Tornado Rider is deeply committed to its wackiness. The Oakland trio's MySpace bio hails them as "a powerful bird band of swirling goat god victory" before it completely devolves into some nonsense about "Norwegian butt-death" and "Nubian fire heaven." The group plays "Sneth rock," which stems from Snee, a land birthed in the head of bubbly frontman Rushad Eggleston.
In layman's terms, Sneth rock equates to a hooky, off-kilter mixture of pop-punk and rockabilly featuring gleeful lyrics about golden apples, falcons, and dinosaurs. Collectively, Tornado Rider's onstage fashion sense is Quailman-meets-Dr. Seuss chic. The band's primary attraction is Eggleston, who wears a Robin Hood cap, wields his cello like a guitar, and occasionally scales heights with his hefty instrument in tow. However, he wonders if his acrobatic exploits have set a performance standard he's not sure he can meet. "I don't want it to be a gimmick," says Eggleston. "I want people to like the music and the show."