The final interview of our three-day shoot in Dallas, TX was with three gentlemen from the band Tabula Rasa: lead vocalist Robert E. Boggs, bassist Owen Kinser and drummer Jason LaMarca. I really enjoyed interviewing all three at once, because the interplay and camaraderie between them was still very evident. Tabula Rasa was a band we championed at KTXT-FM and I was always a little surprised that they didn’t have a bigger breakthrough to the mainstream, given their success on college radio.
Tabula Rasa was a unique band in the Dallas scene, with songs that often featured violins and other exotic instruments alongside the standard rock band arrangement. They were often cited as the “next band” to break out of the Dallas music scene, as this quote from an article detailing their 2012 reunion show:
The band’s future as a household name, Griffey said, seemed at the time to be a given, which fueled the intensity (and popularity) of Tabula Rasa’s local shows. “They were just one of those bands you had to see before they broke,” Griffey recalled.
Fort Worth Weekly, Aug. 2012
Several members of the band went on to be a part of several other groups who would become well-known in the North Texas music scene and who also found a home on college radio.
They had a lot of great stories to tell from their time on the road, and of course, about their experience with college radio. We ended with a great discussion about the future of independent music and what outlets exists to fill the void left by the relative demise of college radio.