Here for the Party

Ravi Shavi’s music crackles with a brisk and refreshing nod to very early rock ‘n’ roll and classic punk rock. Recorded quick and dirty in a barn in East Greenwich, I can only imagine the wonderful things they’d come up with given a proper studio and some time to breathe. Their recordings exhibit a claustrophobic intensity, and a sort of otherworldly sheen simply because of their lo-fi recording methods and the slim economy of their songwriting. Their track “Hobbies” is a great example of this. Singer Rafay Rashid comes on like a punk rock Buddy Holly, rediscovering the path from brutish ‘70s proto punk like the New York Dolls and such to the more astute nerd-rockery of Elvis Costello and The Pretenders.

Ravi Shavi is a four-piece outfit comprising Rafay Rashid on vocals and electric guitar, Ben Tucker on drums, Bryan Fielding on bass and Nick Politelli on electric guitar. The group was born after the breakup of Rashid’s previous group, the Gambees. “I always thought there was something beautiful about how the appeal of music was largely inexplicable and beyond any rational explanation,” Rashid says.

Rashid, born in Islamabad, Pakistan and now a proud Rhode Islander, takes an understandably worldly approach to music. “I like to keep the melodies close to familiar forms of popular rock ‘n’ roll, especially from the ‘50s and ‘60s. I dig that the constant repetition of refrains is prominent in both Western and Eastern cultures, specifically popular American music and traditional Pakistani/Indian music.” For Rashid, whose writings are admittedly about “cosmopolitanism and aliens,” songwriting is the medium for him to convey the feeling of having a split identity created by globalization, conflicts of faith and rampant consumerism.

On record, Ravi Shavi is a really fun listen. “Vacation Holiday” begins with a quietly picked electric guitar figure. Just when you think the track will be just a bit morose in an Arcade Fire way, the band comes up with a startlingly good chorus before rounding the song out with some really great vocal overdubs and singalongs. “Indecision” sounds like Iggy Pop’s backing group for his Lust For Life album, and the track itself exemplifies from that same overall sleazy vibe. If only every band that recorded cheap and fast sounded this great, they make it seem pretty easy. “Everything you hear on the record is pretty much live, with all of us recording our parts together,” says Rashid. “We set out to make something that sounded like us live and didn’t take away from that kinetic friction when we’re all throwing ourselves at it simultaneously.” Ravi Shavi has had a few impressive gigs over the past year including opening for Deer Tick, with whom they share an honest love for vintage rock ‘n’ roll songwriting, at the prestigious Newport Folk Fest after party and the no-less-prestigious DudeSmash at the Met. They also got raved about after their set at Foo Fest this past summer and enjoyed a last minute New Year’s Eve gig at Fête.

Right before this issue hits the stands, the band is releasing their first full-length record with a show at Firehouse 13 with Roz Raskin and The Rice Cakes. They then plan to spend this upcoming spring and summer playing with the friends they’ve made in local bands such as Atlantic Thrills, Tapestries, The Wrong Reasons and many others. “There’s a real sense of a scene that has developed in Providence and I think its great that no one really sounds like each other here. People also are respectful and know how to get sloppy.”