Americana Alt.Country CD Reviews

Adam Rich

Streetlight Smile'

'Virgin Freak'

Love Muffin Records, 2014)

ww.lovemuffinrecords.com

ww.adamrichmusic.net

Adam Rich is one of the most dedicated musicians I know. He has that 'never say die' mentality and doesn't give up, no matter what life throws at him. I also admire Adam's professional way of running his own record label. If you scroll down on this Insurgent Country page, you will find an item, where Adam talks at length about his previous solo album 'You Can't Escape Life' (2006). Now we are listening to his latest release and a re-release. Just so you know: this is rock music, a bit on the fringes of what we usually feature here, but very interesting nonetheless!

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Adam Rich - The Early Years (from Guitarz Forever):

I am from Cleveland, Ohio, and have been playing guitar since I was 15, drums since 16, and bass since 19. My main influence didn’t hit me until 12th grade. That’s when I discovered Joe Satriani. Specifically, his CD 'Flying In A Blue Dream'. I’d been playing guitar and drums for about two years by then. I liked both instruments and found myself coming up for parts for rhythm guitar, solos, and drums when I’d write songs. I’d read Joe recorded his first cassette playing everything himself - guitar, bass and drums. So why couldn’t I do that?

My first attempt at recording was the boom box system of recording guitar on one boom box, then playing the tape while another boom box recorded what was playing on the first boom box as well as me playing the drums live. I then took that tape of the guitar and drums I’d just recorded, and played that while the boom box recorded that plus a live lead guitar. The quality of the finished product was crap from the generation loss. So, unless that is your only means of recording NEVER do that. My advice: get a Tascam 4 track cassette Portastudio.

My parents had gotten me my first bass the summer before I went off to college at Bowling Green State University, and I found a band a few months after I got there. It wasn’t so much a band as it was a guitarist and a singer who needed a bassist. The band recorded a lot, but didn’t play out much. We named ourselves Cottonmather, and our first gig was drummer less so we used a drum machine. Sometimes I’d play guitar in it, too. We eventually found a drummer but only played one show with him, I think. By the end of freshman year I wasn’t in the band anymore. After that first year, I decided to make a 4 song cassette that summer to take back to school and sell.

I’d got a good old Tascam basic cassette 4-track, EV-150 mic, a small bass amp and went to work. The result was my first cassette 'Leave My Fish Alone'. The name was coined when I was eating dinner with my parents, and my fork reached for my mom’s fish. She said ‘Adam, leave my fish alone”, and I thought “What a great name for a tape!”. I released it on the quickly named Rich Records. It consisted of 4 instrumental songs. I made 25 copies, took it up to college my sophomore year, and sold all 25. I made wacky new ads every 4-6 weeks, and would stick them on the kiosks around campus as well as peoples dorm room doors. At one party I pulled it out and they popped it in. I ended up keeping in contact with the sane students who lived there that year and the next two years. They took a picture of me and taped it up on the wall of the house above the door.

That summer, I made my first full length cassette, 'Virgin Freak'. The title was chosen by a sign up sheet I put on my dorm room door asking for titles. Over the summer I’d upgraded to a 6 track Tascam and gotten a few SM-57’s. I was now able to use more then one mic and more then one track for drums. I utilized the 'click track' on my Yamaha keyboard and would record guitar parts to those first, then record drums over it, then record solos. The quality wasn’t amazing, but it was far better then 'Leave My Fish Alone'. I’m amazed at the crisp drum sound I got by simply putting two Shure SM-57’s overhead. While the cassette was once again instrumental, I did have one friend sing on a song written about him. He couldn’t really sing, but it was college so I didn’t really care. I also decided to ditch the name Rich Records and replace it with Love Muffin Records. 'Love Muffin' was a nickname I had on my soccer team in high school. It sounded like a good name for a label. I had a logo made up, got a barcode cheaply through a local music collective back in Cleveland, and had 100 copies made. I brought it to school my sophomore year in 1994 and moved into the new, renovated dorm on campus. Throughout the year I sold all 100 and even re-ordered 25 more. The tape got reviewed in the school paper and a local magazine in Toledo. I also found a band that year. The drummer lived down the hall and needed a guitarist. Another kid who lived on my floor also tried out. He got it, but they also needed a bassist. I was asked if I played bass. I did, but had only been playing it a few years. I had to have my parents bring my bass from home. I tried out and made it. It was called State Of Green, and I was with them from 1994 to 1997 when members graduated and we broke up. I still keep in touch with them today.

State Of Green had some pretty good times in those three and a half years. We entered a contest and won enough money to record our only CD. We played the legendary CBGB’s on a cold Tuesday night in September of 1996. We also opened for Columbus’s Watershed, who was on Epic Records at the time. To this day, I come to every Cleveland show they play and they still remember me. We also made it into Peavey’s 'Monitor' magazine.

With the success of 'Virgin Freak', I decided to make another cassette. Part of it was recorded at my house, part of it was recorded at the house I lived at with State Of Green during the summer of 1995 and part of it was recorded at another band's house. I upgraded again to a nice Tascam cassette 8 track and several more mics. This cassette marks the beginning of collaboration with Jared Levengood. Jared played guitar & sang in the local band Pacemaker Jane. He also dabbled in bass and drums. A guy who played everything, sort of like me. I lived with them in a house at school the summer of 1996. I’d started coming up with a song and laid down rhythm guitar & bass. I went to class, and when I got back, Jared had come up with a drum idea and lyrics. We fleshed out the songs and eventually came up with another one. Both songs appeared on the 1997 release 'Flavor Savor'. Flavor Savor was the nickname people gave my goatee, and the cover was an extremely close up shot of my goatee. The cassette was released hastily at the end of 1997. I thought I would graduate then, but I was a few credits short.

State Of Green ended in late 1997. The drummer and I formed another band with two guitarists/singers and a keyboardist. The band was named 10watt. We put out a cassette demo and played a few shows. My apartment lease ended in May, while the drummer still had another half year or year to go. I decided to move back to Cleveland in search of a new band. 10 watt moved to Columbus the following year, found replacement members and renamed themselves the Stepford Five. To date, they have put out three or four CD’s and are still together. In May I finally graduated and my apartment lease was up. I moved back to Cleveland hungry for a new band….

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Adam Rich - The BIO:

Adam Rich is Cleveland, Ohio born and bred. He started out playing piano as a child, and moved up to cello in elementary school as well as clarinet. High school and the teenage years introduced him to guitar and drums, while bass did not present itself until college.

Adam released three cassettes while he was in college: a 4 song EP 'Leave My Fish Alone' (1993), a full length 'Virgin Freak' (1994) and another full length 'Flavor Savor' (1997). Limited copies of the last two cassettes still exist, while the first one is long out of print. In 2001, Adam released his debut CD 'Foundation', followed by 'You Can't Escape Life' in 2006 and 'Streetlight Smile' in 2014. All these releases feature several guest musicians and vocalists, but the songs are written by Adam.

Adam has also been playing in bands since he was in high school. The short lived Adamthrax played the senior talent show and a school dance. In college, Adam also played bass for State Of Green (1994 - 1997), and later for Tadpol (1998-2001), Girth (2002 - 2006), Adam Rich Band (2007), Oliver Buck & The New Madrids, (2007 - 2009) and Quinn Sands (2009 - 2010).

Adam is still a multi-instrumentalist, who currently plays guitar, bass and drums. He is the bassist for blues rock band The Flavor. He explores a wide array of styles, not only rock and blues, but also pop, punk, reggae, ska and jazz, all with a guitar-driven base. He continues: metal, hard rock, acoustic, instrumental guitar, fusion. We probably mentioned most existing music styles by now! Adam was heavily influenced by such instrumental guitarists as Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Michael Fath, as well as Alex Skolnick (Testament), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Johnny Reznik (Goo Goo Dolls), Mike Ness (Social Distortion), Mike Enzinger (Incubus) and Ben Harper. Basswise, Adams draws heavily from Cliff Burton (Metallica), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), D.D. Verni (Overkill), Dave LaRue (Steve Morse Band), Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls), Jerry Only (Misfits) and Juan Nelson (Ben Harper).

In March of last year (2014), Adam reissued 'Virgin Freak' onto CD and digitally with a bonus track, new liner notes, and never before seen photos. His first new release in eight years, 'Streetlight Smile', is now out.

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