I Concerti

“Armed with only an acoustic guitar … Rainstick Cowbell makes searing music that’s intensely personal … intense, clear-eyed rants to unhinged exorcisms. It’s exhilarating to hear music this raw, and by keeping close to the source, Arbogast makes a kind of folk music that’s incredibly heavy even as it sticks to the delicate acoustic-guitar-and-voice template.” —Portland Mercury

Just in time for the bitter winds of winter, Scott Arbogast emerges again from his Portland, Oregon, basement studio with new songs of bitter experience and speculative hope. Drawing from the same creative well as Joe Pug, M. Ward, Billy Bragg, Woodie Guthrie, and Jeremy Enigk, Rainstick Cowbell crafts a tight and urgent message for conflicted times.

“There, to some extent, we have a key to his work and beatnik references: it is tamed, a bit neurotic craze, music which could have been played by Dean Moriarty – a protagonist of Jack Kerouac’s novel ‘On the Road.’” —GW Poznan

After the bite and sting of Rainstick Cowbell’s 2009 debut full-length album, fireants — “charged with anger and passion, complemented by driving acoustic guitar arrangements… a refreshingly different album that is worth a listen” —Pophatmusic.blogspot.com — and the 7” vinyl, Yeah, It Hurts, singer-songwriter Scott Arbogast focuses his passion-driven acoustic riffs and intensely melodic voice on a new recording. This second full-length album will be officiallly released in the United States on December 15 after the autumn European tour.

Arbogast has played before pantheistic crowds, from the Polish Parliamentarian who sponsored his Zabrze concert to the punks at Portland’s late, iniquitous Satyricon night club. Born in the lowlands of Mississippi and after a childhood in cities spanning the arc of the Gulf of Mexico, Arbogast wandered across the country to set roots in Oregon. Now he harmonizes with the vibrant Northwest indie music scene, with “an ethereal quality that is driven by Arbogast’s unique riff-based guitar playing” —Portland Sentinel, and sharing his “distinct voice set to pissed-off…the message as important as the melody…” —Terrascope.co.uk.

“Raintsick Cowbell is an incredible mine of human emotions, especially pain, suffering and anger which all, in the climax of the song, become a liberating catharsis, then they cleanse and muffle. His persona is still running, chasing, cursing and seeking, it is a tragic figure whose exploration is becoming a passion for music fans during concerts. Rainstick doesn’t allow us to forget him on the stage, focusing on himslef not only our look but rather forces the survival of his emotions.”
FROM BALCONYTV POZNAŃ, POLAND [translated from Polish]

Samples of the 2010 release and the new video for the first single, “Constance, did you ever?” plus a media kit and details of the European tour dates are available at RainstickCowbell.com or email rainstickcowbell@gmail.

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Marco “Mr M” Mattioli:

Chitarra, casiotone, programmi, voce.

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