Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Local funk rockers Soulstace offer a free show tomorrow at The Blue Note as a release party for the band’s debut CD.
The band describes itself as a "high octane, improvisational rock outfit that focuses on connecting with every audience member and drawing up a common energy in order to create an enlightened journey for anyone willing to explore the subconscious through music." Formed in 2002, Soulstace is made up of locals Tom Williams, Casey Conway, Jake Ford and Josh Pollard, along with light technician Marc Davis.
Tomorrow’s show is reported to be an all-star event complete with special guests, and the band will give away free T-shirts to the first 50 arrivals. That’s an extra incentive to get there early and see openers Rutherford, a local rock quintet fronted by golden-voiced singer-songwriter Ruth Acuff. Rutherford’s sound ranges from heavy to mellow and delivers pop hooks through delicate vocal harmonies and soaring trumpet melodies. Last year, the band released its debut album, "Mapping Out Chaos." - Columbia Daily Tribune
Rutherford strives to navigate through chaos sans compass with debut album.
Although inspiration hits most songwriters, it attacks Ruth Acuff. Her song “Heron” was written as a tribute to those birds, which she often saw last summer in Columbia. A heron even flew straight at her while she was lying in the sun near a creek; it was a wake-up call that morphed into lyrical inspiration. Acuff, who contributes vocals, guitar and bass for Rutherford, only recently started collaborative songwriting with bandmate Jeff Mueller, who sings and plays bass and guitar for the band. She says Mueller was an integral part of completing “Heron,” yet like the bird, he too started out as a minor annoyance.
“One day, this crazy guy kept bothering me and said, ‘I want to play bass with you,’ and I was like, ‘No, I don’t really play with people,’” Acuff says. “But one day he just jumped up on stage at open-mike night, and I thought: ‘Wow, he’s good. I actually like it.’”
The duo asked Jason Cook, who is also in the band Mah Jones with Mueller, to play drums, and last year added Pat O’Driscoll on guitar and vocals and Eddie Watson on trumpet. Both were in the band Dev Namo with Mueller and Watson. Because these five people have come from different bands and different backgrounds, Rutherford’s sound is a product of that amalgamation: rock-folk-blues. Mueller cites jazz legend Miles Davis as an influence, O’Driscoll names guitarists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Derek Trucks, and Acuff sides with Led Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell.
Event info
What: Rutherford with PsychoSis and Caulfield & The Magic
Where: The Blue Fugue
When: Saturday, doors open at 9 p.m.
Cost: Free
Call: 815-9995
Yet, bringing these influences together isn’t always easy.
“You have four different people’s emotions and feelings to take into account,” O’Driscoll says.
When initially formed, the band played as Lux but underwent a name change in August when the members found that a California band had the same name. Not wanting to give inadvertent press to a band that regularly appears in Max Fitness and Sport magazine, Lux became Rutherford, a nickname of Acuff’s.
With no official album out and shows spaced apart, the band members say it’s hard to gauge its local following. But a CD release party on Feb. 4 at The Blue Fugue for Mapping Out Chaos, the band’s debut album, should serve as a beacon for people looking for a free night of music from three different bands: PsychoSis, Caulfield & the Magic, and Rutherford. In addition, Rutherford will have their new CDs for sale and free merchandise.
The band recorded Mapping Out Chaos locally with producer Wil Reeves of the band Bockman. Band members say they already have enough new material to record a second album and possibly a third. This constant generation of music exemplifies Rutherford’s work ethic. Band members make sacrifices to ensure they make time for their favorite leisure activity.
“Today I chose between earning money for myself or working on publicity for the band,” Mueller says. “Oftentimes, it is a choice like that. You look at it like: What would you want to do with your free time? And obviously, we’re making the choice.”
The choice for O’Driscoll is simple; he is doing what he wants to do.
“I didn’t start playing music for any reason other than I enjoy it. It’s fun,” he says. “I don’t put any pressure on it, outside of what I do that day. I guess that’s why you make sacrifices to play.”
So how, then, does a band like Rutherford know when it has truly made it big, even if the music only generates enjoyment?
“‘Will you take your shirt off?’ I’ve been waiting for that question since day one,” O’Driscoll says. “That’s how you know you’ve crossed the line to rock stardom.”
— JESSICA LUCK - Columbia Missourian - Vox magazine
Discography
Mapping Out Chaos
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Rutherford is a quintet from Columbia, Missouri, that plays rock music. Sometimes heavy, sometimes mellow, from fluid flows to dramatic changes Rutherford uses pop hooks and guitar riffs and flourishing drums and sonorous trumpet as well as soaring singing harmonies to create epic autobiographical cinema-in-sound. They are funky, they are passionate, they are thunderously engaging.
Rutherford was born out of love! Yes, it is true. One evening in 2003 Jeff Mueller saw Ruth Acuff play at an Open Mic in Columbia, MO. Enchanted by her soaring compositions and angelic voice, he came back the next night for her show at the same venue, and had the pleasure of meeting her. After months of subtle suggestions from Jeff of the possibilities of their musical collaboration, Ruth finally agreed. Ruth was surprised at how well Jeff’s bass playing framed and flowed through her songs. For the first few months Jeff mainly sat in with Ruth, occasionally accompanied by percussionist Jason Cook, who Jeff had played with in the band Mah Jones.
Then love entered the picture. Jeff had expressed romantic interest in Ruth previously, but it wasn’t until spring of 2004 when Ruth began to feel interest in Jeff. That summer their love solidified, and by the fall they had recorded as a duo and were performing around Columbia. Ruth was even playing the bass on some of Jeff’s songs. At this point trumpeteer Edward Watson was occasionally sitting in, and Jason Cook was becoming a constant member of the band. Jeff realized that many of Ruth’s songs had a Led Zeppelin-like heaviness that would be fleshed-out if he could get her to play his electric guitar and that winter they went electric and officially incorporated Cook and Watson into the line-up.
In Spring 2005 Rutherford began work on Mapping Out Chaos with Wil Reeves of Bockman. Guitarist Pat O’Driscoll began sitting in around this time, and by the end of the recording sessions he became a full member of the group.
Now as a five-piece Rutherford feels their line-up is complete. Ruth and Jeff more equally share the songwriting, with O’Driscoll contributing some tunes as well. They have begun jamming together more to create group compositions as well. Their summer goals are to take their epic melodious music into neighboring states and build up their fan base, and to begin work on their second album in the fall.
Rutherford has performed @ The Blue Note, Mojo's, Eastside Tavern, Cherry Street Artisan, and The Blue Fugue/Music Cafe, (Columbia, MO), The Broadway Oyster Bar and Magee's (St.Louis, MO) as well as Camp Zoe (in Salem, Mo), Anna Bananas (Honolulu, Hawaii), R&B's (Sand Island, Hawaii) and Blake's on Telegraph (Berkeley, CA.)
Rutherford has shared the stage with Bockman, Ludo, Joe Stickley's Blueprint, The Station, Split Lip Rayfield, Amsterband, Mark Bilyeu, Spookie Daly Pride, The Doxies, Stendek, The Make Believe, Nova Lunacy, Caulfield and the Magic, Two Gallants, Slugtrail, Thinline, 40 Thieves, The Follow, Javier Mendoza Band, The Ham, Echelon, In Thicket, PsychoSis, Sea of Red, The Mathmatics, The Passion, and many others.
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