How do you follow up writing a rock opera for your first album? And not just a recorded rock opera, but one that developed over three years from an idea to an album and finally to a fully realized stage show incorporating puppetry, film, dance and a cast of 15?

For Amy Hagar and Jacob Mullis of Fort Wilson Riot, the answer was a natural reaction to having lived and breathed "Idigaragua" (the band's massively ambitious 2007 album/musical theater piece) for nearly half a decade. It was time to go in the opposite direction. After amicably losing their drummer and bass player to other life pursuits, the duo regrouped and wrote their second album "Predator / Prey" with the shorter, catchier songs in mind. A real departure from the moodier, minor key songs that Fort Wilson Riot has been know for in the past, the songs on "Predator / Prey" are almost sunny in comparison. Almost. What they've achieved is accessibility without surrendering the depth and complexity that the band has always preferred.

"Predator / Prey" was recorded in the couple's home, at the Sound Gallery and also at Jacob's former place of employment (a parking garage). And although live drums, bass and various other instruments were used in recording the album, Jacob and Amy have had to acquire new skills to play the record live. Now employing a drum machine, a sampler and multiple keyboards, Fort Wilson Riot version 2.0 is officially up and running. The next step will be to leave their jobs behind and to take to road, bringing "Predator / Prey" to the rest of the country. But first, they'll play an album release show at the Kitty Kat Club in Dinkytown on Friday, July 30th with Zoo Animal and Phantom Tails.

Songs performed: "Forgotten Language" and "Heira" from the new record" Predator / Prey" and the unreleased "Don't Go Down By the River."

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