Indy rock quartet Reaul doesn’t go anywhere without the Green Goblin action figure that sits on the dash of their Land Cruiser. They acquired him as part of a kids’ meal in Chicago during their first national tour in spring 2009; he’s ridden up front with the band ever since.
“We all hold a deep belief that he has kept us safe on our travels,” said vocalist Rick Connell. “One time we left without him and drove back 12 miles to get him — yep, we are that superstitious.”
Whether due to their lucky charm, strong work ethic or accessible Top 40 sound (reminiscent of The Fray and Vertical Horizon), Reaul has been on a winning streak lately.
“We’ve come off of two national tours, the latest at the end of August. We’ve picked up sponsors we’ve never had before,” Connell said. “We’ve had some label interest and we’re doing more interviews. So it seems we’ve gotten some good forward movement, especially in these last several weeks.”
The highlight, though, has been Reaul’s chance to work with producer Travis Palmer (Faith Hill, Red) on new album “Casino Heart,” due out in early 2010.
“He’s helped to change and solidify the sound of the group a bit,” Connell said. “We did a lot of the new music on the recent tour, and we rearranged our old tunes to give them new life. We saw a huge difference in the response to the music. Just a big difference. So the most significant development has been working with him.”
Going?
Reaul performs a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Downham Music, 2307 Broadway St., Anderson.
Behind the name
“The first name we wanted to use was already taken by another band from Colorado. For weeks, we brainstormed, and finally one night I had a dream. Out of that dream came the name Reaul. As funny as it may sound, in the end it came down to whether we could buy the “.com” for the Web site. Nobody had www.reaul.com. So we were good to go," said Rick Connell, Reaul vocalist.
