o What: Rogue Wave, in concert.
o When: 9 p.m. April 9.
o Where: Wonder Ballroom, 128 N.E. Russell St., Portland.
o Cost: $14 in advance and $15 at the door through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.
o Information: 503-284-8686 or wonderballroom.com.
If Zach Rogue seems a little more laid-back onstage when he tours with his band, Rogue Wave, these days, he shouldn’t be accused of failing to go all-out during the band’s shows.
Instead, fans should be thankful that Rogue can even stand up and move around while singing and playing guitar — and that he even has new Rogue Wave material to play on tour.
It’s a huge improvement over the situation in which Rogue found himself in fall 2008.
o What: Rogue Wave, in concert.
o When: 9 p.m. April 9.
o Where: Wonder Ballroom, 128 N.E. Russell St., Portland.
o Cost: $14 in advance and $15 at the door through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.
o Information: 503-284-8686 or wonderballroom.com.
In September 2008, two days after completing a tour with Nada Surf, paramedics rushed to Rogue’s aid when he suddenly fell to the floor in excruciating pain.
“The thing that was so terrifying about is I had absolutely no concept of what was going on with me,“ Rogue said during a recent phone interview. “It didn’t seem like I was old enough to be dying from something like that.”
A heart attack and aneurysm were ruled out, and paramedics then discovered the true problem — a dislocation of discs in Rogue’s back. Though perhaps not as dire as an aneurysm or heart attack, it was serious nonetheless.
Over the next three months, Rogue was for the most part bedridden and dealing with severe and unrelenting pain and numbness in his right hand.
“It was so intense at the time, I was trying to keep from screaming,” Rogue said. “I couldn’t contain it. I just kept going back to the hospital, and they kept trying to give me drugs. And, of course, drugs don’t really work for nerve pain. Then, they had to give me drugs that would just knock me out because I’d be screaming my head off. And I couldn’t make it stop.”
Eventually, with time and the help of an epidural injection, Rogue said, the pain began to subside, and he began to think about music again.
“I just really started plotting and thinking about how I would want to get back into playing music again, if I could, and how I’d want to go about songwriting,” Rogue said.
The culmination of those plans is a new Rouge Wave CD, “Permalight,” now on the market. The CD marks a notable shift toward a poppier, more upbeat sound, compared to the moodier and somewhat folkier indy-rock sound of earlier albums like “Out of the Shadow” (2004), “Descended Like Vultures” (2005) and “Asleep At Heaven’s Gate” (2007).
The more upbeat pop sound is both a reflection of wanting to find new musical territory and the happier and healthier place the band is now at.
Rogue’s injury, as it turns out, wasn’t the first time the Oakland, Calif., group faced serious challenges and heartache over its seven-year career.
Leading up to the completion of “Permalight,” Rogue’s right-hand man, drummer/keyboardist Pat Spurgeon, needed a kidney transplant. He had received a first transplant in 1994, and as that kidney started to fail, he was placed on a daily dialysis regimen in spring 2006 as he awaited another kidney transplant.
Despite his predicament, Spurgeon continued to tour with Rogue Wave, thanks to a mobile dialysis unit. His experience was chronicled in the recent film “D-Tour.” He received his new kidney in January 2007.
In addition, original bassist Evan Farrell, who left Rogue Wave on good terms after the “Descended Like Vultures” CD was recorded, died in a fire in December 2007.
Surviving such events has only fueled Rogue’s desire to keep pushing forward with Spurgeon and the other musicians that play in Rogue Wave (currently guitarist Dominic East, keyboardist Steve Taylor and bassist Cameron Jasper).
“It is funny because Pat and I look at each other and we’re like what’s going on? How old are we? This isn’t supposed to happen yet,” Rogue said. “We’ve survived up to now, so who’s to say we can keep going and actually try much more? I mean, I have a million more songs in me that I want to try to write and make real.”
For now, Rogue is mainly in touring mode as the band begins a spring run of dates in support of “Permalight.” He said he was still toying with a set list and it’s possible the song selection could vary from night to night.
“We want to find a balance,” Rogue said, “because we haven’t been out on the road for awhile.”
