Rudy and the Rhetoric

(reprinted)



With the help of online voters, a band from the UW is on the verge of making big success.



Rudy and the Rhetoric, a two-man band, is one of five bands up for the mtvU Woodie Award for “Best Music on Campus.”



The Woodie Awards are rewarded to those bands that get the most online votes and are listened to most by college students. There are several categories, including Woodie of the Year and Alumni Woodie. This is the first year that “Best Music on Campus” has been awarded.



“MtvU wanted to find a way to recognize these artists and shine the national spotlight on them,” said Ross Martin, senior vice president and head of programming for mtvU. “It signals a massive connection to college students.”



Rudy and the Rhetoric has been a group for about two years, though they actually met in high school.



“We were both just naturally interested in music,” Jon Everist (aka Rhetoric) said. “Rudy has a background in rock-type music, and at that point I was a complete hip-hop snob.”



After that initial meeting, they gradually began combining their talents, and now work together to make all their songs.



“I make a track and send it over to Jon, who will either tell me it sucks or tell me it’s good,” Andrew Willingham (aka Rudy) said. “Then he’ll make a bunch of suggestions on how to make it better. … Once the beat is done Jon writes his lyrics to it.”



Everist describes their sound as a hip-hop and rap blend.



“We make music for a listener that’s bored with hip-hop and rap in general, on both the underground and mainstream levels,” he said.



The band has been experiencing rising success, and has gotten to perform with some people they admire and respect. Hanging out and performing with Afroman, Mr. Lif and Onry Osborne of Grayskul are some of their most memorable moments.



The band is finishing up a record, and they then plan on touring and promoting the CD. They both agree that the exposure they are getting from mtvU is invaluable.



“I think just having the MTV name on there gives it a lot of weight,” Willingham said. “If you’re one of the top-rated or most viewed artists on the site, there’s no doubt you will gain a lot of exposure because of how well MTV markets all their stuff. … Winning would open up a lot of doors for us.”



The band heard about the competition from Everist’s cousin, and they thought they might as well give it a shot. After they made their profile, they were in the running to win a $1.5 million recording contract. They did not win, but are okay about it because they feel they weren’t ready to win it at that time.



However, now they feel they are ready for all that would come with winning this Woodie Award.



“I’m a firm believer that you can be and do whatever you want,” Everist said. “It’s like, a lot of cats have these big dreams locked up with no real intention of making a go at it. I say ‘just do it.’”



The winner of this competition will win a trip to New York City to attend the awards show Nov. 8, as well as $5,000 to help begin their career.



Past winners of “Woodies” have been Death Cab for Cutie, Plain White Ts, The Killers and Fall Out Boy.



Martin said they saw a large number bands and solo artists on their Web site, but feel Rudy and the Rhetoric deserve to be in the top five.



“They have been blown up,” he said. “They have a legion of passionate fans supporting them. … [They are] extra talented and are really connecting with the audience.”



Winning this award would mean a lot to the band because they know how much it would jumpstart their career in the music industry.



“It would obviously be really gratifying,” Willingham said. “It’s a step in the right direction in terms of exposure on a national level.”



Although Everist agrees that it would help get their name out there, he also sees another benefit.



“I just want to win so that my mom believes me that I’m a real musician,” Everist joked.



Fans can vote on either www.mtvu.com or www.bestmusiconcampus.com. Voting ends Nov. 2.









You can check out the full article here..

http://thedaily.washington.edu/article/2007/10/29/localUwBandGoesForBigTimeWoodie

Amen



I slip the blades.

Fester the Uncle Sam on a Dracula photon phobia fire gaze, you stand amazed.

Amen to the layman on a fate plan to the wasteland.

Rudiger Kruger simply supplement acts in a grave stance.

Amen to lions weeping open streets defiant

Amen to your iris hope it holds it's peace in triumph

Amen to the cluster of dust strewn out on the fabric of spacetime

because i trust that where i'm at will suit me fine

I know that i find as well as you do in the night

that running back the wheels of time will better suit your daily life

But if time exists instead of one eternal blip

Then looking backwards simply means 'no eyes ahead'; you step in rifts

Site bane pivotal

Opposite of spiritual

Signal flare a path around the opulent endemical

I pop a Q Ball to the Sun you take for granted when you run

from yourself, wicked wages wars in hell.



Chorus



Amen, got frost bitten hands. Amen

A train of my thought begot man, Amen.

Follow your feet to graves den, Amen

To fluttering eyes in sleep's zen

Say Amen, got lost in the gems, Amen.

Trouble crumbling cheese say amen, Amen

Vision fall on knees to say then, amen

Type of genus i am? Say it then: A man.





Ha, sicker than your average cat ripper

with the triple slick shock s**t, Auditory operative

Mendel metal plates tackled on my mantle case,

displaying with ample space every face I've trampled, trace.

Mock 6 face flabbing out the c**kpit, watch it

Lost hit on my neighborhood watch list

I got thick skin and a brittle grin to bring it

Idiotic simpletons in the wind, Zephyrus up and in it

Uhgh, you can't deliver it,then forget it

It's that talk is cheap and my pockets leak from the holes that seep

A serum additive syllable adamant, you're hidden talentless

under the feet of the immaculate

I got problems of my own, take that face home

Pound it in your pillow wiggle jitter on my riddles, sister

I've seen things like kiddies with a demon gleam

inside of their eyes while they're feinding just to feel a thing



Chorus







Phaser



Chorus 2x

Phaser, the bleak indie sleeps like the majors

Snobbing on the music like "You suck if they paid ya"

80 percent of the genre is fake saviors

While 20 percent carry the weight and scream "danger"





Phase. The face hole replaced, hold pace.

Wash old eyes in the sky it's high stakes.

I find murky the waters of God's daughters painting their eyes

Awaiting case; awake in the fire.

I file, hold, wire and mile the green sire

Travel downstream navigate straights become dire

Mire be the name of the game I fly higher

Peer down upon Gaia: it's desire.

Freeform flyer, rock a dreamscape

Shimmy up the pearly gates

Water in the heavens a reverend stall sediment.

Glory to the sentiment in bones, throw stones.

Water be the taste in my heart, following flows.

Solarplex glows, fold over ancient tomes

Phaser, coddled off the minds of the major.

Whether you're inclined to define this or whine b**h

I hold inside my eyelids your silence.



Chorus2x



Right hype. Glittering gold fluttering hold

Mold filament, a riddle he told: cinema bold.

Ruffian the rider, designer benign writer

Odyssey of beats Odysseus feet following fire.

I know, promising keep solace in sleep

Grim reap, night barren their art. Future is bleak

Best you rest nestle your tongue behind your teeth

Cuz my all seeing eye requires desires deep.

Drink a pound of passion reactivate iron keep

Seep an arms length riddance thru cracks under my feet

Auditory reckoning revelational threatening

All over stepping misrep and mangle your flesh tepid speech

Who drew the line in the sand with ones glance? (me)

Who you define a zealotous cat with smashed plans (you)

Whether beats from Onry or over nothing solemnly

I swear I'll get you where you dream in sleep with Kruger hands, like this



Blade Runners

rhetoric

run stubborn kiddy, wiccan witches conjure furies on a cemetery flurry.

Throttle groggy goblin options.

Cool kid gawking, i stop and i pop an octave,

Notes splitting sides, hip in disguised suit and ties like

Nightlight, line up in your hindsight, kid.

Trife site stint up in the "might as well live"

Hover 'cross the bevel on a 7th level hell-o

Operator number 9, how you livin? "livin fine"

Alright, sign split blood o-positive s**t

Squint dirty under hoodie at the thigh and waist hips

Pay me is a safety, a floor to the $550

Chains shake in the daisies from the w**re's i dial quickly

Mostly on a hootenanny, curl up to the manic

Shimmy, women's lust for a trusted is mad frantic

Man versus planet when the demons play the gamut

of the whole plot, the universal mind, and can't stand it

branded on my hands is satanic, passed landed

I'm free now, but never really free; it's semantics

Round the table, circle up the Arthur and his bandits

Stipulation deadly when the moon in mind is famished

Oh, high steppin now, on the skulls of cluttered crowds

Shimmy to the back escape rappin laughing phantom browed

Thoughts attracted, body feel is the reaction thru my solar plexus

Mind build the body, bridge the nexus like.



chorus x2

Lord free me from my head, children on their records trying to save the world is dead

Shadows on the globe, grip, ready, aim--hold. Go home focus on the saving of your own souls.









rhetoric