Rich and Royal
Rich&Royal come from the best elements of Bowie, Led Zep, and Radiohead. HenryRich croons baritone melodies over the band's intense rock sound. Not reflected i
3
songs
85
plays
June June
Silver Streak Silver Streak
Lodestone Lodestone
Rich & Royal was begun in 1996 by Henry Rich & Eric Royal Lybeck The band has created a unique style of modern rock. Not reflected in existing genres. Not sounding like any specific bands .The band has developed the term Architect Rock to describe their music.
visit www.richandroyal.com for more deetsBand/artist history
BIOGRAPHY
Rich & Royal is the brainchild of Henry Rich and Eric Royal Lybeck, two friends since fourth grade. After their high school band, The Crazy Diamonds, disbanded at graduation, the two followed separate paths: Rich to Harvard; Lybeck to various schools including Vassar and Rutgers University.
2003 - Henry started Oral Fixation Mints so he can make his own schedule and play music whenever he wants - hired Eric. Putting their heads together, they took the material they had individually developed while estranged at Harvard and various clinics and pulled together a medieval concept album titled Hair Like Fire - an album whos title track had been written and recorded when both were aged 16 years.
The medieval theme had them focusing their musical palette to grand piano, acoustic guitar, and hand percussion while maintaining the comfort zone they developed listening to Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, and Nine Inch Nails together in high school. The album was completed while working 60 hours a week, straddling the alternating lifestyle of hard mechanical labor over vintage pharmaceutical equipment and glitzy, glamorous trips to the MTV music awards in Miami. Both gentlemen lost their girlfriends at this time.
2004 - More exhausted than ready to make hoopla, one day the two unceremoniously decided they were finished. At 60 minutes, Hair Like Fire travels from dirge to Brit-pop to cyber punk to Gregorian chant to German cabaret to arpeggiated chorale to Grand Funk Railroad-esque instrumental and back and back again. Lybeck and Rich had completed an album they would listen to themselves: one with authentic guitar playing and passionate classical-style vocals; an album that required multiple spins; a modern record with depth.
2005 - Enter music compatriot from way back, Owen Susman on bass, and Andy Sapko, a legendarily energetic session drummer and Rich & Royal, ten years in the making, was fully formed. In just a year, the group has performed over 25 gigs at The Knitting Factory, CBGBs, The Stone Pony, and the other best and worst venues in New York City and New Jersey.Have you performed in front of an audience?We currently play at all the best and worst clubs in the NY, NJ, Philly area.
Your musical influences
WHAT IS ARCHITECT ROCK?
The concept of Architect Rock can be heard throughout Rich & Royals repertoire. The term was developed to help explain the group’s sound which was not living up to "The Smiths meet Led Zeppelin" or "Radiohead meets Pink Floyd meets Pearl Jam" And other such confusing smash ups.
Instead, Architect Rock provides a suggestion of where our music is coming from. We dont think this is a new or unheard of place, but as weve noticed many comments suggesting that we "sound like something familiar, but it cant be placed". Architect Rock, or proto-Architect Rock can be heard throughout music history. Like Rich & Royal, artists have come from a place where structure, foundation, attention to detail, innovation and functionality have been the starting point for composition.
David Bowie, for example, recorded, perhaps, the greatest Architect Rock song with Life On Mars?. The song begins with piano, vocals, and bass (the foundation), the song then builds as Bowie harmonizes the verse. Then a massive string section enters from below, supporting the structure. Then the chorus comes, like entering a massive lobby of an Opera House. The details are overwhelming. You cant quite catch them all, but the elegance is palpable. As you travel through the guitar solo section, the second verse, and the finale, the sections all come and go like walking from room to room. Finally, like leaving church, in the distance the reprise fades away.
This is Architect Rock. While it would be incorrect to say we sound (or are trying to sound) like David Bowie, it is not out of bounds to say we are aspiring to come from the same place compositionally.
A characteristic element would be the building nature of the sound. Many Architect Rock songs begin with an intro, verse, then chorus, structured like a typical Rock song, but as the elements build and build, more often than not, youre left with some sort of finale, as opposed to just a simple conclusion.
This building, or constructivist, process is also apparent in the compositional phase, during which the foundations - that is the rhythm section and rhythmic guitar or piano accompaniment is tailored to produce the best carriage for what will carry the details of the vocal or solos.
You might say, doesnt everyone do this? Well, in fact, no.
This is where Architect Rock differs from bands that we may be influenced by, but dont really sound much like. For example, Bob Dylan. OK hes folk, were not folk, thats easy, but, lets say - YES. You might, think YES handles their songwriting in the same way, constructing in advance, building to climaxes, positioning contrapuntal melodies over carefully blueprinted rhythms. Isnt that Prog Rock?
Indeed, Prog follows a similar process, but the intentions are different. A progressive rock song may begin with an idea, then switch to another one, then switch to another. There is often no intention of connecting the front and back ends of the song. Additionally, the term Prog, while initially designed to be a signature of innovation and challenging to the audience has settled into a stagnant realm of Dream Theater and other derivations of Rush. To give Yes a small amount of credit, songs like Siberian Khatru do not do this, so were only generalizing. Among modern bands who also draw their influences from Prog, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, and Radiohead similarly tend to avoid the label by remaining consistent once they start a particular song or theme, but still borrowing the structures and stylings of many genres, particular classical, electronic, and alternative to create their own unique sounds distinct from the unfortunately, stigmatic label, Prog Rock.
Since we listen to so many genres and artists, this exercise could be done dozens of times to demonstrate how were not exactly Alternative, or Indie, or Hard Rock, or whatever. But indeed, many of these labels dont apply to many of the artists plopped into them. Here are some that could just as easily be Architect Rock.
Led Zeppelin - while certainly the most important Metal/Hard Rock Band ever, the actual content of their albums is quite diverse. Often neglected by modern Metal knockoffs who recreate the high vocal and loud drumming, Plant and Page included on their albums songs like No Quarter, Black Mountain Side, and Friends. The overall picture is more complex than the Classic Rock radio on repeat would suggest. Get the Led out!
Pink Floyd - Similarly framed by Classic Rock radio within post-Dark Side of the Moon material, before and even after this period, Floyd produced many different styles of music. And their early albums like Saucerful of Secrets, The Soundtrack to More, and particularly the song, Echoes hold many terrific examples of the building quality of Architect Rock.
The Zombies - Instead of mentioning The Beatles or the Beach Boys, lets say the Zombies, since they are just as gooWhat equipment do you use?
Eric uses a lot of VOX and FENDER (guitar)
Henry uses a lot of ROLAND (keys) and Allen & Heath (vox)
Andy uses a lot of Gretsch (drums)
Owen uses a single fender bass (everyone's jealous of what Owen's gear load is)
Hopewell, NJ
USA
ID
679348
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