ROTA hosts mix of live music downtown

ROTA Art Gallery and Studios is one of the few venues in downtown Plattsburgh to host live shows and performances. Having one to two live shows a week, ROTA reels in local bands and others from all over the state, country or world that are touring and want to stop in.  Tomorrow, the bands Long Cat, Dérive and Mouthbreather take the stage in ROTA’s basement performance area at 7 p.m.

ROTA works to bring in all genres of music, by advertising their performance space through word of mouth and the Internet, said Matt Hall, member of ROTA and of the band Long Cat.

“The people who are there (at live shows) are always there to hear live music and have a good time,” Hall said. “It’s always a good vibe no matter who’s there.”

Dérive, a band from west Mass., has their own genre going for themselves.

“I don’t even know how to put it,” Hall said. “It’s very eclectic-punk. Even that’s a little too vague.”

Lead singer of Dérive Greg Nahabedian said their music contains a lot of spoken word and unique instruments, such as viola and accordion, which he plays in addition to acoustic guitar and keyboard.

He said they’ve been referred to as “art-punk” due to the way they perform.

“We hang art work on stage (when we perform), and sometimes I pass out flowers,” Nahabedian said. “It’s a great way to get people involved.”

At the end of certain shows, they pass out artwork and encourage the audience and fans to mail submissions. He said they have received all sorts of things, such as poems, essays, comic strips and paintings/drawings. They even have one female fan who sends something at least every six weeks, which he said they look forward to.

“We’ve always known that was what we were going to do with the band (incorporate art).”

With their heavy amount of travels, Nahabedian said they don’t have any fans that follow them from place to place, but when they’re within an hour of home, he can expect to see certain people at the show and almost always does, he said.

Dérive will be playing with Long Cat, which Hall is a member of. This band, like Dérive, is inspired within itself.

“It’s an idea, an entity almost,” Hall said.

With Long Cat being around for some time, he said the current members continue to be inspired by one another and its past music.

“The bands don’t really sound all that similar,” he said. “We try to keep the shows really diverse… so there will be a little bit of everything at each show.”