The Rationales meet Danielle Miraglia - Q&A

Finding music that comes as advertised is harder and harder to do these days when it seems like the tempting thing to do is build 10 band websites (last.fm, bandcamp, etc) before even making an album. But both the Rationales and Danielle Miraglia start pretty humble and build it up from there.

On Sunday 4/1, the Rationales will greet listeners with songs from The Distance Between in an unlikely bill with Endless Wave at the 2012 Rock 'N' Roll Rumble (check Boston Band Crush's perplexing sports-theme Q&A with Endless Wave here: http://bostonbandcrush.org/2012/03/rumble-crush-endless-wave/). Meanwhile, Danielle is taking her Box of Troubles out on the road for some mid-west dates (check out Danielle Miraglia's website for details).

Recently, I asked Danielle and David Mirabella from the Rationales to give me their thoughts on each others records. Here is what they had to say:

1. Danielle, what song of the Rationales do you most wish that you had done? Tell me one or two things about it that you really liked?

Danielle Miraglia: My favorite is “Try to Tell Me.” The catchy crunchy guitar riff intro and the danceable groove grab me right away and make me think of The Faces. This could easily have continued in that direction and would have been a fine enough take on an old form, but then the change when the vocals come in is a pleasant surprise and I love the chorus. Great hook and melody. Familiar and original at the same time. I just want to belt along to it.

2. Dave, talk a little about Danielle’s instrumentation or set-up? What caught your ear? Any sounds you might like to try in your work?

Dave Mirabella: As a member of a band that trends toward more layered rock arrangements, I'm always excited to hear everything needed in a song be created with a minimalist approach to the instrumentation. Danielle is such a masterful finger picker and song-smith - the rhythmic style of her playing perfectly compliments her melodies. When the band kicks in or the odd fiddle, mandolin, sax or other instrument comes into the arrangement everything really shines in its own light, while helping to tell the story of the song perfectly.

3. Danielle, can you picture doing a duet? What sort of song do you think would work for that? What kind of story?

Danielle Miraglia: Although the result is two very different sounds, I think the Rationales and I are drawing from a lot of the same influences. Our styles could merge nicely somewhere in the Classic Rock section – A cover of The Kinks, The Rolling Stones or Elvis Costello would be cool. Or it might be fun to do something completely out of both our wheelhouses…Beyonce? Ha ha. As far as collaborating on an original story/song, considering Dave and I are all from the same town (Revere, MA), perhaps we could run with that.

4. Dave, what sort of visuals do Danielle’s Box of Troubles evoke for you?

Dave Mirabella: Summer nights outside on the porch - or warm basement lounges in the winter, open roads with fields stretching into the distance. The stories and scene's of the songs are really great at being specific and general at the same time - getting across what Danielle is trying to convey while leaving the listener plenty of space to make each story their own in their own ways.

5. If you two had to describe each other’s album in five to ten words, what would you say?

Danielle Miraglia: the essence of great rock n’ roll with an indie twist!
Dave Mirabella: melodic, rousing, evocative, comforting and addictive.