Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 2004)
Entertainment The Battalion It’s all gravy a| Cross Canadian Ragweed to visit College Station for new disc release By Jacquelyn Spruce THE BATTALION He’s cramped in a small room miles away from home. The closest friends he has are the ones who came with him. Sounds like a wide-eyed freshman on his first day of class, right? Wrong. Cody Canada, frontman for Cross Canadian Ragweed, said living in the tiny quarters on the bus for eight weeks at a time isn’t so bad, especially when you’re in a successful band selling out shows with three of your best friends since the fourth grade. “The bus is home,” Canada said. “Our homes that are in one spot and not mobile, that’s our home away from home.” Unlike many bands. Cross Canadian Ragweed has managed to stick together throughout the hard times because of the members’ close friendships. Canada said he believes that a lot of the band’s suc cess can be attributed to how well the members know each other. “The friendship is definitely the com mon thread,” Canada said. “We’d been friends forever; then we became musi cians. So we know everyone’s buttons. We know where to push and how long to push and what not to push. We have a lot of faith and love for one another, so there’s not much that can break us.” From its first gig at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Stillwater, Okla., to a sellout show at last year’s Rodeo Houston, Cross Canadian Ragweed has emerged from a group of kids in Oklahoma to a top-notch national act. But Canada says that sometimes it can be just as difficult to keep that initial momentum going as it was to get there. “Getting there was always a goal, but nothing’s going to stop us. We’ve always had that attitude,” Canada said. Ct^oss, Canadian Ragweed’s new album, “Soul Gravy,” to be released on March 9, has the original Ragweed fla vor and speaks a lot of truth, Canada said. It’s more rock V roll than the past two albums, but he said it’s all part of the growing process. For the first time in their career as a band, the members had the opportunity to spend enough time on the album to perfect it before the final recording. “This is probably the first record that we’re proud of every song on it,” he said. “We actually had more time to do this record. I mean, ‘377’ we did in three days, and ‘Purple’ we did in eight or nine days. This one we had two months to run with.” “Soul Gravy” isn’t a name of a song on the album like the band’s previous albums. Canada said the name came about as a joke at first. “We were joking around looking for old rock ’n’ roll kind of titles,” Canada said, “and I said ‘plaid gravy,’ just kidding around. Then Chris, our sound guy, acted like he was kicking me in the face, and he had the sole of his shoe in my face. And we were like, ‘soul gravy!’and it stuck from there.” The guys from Cross Canadian Ragweed will visit Hasting’s in College Station on March 11 for their CD release party. Chris Niebuhr, Class of 2003, said he looks forward to the CD release party. “I’m excited. I’m going to buy the CD and take that and my guitar to get signed on the 11 th,” Niebuhr said. “I like the fact that they take the time to write their songs for their fans as opposed to writing them to be on the radio. Their new CD is accompanied by a live DVD recording of a concert in none other than College Station. “(The record label) left it up to us to choose where (to do the live recording). The members of Cross Canadian Ragweed, (from left to right) Randy Ragsdale, Cody Canada, Jeremy Plato and Grady Crosi visit Hastings in College Station on March 11 to promote their new album “Soul Gravy.” and of course, we said College Station,” Canada said. Canada said they chose College Station for their live recording was because of the bond between the band and the Aggie community. Following a concert in 2001, a police officer approached the group and said the mother and sister of drummer Randy Ragsdale had been in a car accident between College Station and Madisonville. Ragsdale’s sister Mandi was pronounced dead at the scene, and his mother was taken to the hospital in College Station. When the band got to the hospital, they couldn’t believe the support shown by their fans. “People fed us, brought us coffee and offered us their homes and their cars, whatever we needed. It would be really hard to forget something like that. It’s almost like a second home to me,” Canada said. “Ever since that night, we’ve had a very special bond with College Station.” While not all events are as tragic, Canada said the band members are always there for each other, making road trips that much easier. “We have a lot of fun with each other too,” Canada said. “We're not Widal : jfic audii mdience ideos" i ^tiy er A Holly vv ' Prepan is Disne its, but ich ban {Widal •Amei I glor a Ion] sen. / •ncounter ij\al racer Viggo 1 |cIndiai casiic qui *ith his h iclationsh here for very long so you miatii well have as much fun as possible,' Senior mechanical engineen: major David Rodgers said he enj® ^ 0 f ac the southern rock sound of Croft; Canadian Ragweed. “I think they break away fromij traditional Nashville sound,” RodgsJ said. “They have their own sound." Canada said they’ll continuetofl to create that sound. “We just know that we’ll be driviiii up and down the road playing® whether it’s in a bus. in a van.m Pinto," he said. “We’re still giiito be playing music together.” Souki’s got a “Make It Happen” list lor Spring Break 1. Buy hat for beach party 2. Jump start math major 3. Explore interest in music Message to Souki: While you’re home on spring break reserve ◦ seat in one of our summer sessions or our three-week May mini-mester. Check out our summer classes @www.college4you.com. Make Happen! cominumiv college district North Harris College • Kingwood College • Tomball College Montgomery College • Cy-Fair College • The University Center Affirmative Aclion/EEO College District Tunisia & Spain Study Abroad May 18 - June 25, 2004 ❖ ♦♦♦ Study at Chott Mariem University founded by Aggies in 1960, On a camel discover how and why the Sahara moves. Along the Mediten anean understand agricultural and historical relationships between Southem Spain and Northern Africa. In a Bedouin tent leam about the ancient Berber culture and what they gave to modem ranchers in Texas. In Europe’s old and barren breadbasket see the delivery of water by Roman aqueducts and modem dams. Eat a brie, drink camels milk yogurt with honey, and watch olives, dates, Barb horses, and fat-tailed sheep grow. Try your Spanish and Arabic in souks, mercados, and hammems. Leam from accompanying faculty from Texas A&M and Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie; 6 hours of Texas A&M credits, Pay $2995.00 for airfare, in country travel, food and lodging. Excludes Texas A&M tuition. give the at are either anuncann nuances o veiy surv thrown to fnzehorsi napped an and save t iiito the v: Aegunfig ie$ befc The cii liat never matograpl desert loo dilemma During on ed use 0 f helps brin n sequ e The mi ireating h seat a; lournalist. ^ Mari; lew job; ji Shr% , pesdai tee c tlia ' e wa «yoh e durthous, tetal cj et( Jom ha s , $hri% IOC" For More Information Contact: Rhonda D’Agostino Cathryn Clement Tate Rosenbusch The International Office of the Agriculture Program Rm 12 Administration Bldg. 979-845-4164 / fei 5ft° «came C | ^ °f Cal hegrity crutini^ec Shri% ie with es tee w 0n - 'gthe Ca! 'ere n e ■ r Wh |jand co ne i: teturer si le fectiy p