Ripe

Local jam band Ripe will have a CD-release party tonight at Bube's Brewery, 102 N. Market St. Mount Joy.
The self-titled debut album has 14 tracks and will available at Ripe shows.
The six-piece rock/blues/funk band is fronted by Adam Mentzer and includes Sam Kornhauser on guitar, Osman Chaudhary on bass and violin, Jen Powell on vocals, shaker, and melodica, Chelsea Killian on keyboards and Dave Donahue on percussion and vocals. Ripe lists influences including everyone from Jack Johnson and Kings of Leon to Incubus and The Magic Numbers.
The show starts at 9 and will also feature The Sketties.
For more information, go to www.myspace.com/ripelancaster or www.ripemusic.org - Lancaster Newspapers

When someone thinks of the term "jam band," most of the time, you think of something like: "They did the eighty-five minute version of 'Truckin'; it was awesome." And while long, extended versions of songs is one way of describing the art of "jamming," there is another way of looking at it. "Jamming" can also be a way of describing the feel of a band that gets on stage and just lets the feeling of the music take over.
The second description of "jamming" is a good way of looking at the feel of the music that is produced by Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based band, Ripe. Ripe is a band that has just released their debut, self-titled release. And while the band does not consider itself a jam band, the feeling is definitely present on the album and in the music contained on it.

Ripe is a six-piece rock outfit that has been described as "like Shooter Jennings tried to ghostwrite a new Sublime album, but was kidnapped halfway through tracking by all 83 members of Rusted Root". Listening to the CD, you can most certainly hear all of those elements in the band's music. And due to the fact that Ripe even includes several Sublime songs in their stage set, the Sublime reference is most than just coincidental.

Ripe was originally a solo concept for frontman Adam Mentzer. The lead vocalist/guitarist is joined in the band by guitarist Sam Kornhauser; bassist/violinist Osman Chaudhary; vocalist/percussionist/melodica/bells player Jen Powell; keyboard player Chelsea Killian; and drummer Dave Donahue. The members of the group take their unusual blend of instruments to create music. Together, the band creates a tight-sounding unit that has created a sound and style all it's own. With influences as diverse as Jack Johnson, Kings of Leon, Incubus and many people, many different things have shaped the band's sound. With the different influences and styles that go into the band's sound, they have a wide range of songs that make up their playlist. And with the wide variety in Ripe's playlist, the self-titled CD by the band features as many different styles in the songs that have been recorded to create the album. Some of the strongest tracks on the CD include: Little Bit of Living, So Long Candy Mountain, and With.

If you like rock bands that know how to jam, then Lancaster, Pennsylvania's Ripe is a band to check out, and their new album is something you need to hear. To check out this band of talented musicians, go to their MySpace account at www.myspace.com/ripelancaster. Also visit their website @ www.ripemusic.org. Right now, the band's website is under construction, so visit their MySpace first.

Matheson Kamin - RockandRollReport.com

Did someone say CD? Local rock-blues-folk-funk band Ripe not only has a CD on the way, but they have CD-Release Party on the way--Feb 22 at Bube's Brewery<p>
The self-titled album has 14 tracks and will be available at Ripe shows<p>
Already the rock,funk, and blues band is getting some airtime on WRVV-FM 97.3 (The River), and they'll be appearing in the February issue of Fly Magazine. (But you read about it here first, remember?)<p>
Next gig--Jan. 4 at the Dutchmaid Bar in Ephrata, starting at 10 p.m.<p>
For more info, visit www.RipeMusic.org or www.MySpace.com/RipeLancaster. - Lancaster Newspapers

Last month, I totally geeked out over the band Perkasie, the hayseed Arcade Fire of Central PA. So naturally, when I discovered that Perkasie’s Régine Chassagne, Kate Foust, had done a stint playing keys with Lancaster-based band Ripe, I had to check it out.
As it turns out, Foust is about all the two bands have in common, apart from a sort of campfire, gang-mentality approach to their music. Ripe is more like Perkasie’s second-cousin, a more jam-tastic, gruff, rock and roll version, but still in the same family tree.
With a name like Ripe, it isn’t all that surprising that the band would have a jammy persuasion – it’s so organic-sounding that you’d almost expect their logo to include a bunch of vegetables or tofu or a little plastic baggy full of diggity nugs. And you’d be right – the band’s name is spelled out by a cluster of cartoon-y tomatoes on a vine. But the jaminess isn’t the self-indulgent, 14-minute-song kind. It’s more in the band’s vibe, a barefoot, smoking-a-pipe-on-the-back-porch aesthetic that gives even Ripe’s rocking-est tunes a breezy shuffle.
“We don’t really consider ourselves a jam band, more like a group of people who think you can write a good five-minute song that has some depth both instrumentally and vocally,” explains drummer Dave Donahue. “We also have songs that are short, sweet and straight to the point.”
Ripe’s sound is unusual, at least for our area. It’s like Shooter Jennings tried to ghostwrite a new Sublime album, but was kidnapped halfway through tracking by all 83 members of Rusted Root.
The band cites influences as disparate as Jack Johnson, Kings of Leon, Incubus and The Magic Numbers, which, on paper at least, reads like a lost scene from “Saw.” But that’s what happens when you have six members. In actuality, though, this diversity is Ripe’s biggest strength, turning what might otherwise be a batch of perfectly fine, middle-of-the-road rock tunes into something artful. The mid-tempo rocker “Darwin’s Dream,” for example, gains its sparkle from Chelsea Killian’s keyboards and Jen Powell’s melodica, which add counter-melodies that, rather than clog up the musical drain, wash over the song gracefully and unobtrusively.
“I feel that adding these nontraditional rock band instruments makes our music that much more unique and likeable,” Powell says.
“I love playing with these guys and gals,” adds frontman Adam Mentzer, whose reedy, bluesy growl makes that Kings of Leon reference applicable. “Sometimes I sit back at practice or a show and think, ‘Damn, these guys ... are so good,’ and just kind of chuckle to myself about how lucky I am.”
While Ripe originally started as a solo acoustic project for Mentzer, it gained a life of its own after the current lineup (rounded out by guitarist Sam Kornhauser and bassist/violinist Osman Chaudhary) solidified and the members started writing collectively. This month, the band releases its self-titled debut album, a labor of love that members have been cultivating over the past several months.
“I hope that people enjoy listening to the album, plain and simple,” says Kornhauser. “And if we can attract a larger audience and make a few bucks here and there from this material, all the better!” - Fly Magazine

By KATHLEEN DAMINGER, Staff Writer
The six-member "organic" rock band, Ripe, celebrates its growth at Bube's Brewery this weekend, when the mixed bag of musicians returns to host their second CD release party, less than a year and a half after releasing their first one.
The CD, "Red Fox Reunion," was born out of the experiences and inspiration found on the group's 2008 East Coast tour.

"We're six unique people," says Adam Mentzer, lead singer and guitarist. "Put that into a nine-passenger van (plus a seventh person who went along to help out) and you get kind of close real quick. Either you do, or you're going to be miserable."

And for a little while they were miserable.

While in Vermont (and only on their third show of the tour) the group, which includes Mentzer, Jen Powell, Sam Kornhauser, Osman Chaudhary, Chelsea Killian and Dave Donahue, had an hour and a half drive from their campsite to their venue.

"We were kind of lost, kind of frustrated and there was a little bit of animosity amongst the people trapped in the van," Mentzer remembers.

But when they arrived at the place, its natural beauty astounded them. The inn was surrounded by 40 acres of wilderness.

"We went out back, just chatted that night and really bonded," he says. "The place really brought us together. It really formed a deeper union in us."

The venue's name? The Red Fox Inn. And because of its profound effect on the band, they honored it by naming their new CD "Red Fox Reunion."

Although they originally wanted to capture its magic in a song, Mentzer says it just wasn't happening for him. "I came to the point where I thought you just can't force this. Maybe it's not a song, but just a mood of the album."

The album's mood is "fun" and "feel good," which Ripe fans have come to expect from a group that uses everything from glockenspiel to fiddle to achieve its roots-rock sound, according to Mentzer.

But, he says, this album is more. "It's the beginning of the maturation of the band. This being our second studio album, we really got an idea of what can be done in the studio. The instrumentation, the songwriting, it's all much more mature."

The songwriting, he says, has taken on more of a collective approach, as well. Members bring in ideas, lyrics, melodies and the group works on them together.

In this album, he says, "we were forcing ourselves to really take a more focused approach to what we're putting out in creating an album, as opposed to a bunch of songs."

Mentzer says there's more in store for the future.

On Music Friday this month, you can catch the band performing in front of Rachel's Cafe and Creamery. Other dates are on tap, too.

Then after a two-month summer hiatus (in which he and Powell will be tying the knot in Honduras), the group will jump back into the music scene.

In fact, they've already written three songs for a third album.

"I think that's what's fun about us," he says. "As busy as all of us are, we're never letting ourselves get stale. I guess that's the whole idea of the name Ripe."

Ripe
CD Release Party
Sat. 9 p.m.
Bube's Brewery
102 N. Market St.
Mount Joy, 653-2056
www.bubesbrewery.com - Lancaster Newspapers Inc (May 7, 8, 2009)

On May 9, Lancaster indie and roots rock band Ripe returns with its second full-length album "Red Fox Reunion". "We really 'beefed' up the production and instrumentation on this album" says frontman Adam Mentzer, in what turns out to be an understatement; among the listed instruments are melodica, glockenspiel, synthesizers, Hammond organ, and pedal steel.

Influenced by alt-rockers (Kings of Leon), roots rockers (Wilco) and jam bands alike, the members of Ripe wrote the majority of Red Fox Reunion while touring in support of their 2008 self-titled debut; all told the tour spanned more than 100 shows in seven states.

Jeff Royer
Editor In Chief
Fly Magazine - Fly Magazine (May 2009 edition)

Ripe's grove is very satisfying and, has a beat you can dance to (singles like "Blue Strawberry Jam" and "Circumstances" prove this). But the music has its share of layers, due in part to the dexterity of each musician.

Carla Di Fonzo

5/4/2007 - Lancaster Newspaper Inc

Ripe is featured as our Band of the Week! Congratulations!

- ExperienceLiveMusic.com

Ripe is Experience Live Music's Band of the Week again!!! Congratulations to these fine Musicians!!! - ExperienceLiveMusic.com