Three Stars: Ris Paul Ric
Welcome to the final installment of January's Three Stars. So far we've covered Hello Tokyo, Mike Holden, and today we're rounding out with Ris Paul Ric.
Chris Richards
Image from popmatters.com
It doesn’t come easy to most musicians. For some, all they could ask for is a few great songs on a couple albums and a loyal fanbase. A world tour would be nice, no doubt. For DC musician and former Q and not U front man Chris Richards, such spoils came early in his music career. Too early, in fact, to walk away from the game. So what is a rocker, who has accomplished more than you could ask for when starting up a band, to do when your band calls it quits? Start over. Apply what you’ve learned, take your music in a new direction. Christoper Paul Richards, aka Ris Paul Ric, earned carte blanche in his previous gig to sing his mind and took advantage of his downtime before his next project to produce a solo album deviating far from Q and not U’s dance punk sound, relying more on intimacy than arrangement.
At a Black Cat show last month, opening for DC electronica rockers Supersystem, Ris Paul Ric took the stage, fresh off a national club tour, and played again before the same wonderful people he used to rock so often. Standing atop his guitar amp, bearing his trademark face writing and black armband, reflecting purple light shone from below and bearing only a clear bodied electric guitar, Ris played as intimate a set you can get with hundreds watching, covering most of the tracks from his solo CD Purple Blaze and pulling everyone in to his wonderfully folky psychedelic world. Lacking a danceable rhythm section, Ris’ set was more about drifting away with his haunting falsetto vocals and delayed guitar. In the eerie “Valerie Teardrop,” Ris makes you wonder if his moniker indicates a request for privacy in the face of mass popularity, singing “you don’t know my name,” while standing alone above the crowd. He was quite vocal in between sets, giving shouts out to all DC musicians, calling for a big 2006 in the local music scene, and making a very public request for any "Beyonces" to front his next project. Saving the title track for last, Ris used pre-recorded guitar parts on “Purple Blaze” to free his hands as he read the rapid stream of thought-observational lyrics from index cards, flicking each into the crowd after a couple lines, before picking up his strings to play out the rest of the song.
Ris Paul Ric paints a picture that he’s so comfortable and passionate about creating music, he has to keep changing things like, oh, genres, in order to keep himself interested, and literally creates obstacles between himself and his audience when playing live in order to keep himself working hard to connect with his fans. Ris Paul Ric liberates Chris Richards; it breaks him free from the boundaries of band collaboration and musical limitation. Although he’s planning a new band to explore even more musical territory, Chris assured us there’s more Ris Paul Ric to come.
Visit him at: http://www.myspace.com/rispaulric
See him next at: The only upcoming show on Chris' schedule is on Feb 4, at The Blue Star in West Lancaster, PA.
Questions for Ris Paul Ric:
What is it like to play in DC, compared to other cities?
DC is an interesting place to play because it's always changing. Nearly half of my DC friends live in New York now, so I feel like I get more love in Brooklyn sometimes. But I did grow up in this scene and I still feel an overwhelming and often inexplicable loyalty to Washington.
What are the positives and the negatives about the DC music scene?
The scene is so ebb and flow -- I try to be patient and wait for things to start boiling again, but I think a lot of people aren't as patient. We live in a time where it's really easy to move around and people aren't sitting around waiting for things in DC to heat up again -- they're taking off for Baltimore, New York, Berlin, LA, whatever.
Who are your favorite local acts?
Manhunter, Amerie , Food For Animals, Uncalled 4 Experience, and Supersystem.
You recently completed a long tour for Purple Blaze. How did that go?
Honestly, it was pretty brutal. I was traveling completely alone, driving 7-8 hours everyday in my Honda. The crowds were slim and I realized how spoiled I had become playing in Q and not U. On the other hand, I met so many wonderful, generous strangers. That's what really kept my head above water for the whole trip.
We read that you were looking forward to the isolation of touring in order to write music. Were you able to write any new material?
I did write a lot of material on tour, but, ironically, I'm going to use it in my new band!
Your songs do not follow a traditional structured format but instead are more free-form, almost improvisational. Are the songs purposely arranged as such, or did you try and capture yourself in an unprocessed state?
I think the latter. When you're playing in a band there's so much time spent writing and arranging and editing. I wanted take a more impulsive approach and try and find the strength in those initial bursts of music.
What is the song "Purple Blaze" about?
It's a quick laundry list of all things purple. (Purple election maps, "Purple Rain" the Prince album, purple pills (Rx industry), Purple Blaze (my song, my album), and on and on... I thought purple was an extremely interesting color after the 2004 presidential election. My favorite election maps were the ones that bled the reds and blues of certain states together to show that each state was just a different shade of purple. I found it interesting because purple has historically been recognized as the color of privilege, but in this case it was the color of indifference. I wrote "Purple Blaze" in a fragmented attempt to show how privilege and indifference are so tightly linked.
You recorded the album acoustically, but play it live on an electric guitar with slight effects. What is your thinking in deciding which to play?
We still layered the acoustic guitar with a lot of effects on the record. But I'm not trying to recreate the record - just approximate the energy of it.
You play live standing on your amp and lit by purple light from below. Tell us about your stage presentation.
I didn't want to be another dude with a guitar, onstage, so I started thinking about my intent with this project and how I could wrap it into the presentation. When I stood up on my amp, the lights from below are really bright, and I can't see the floor. It's clumsy and a little awkward looking and it pushes me even farther from the audience. I'm totally alone and on display - and it's a challenge to try and communicate through that barrier.
Why do you write on your cheek when you play?
The text changes all the time, but the gesture is a nod to Prince and the riot grrrls who wrote messages on themselves. I always think of that Arthur Russell tune "Is It All Over My Face?"
…and the black armband?
I'll wear it as long as our government keeps us fighting in their pointless war.
You are starting a new project and looking for a "Beyonce"-type singer. What direction are you heading with the new band?
I'm making tracks right now with a good friend of mine, who's an amazing DJ -- we want to write hardcore dance pop, I guess. Everything so far is really fast and really nasty, but we're looking for a singer to round it out. I would love to be playing live by the end of the summer, but we'll have to take it one step at a time.
Will you be playing any more DC-area shows as Ris Paul Ric before you debut the new group?
Definitely -- and hopefully after the new group is up and running, too.
Do you plan to release new material as Ris Paul Ric?
I do plan to continue making music as Ris Paul Ric - Tim Hecker and I have been talking about recording an album outdoors when the weather gets warmer. But regardless if that pans out, playing alone really gives me the opportunity to ventilate the furnace and stay free. Music has always been about freedom to me and there are no rules when you're working in total solitude.
UPDATE: We got a little overzealous and forgot to include the very first question we asked Ris Paul Ric:
Do you miss playing in Q and not U?
I miss spending time with John and Harris, but I don't miss playing in the band. It feels a lot like high school or college -- you can look back fondly on it, and there are things you really miss about it - but you don't wanna go back.
Image from flickr user meowmeow.