Rock Plaza Central

(with The Weakerthans)

Rex Theatre

1602 E. Carson… Rock Plaza Central

(with The Weakerthans)

Rex Theatre

1602 E. Carson St.

412-381-6811

Sept. 23

8 p.m.

General admission: $14

Rock Plaza Central hangs out with all of the outsiders.

That’s how front man Chris Eaton tells it, anyway.

“It’s a real bonding of outsiders,” he said. “People who may not feel exactly part of the crowd they’re surrounded by … somehow come together through the music and find some kind of community.”

This sentiment captures the spirit of the band’s music, from its blend of sound to its actual formation.

For Rock Plaza Central, music comes together in the same way — fitting not always by design, but often by blind chance.

Each track from its new album represents a formless sort of flow of ideas, which becomes a puzzle of complicated creative structures.

Sounds become a cloud of instruments and harmonies, pressing yet appealing in their collective rightness.

The building ensemble sound of the track “Oh I Can” fits into this idea. The song also proves that one man cannot create on his own.

“It was an old song about something totally different,” Eaton said.

“Then we started playing it, and I said, ‘Oh, the way this is going now, the words, everything, has to change.’”

Eaton said he welcomes change.

He never opposes a creative suggestion or push in a new direction.

Rock Plaza Central operates on an “If it fits, go with it” approach.

Eaton said the band was formed based on the people he had met the previous night and their place in the mix of music versus their place in a group of long-time friends.

“It was one of these amazing things where people were coming up afterwards and going, ‘Wow, that was so tight. How long have you guys been together?’ And I didn’t know the names of several of the people,” he said.

Friendly connections don’t affect the way music sounds, and anonymity can be a great influence.

Rock Plaza Central keeps its music ever-changing, especially in live shows.

“A song can go from one night being a really loud, rocking song to then being really quiet and pretty,” Eaton said.

Creativity cannot be an exact science, but Eaton describes his interpretation of art in physics terms.

“You can tell somebody a story and want them to go specifically in one direction and that’s ‘kinetic meaning,’” he said. “I like to leave things open enough and to hint at possibilities. I call it ‘potential meaning.’”

Eaton’s approach to giving interviews delightfully mirrors his approach to creating music.

“I don’t ever go into these conversations having any sort of idea of where they’re going to go,” he said.

Rock Plaza Central’s creative perspective means that its music will never get boring because it will never be quite the same from show to show.

The sound takes on the quality of a musical conversation. No benchmarks are set beyond a good set and a good time.

Even though audience members won’t know one another’s names and won’t have heard these songs in the past, they shouldn’t worry — neither has Rock Plaza Central.

The songs are elusive and complex but true to the outsiders community.

Outsider communities become possible with Rock Plaza Central.

Anyone with an obscure musical skill, a creative sense of play and a dedication never to get stuck in a rut will appreciate this band.

With Eaton, art might be physics, but musical creativity falls far from a science for the band.

No formula will make a piece sound right all the time.

Something more organic shapes the Rock Plaza Central experience, like sowing a creative seed, unsure of what’s been planted.

“[What] I like to go see is something new, something being created at that moment,” he said. “That’s what we do.”