Cereal Banter finds that less is more

By JOHN BENSON

entertainment@vindy.com

Despite what you hear about the Rock Hall City, Boardman native and Cereal Banter drummer Joe Rafidi feels the real music scene is in Mahoning County.

“Even though I live in Cleveland, Youngstown is definitely home,” said Rafidi, a 1999 Boardman High School graduate. “It’s a place that accepts the type of music I’m into and the type of stuff I’m doing. That’s where we go to get reassurance we’re on the right track. In Cleveland, it’s kind of a different vibe for us. There’s a lot of lo-fi punk and rock bands, so it’s hard to find groups we get along with. It’s hard to find venues that even give a [expletive] about a band based on musicianship like us.” One such local venue is the Lemon Grove, where the band has booked a Saturday show.

Formed exactly a year ago, Cereal Banter started out as psychedelic-rock act Scotfree & the Guilty Plea; however, the band felt limiting to Rafidi and Tony Moscorelli (bass), so they cut ties with a third member, renamed the outfit and started exploring a unique sound that strives to be both minimalistic and complex. For clarification, Rafidi said the act combines Miles Davis percussion with the eccentric side of Deerhoof.

“We figured out what we wanted to do, and what we were willing to do, was to stretch out,” Rafidi said. “I learned keyboard in a month, so now I play keyboard at the same time as drumming. I’d say stylistically this is more of an elevation. It’s what Scotfree & the Guilty Plea was kind of on the surface. Now we have total freedom to morph into whatever we want to just being a core two-piece band. And I wouldn’t say we’re like any other two-piece band right now, like there’s the Japandroids or The Black Keys. What we do is really a lot different compared to just a straightforward rock band.”

He added, “It’s a little bit more out there, quirky but very complex at the same time. It’s music that kind of messes with your mind.”

So far, Cereal Banter has fewer than a dozen live shows under its belt. With roughly 20 songs in the mix, the idea is to release an EP in early 2011. Tracks that have the duo excited are the noisy “Animal Confetti” and the space jazz “Simply Complex.” Rafidi said there are two sides to the Cereal Banter experience. In the studio, the musicians get off layering tracks and exploring production bells and whistles, while the live show is more about raw energy.

Speaking of playing out, the outfit just turned in an interesting VexFest set that Rafidi believes was well-received. Or at least he’s been told.

“Even though there was a lot of metal there, people came up to us and said we were the best band there,” Rafidi said. “I’m not going to say I agree with that, but I think we were one of the more different bands. Being a two-piece, you don’t know what to expect when you see two guys go on stage without playing straight-up three-minute rock songs.”

He added, “I think people are very impressed with the amount of noise coming from two people. And we just want to be kind of an art channel for a lot of different things. We have painters come up on stage and paint for our music. So we’re just trying to make it an intriguing experimental art project more so than a band of four guys wearing tight pants with sad haircuts going up there and singing their hearts out.”