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Indie Outing: Ra Ra Riot

Wes Miles in Sweaty Etiquette

Indie-Jam connection: Just like his high school pal and onetime bandmate Ezra Koenig, Ra Ra Riot frontman Wes Miles spent his formative years playing in a funk band that flirted with the jamband scene. But unlike Koenig—who moved onto a hip hop project after enrolling in college—Miles spent his early college days alternately as a drummer, saxophonist and bassist in the Syracuse funk band Sweaty Etiquette. Led by Adam Gold, the group spent several years on the jam circuit before Miles found success in the indie pop group Ra Ra Riot. Sweaty Etiquette also featured Ra Ra Riot co-founder John Pike, who tragically passed away a few years ago.

Notable jam moments: While Sweaty Etiquett’s original mission was to play “old-time favorites and feel-good tunes that everyone knows as well,” the group shared several bills with more core jambands over the years. With or without Miles—who missed some gigs while studying aboard in Japan—the collective shared the stage with the likes of Sam Kininger Band, Schleigo, Jounce, Drums & Tuba, U-Melt and many others. Some old school shots of Kininger sitting in with the band can be found on the group’s old homepage

Lot Talk: “These five funkateers met in their early college days at syracuse university. bent on starting a reggae band, they began practicing in their freshman dormitory. adam met james, who played saxophone with the band until he graduated recently. now, as the original lineup, sweaty eitquette is ready to shake all ‘booty’s campus-wide, state-wide, nation-wide, world-wide.” – from the Sweaty Etiquette bio