Sixteen Questions for Rawles Balls

One of the great comedic rock bands of alltime, Rawles Balls have defied the odds about as much as any group possibly can. That they’re still together, after about five years – albeit with a seemingly different cast of characters every time they play a show – is something of a miracle. Then add the numbers of albums they’ve released – over one hundred by one count, eighty by another, nobody in the band seems to know. And consider that they don’t even play originals: Rawles Balls’ shtick is that they’re the cover band from hell, butchering all the cheeseball hits you know along with plenty of brilliant obscurities you probably don’t. Call them a human jukebox with a broken tone arm. To solve the mystery of their longevity and success, Lucid Culture assembled three of the core members: frontman/guitarist Nigel Rawles AKA Rawles Balls, drummer Monica Castellanos and keyboardist Brian Kaupas. 

 

Lucid Culture: What is your favorite song to play live?

 

Rawles Balls: Depends on the night… “Time Of The Season” is pretty good. “Born To Run” when we get through the bridge part. When we do the trio, we do “Walk, Don’t Run,” James Broughel plays guitar and I play bass, that’s fun.

 

Monica Castellanos:  “Dang Me”

 

Brian Kaupas:  “Wonderful Tonight”

 

LC: How many cds have you released so far?

 

MC:  At least 120.

RB: Over 80 official releases. And a ton of RBFC [Rawles Balls Fan Club] ones. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 total.

BK: Far too many.

 

LC: What’s the latest album, and what’s on it?

 

MC:  Not sure… wasn’t the latest release a box set of the re-releases?

RB: “Imodium AD” (RBFC) recorded live at Arlene’s and “Bowery Ballsroom” from the 4th Of July show with horns! Standout tracks are “Land of 1,000 Dances,” “Young Americans,” “We’re An American Band.” Also, the debut album with my new jazz trio – it’s called “That’s No Way To Talk To A Bud” – I guess that’s the most recent studio album. We’re gonna be recording another proper album with Captain Carl at his new studio real real soon.

 

LC:  Do you have a rough idea of how many people have passed through the band since Rawles Balls first started?

 

MC:  The last list we tried to put together had about 15 people on it.  Are we supposed to include the ones that were fired or just the quitters?

 

BK: I’ve been in and out dozens of times.

 

RB: There’s been about 3 or 4 “classic” line-ups. Or 5 maybe – we tried to figure it out a while back. We came up with something like this… MKI was just me and Patrick Glynn. Then Monica replaced Patrick on drums. July 2003 we made our first album, two days in the studio with tons of people coming in and out. The core members on the session were Boyle on Rhodes, me on guitar, a few different drummers and Carl in the control room. Patrick started playing bass on shows after that. I think Essie [Essie Jain] and Danika and sometimes Brian Kaupas on piano. I guess that’s the mk II, classic line-up number one? Then mkIII was that one with Ward [White, on bass]? Then mkIV with Jesse & Michelle. Then mkV with Jason and Matt from the Hymns.Various horn players like Joe Brack and lots of keyboard players. Lots of really great people. I love them all evenly.

 

LC: Who’s in the band now – realizing that the lineup could change drastically before this post goes up online - and what other projects are they involved with?

 

MC: I’m not really sure I’m even in the band now.

BK: I’m in. I think.

RB: Jesse Reno plays bass most of the time. He’s in a group called Radio America with Gabe and Tom who’ve also played on a couple Rawles Balls records “Taking Sandwich Mountain” and “Santa Fe Wind.” Monica plays drums but, when she can’t make a show it’s been Stepro or Kristin Worrell. Danika Hendrickson sings sometimes and Michelle Nikoomanesh sings.

 

LC:  Considering how much the RIAA is freaking out, suing random college kids who’ve downloaded a few songs, you ever have nightmares where they come after you?

 

RB: Yeah, every night. I think they call ‘em night terrors.

MC: Well, we started with nothing, and we have plenty of that left, so

bring ‘em on.

 

LC: What percentage of your songs do you actually play from start to finish?

 

MC:  These days, maybe 40%.  Originally, 0.001%

BK:  25%

RB:  We finish all of them. Otherwise they’d still be goin’.

 

LC:  What makes Rawles Balls any different from your typical bunch of college freshmen who gather in the rec room under the dorm, plug in their shitty equipment, do a few bong hits and then butcher the songs you hear on the radio?

 

MC:  We’re older.

RB:  It’s in the sound. Our tone is really good.

BK:  Shittier equipment

 

LC:  Does the fact that you have a wide and devoted following ever surprise you? Did you ever imagine this happening, or the the band lasting any longer than a handful of gigs?

 

MC:  I’m constantly surprised by the everchanging size of our wack pack and really, every gig is our last one, so no I never imagined it.

BK:  It’s surprising.   Sometimes we play to 5 people, other times it’s a packed house.

RB: I’m not surprised. It’s nice. I’m glad people seem to like what we do. We have fun doing it. I really love almost all the songs we play so everything has the right spirit. You know? We’ve been number 1 five years in a row now – I think that says it all.

 

LC:  Not only do you have an official Rawles Balls Fan Club, you now have an official Rawles Balls fanzine. What kind of stuff do you plan on putting in it – and is this going to be an oldfashioned print-and-paper thing or online?

 

MC:  I heard about a velvet color-by-numbers poster, trading cards, and action figures but not the fanzine – where can I get one?

RB: It’s print and paper – and it’s our second one. The first fanzine “Dickin’ Around With Rawles Balls” was only 8 pages and came with a cd.  This next one is like 50 pages and comes with nesting dolls of each of the famous line-ups.  

 

LC: Are you aware of the Ward White song The Ballad of Rawles Balls, and what do you think of it? Have you ever considered covering it?

 

MC:  Ward White is a genius and we probably tried to cover it, but Nigel didn’t know the chords or the words.

BK:  Haven’t heard it. Ward is a great bass player.

RB:  Maybe we’ll get him to sing it at the next Cavalcade of Allstars show.

 

LC: Have you thought of taking Rawles Balls to the traditional mass media outlets – for example, Saturday Night Live – or are you content to see the band’s fan base evolve organically?

 

MC:  Rawles Balls as a band are the champions of self-sabotage, so mass media outlets will never be an option for us.  Organic is good.

BK:  We would love to do SNL.   That would be great.

RB:  I think this one guy wants to make a TV show or something. Also, we’re gonna be the house band for Jimmy Fallon’s Show. Plus Patrick and Marie LeClaire are doing a documentary.  That should be pretty good.

 

LC:  Unlike a lot of bands, you not only play requests, you actually encourage your audience to call them out. How often do they stump you?

 

MC:  I’m stumped by every single song.

BK:  We’re stumped.

RB:  We’ve done over a thousand songs. If we don’t know it, between the five of us, then maybe it’s not even a real song. You know? I have a photographic ear and all songs are easy to play so… they’ve never stumped us.

 

LC:  Have you considered doing something along the lines of Loser’s Lounge, you know, Rawles Balls plays Bread, the Rawles Balls tribute to the Lou Pearlman era, etc.?

 

MC: We have, but the latest I heard was start learning Olivia Newton John songs, so I guess that might be next.

RB: Bread would be great. Or the Jam. Or together. We’ve tried to do shows like that but it always turns into “let’s do that Tina Turner song…” And “Wait… who wants Love and Rockets?” When we started out we had a group called Heaven – it was all Bryan Adams songs. Then we did Miller Time. Which was all Roger Miller, Glenn Miller, Mitch Miller, Mrs. Miller and Steve Miller Band songs. When I heard Bruce Springsteen was doing an album called “The Seeger Sessions” or whatever I wanted to do one called “The Seger Sessions” with all Bob Seger songs. I LOVE THE SEEG!! Plus we have sax now. Gotta get Danika to dial it down a notch and learn the background vocals with Michelle….nah…

 

LC: You’ve reached the level of popularity where you can play a big room like Bowery Ballroom, an enviable goal for a New York band. What’s the next step for Rawles Balls?

 

MC:  Lunch and happy hour.

BK:  Back to playing for 5 people with our shitty equipment.

RB:  Shut up Brian! You’re back out of the band again now.