easygoing, mother-nature embracing new RCB long player has a consistent sound and feel, to where it could almost be one extended song over its 45 or so minutes’ duration. Yet there’s a few selections that stand out in a way that could make them ideal fare to put on your new mixtape for a friend or a compilation of your favorite cosmic songs. The daydream-inducing ‘Sunlight Daze’ is one you’d want to hear while you’re contentedly exhausted after a long weekend, like some of the tracks on Neil Young’s ‘On the Beach.’ As befits its title, ‘Radio Song’ is apt to get you tapping the steering wheel to its patient beat as you drive past all the cacti and tumbling tumbleweeds; that tune makes me think of The New Dawn, also out of the Pacific Northwest, and their 1970 cult classic record ‘There’s a New Dawn.’ ‘La Mesa,’ the one instrumental track on ‘Sol Y Sambra,’ has a yacht rock aura with its shimmering guitar line and bouncing ball feel. If I was going to play one song from the record to somebody who’d never heard RCB, as a way of attempting to turn the newbie on, it’d be the laid-back groove ‘Lights on the Way’ which does, yes, put the listener in a Dead zone.
“I feel like the records are just a guide for the live experience”
I asked Johnson a handful of questions over email as I listened to ‘Sol Y Sambra’ on repeat:
How do you view ‘Sol Y Sombra’ in the context of RCB’s discography to date? Is it a departure from the previous records in any way, or more of a continuation?
Ripley Johnson: It’s a continuation but I feel like it maybe has a broader scope. It were a true departure, I would probably have given the project a new name. The making of it, for me, was different, emotionally, psychologically. But every record is different, I’m different, the times are different.
RCB seems to be primarily a solo project for you, but with contributions from others. Is that accurate? Has anyone else contributed to any of the songwriting, or general creative vision of the act?
That is accurate. In the studio it’s more of a solo project. The live band is a different entity. But I’ve had a recurring cast of contributors for the last few records—John Jeffrey on drums, Barry Walker on steel, Paul Hasenberg on keys. They all play in the current band. And Sanae Yamada has been a special guest on record.
In some critical write-ups I’ve seen of RCB, a great emphasis is placed on the influence of The Grateful Dead. But I hear other things when I’m listening. To what extent does The Dead’s sound and style directly influence RCB?
I do find their music very inspirational. The press loves to dissect this stuff but I’m a pretty voracious music fan, so the influences are really immeasurable. The initial inspiration for starting the project was the music of my youth, which was generally “classic rock” and some country. For me, that was the Dead, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Santana, Merle Haggard, Chuck Berry, Funkadelic, Creedence, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, The Faces, etc… The list goes on and on.
Stuff I absorbed as a kid. But at this point I’ve been influenced by a scores of beloved records and artists, from Can to Link Wray to Sonny Sharrock to Agitation Free, on and on and on.
Has RCB superseded Moon Duo and/or Wooden Shjips for you, or do you see all three projects as active? If the latter, how do you balance all of it?
I try to just focus on what’s at hand, so right now that’s the RCB. Moon Duo is still somewhat active. We’ll see what comes.
How would you compare and contrast RCB’s live shows in relation to the studio output?
The live shows are quite different. We like to stretch out when we can. It’s not as laid back, being amplified and in-the-moment. I feel like the records are just a guide for the live experience, like the map and the territory. We haven’t had many opportunities to tour, so we’re still developing as a band, which is exciting to me. That should change in 2025, as we’re planning a lot of shows.
‘Sol Y Sambra’ is out now via Thrill Jockey. Rose City Band will be touring, first in the Western U.S. and then across Europe, this month through May.
Brian Greene
Headline photo: Rose City Band by Robbie Augsperger
Rose City Band Website / Facebook / Instagram / X / Bandcamp
Thrill Jockey Website / Facebook / Instagram / X / YouTube / Bandcamp
