Two times Pharrell Wiliams stole my luck.

Maybe I shouldn't tell this story.
Maybe I should.

I'm going to anyway...


They say that luck plays a big part in the success of many musicians.  It's otherwise known as "being in the right place at the right time"... 

We've heard these stories many times.

I consider myself a hard-working musician.  I've been professional for over 20 years now.
And, at times, I've been close, (very close), to achieving noticeable achievements.

I mean, I'm happy with everything I've done.  This isn't a post about complaining how "things didn't go my way", or that "I was unlucky".  I've worked hard.  I continue to work hard.  And I'm proud of all the success I've had and continue to have, and all the achievements in my professional career. 

I've got a lot of stories like this one, but, a few people have asked me to tell this particular yarn, so, here ya go:


Pharrell Williams

He has no idea who I am. 
But, twice now he has stolen my [potentially] "lucky break" away from me.

Back in 2004/2005, before "belarus" were belarus and we went by the name "Spacehopper", and back in the early days of the internet when the music business became like the wild west with outlaws like Napster and other file sharing sites ruining thousands of hard-working musicians earnings, my band at the time (Spacehopper) were doing pretty well...

We had a pretty big following and were gigging hard and creating a buzz in "the industry".

Around that time there was a website, (and this is the only "fact" I am not 100% sure about), but I am pretty sure it was "MP3.com".
The site hosted [unsigned] bands music and fans could vote for their favourite tracks.
The more votes a track got, the higher it reached in the MP3.com charts.

In '04/'05 Spacehopper decided that we would upload all our songs and see what happened.

To our surprise, not long after, 9 of our songs were in the top 10!

It was quite unbelievable...

This, incredibly, lead to a string of emails and contact from music business moguls from around the world.  One of which turned out to be the manager of a producer team in L.A. called "The Neptunes".

For those of you who don't know, The Neptunes were one half made up of a certain Mr Pharrell Williams.
Another interesting fact about The Neptunes is that, in 2003 they produced 43% of all the songs on the radio!

Anyway, the email we got from their manager basically said that The Neptunes were searching for an up-and-coming British artist to remix/produce, and that they were interested in us and one other young act!

It was down to a choice of two!

After some months of emails, deliberating, waiting and excitement, The Neptunes chose the other way.

(I am fairly certain after doing some research that they chose to work with UK up-and-comer-at-the-time, Dizzy Rascal).

Damn you Williams!
You could have picked us...
This was the first time he stole my luck.

Moving on 8 years to 2013...


(brief recap of the intervening years:
Spacehopper had become belarus.
belarus had recorded an album, which, unfortunately never got an official release as the record label we signed to went bust.
belarus were courted by Universal Records.
belarus ultimately split up in 2007.

I was devastated.

I continued to teach and play in other bands, but eventually, new challenges presented themselves and I relocated to Berlin, Germany.)


In 2012 I started to build my recording studio here in Berlin.
The idea was to do remote recording sessions by email, meaning I could provide drum recordings for anyone in the world.

Over the course of a 20 year professional career, I have met some amazing fellow musicians, some of which may be considered famous or influential, (or any other impressive sounding word we might attach to successful arteests).

I emailed a few of these ladies and gentlemen to introduce my new studio and ask for any opportunities they had for recording.  I was basically trying to get some decent credits to increase my status. 

Anyway, one of these lovely chaps, a producer friend of mine in L.A., writes back to me with this question:

"Hey Rich!  Can you get a 70's sound?"

I was hella surprised!  This guy was writing and producing, (and continues to write & produce), some of the worlds biggest R&B and soul records.  Seriously, we're talking #1 billboard albums.

So, of course, I wet myself a little bit and replied immediately asking:

"Sure!  No problem man!  What do you want exactly?"

(Then, I immediately emailed a few other producer friends of mine asking how the hell to get a 70's sound...  I was pretty new to all of this and had maybe oversold slightly...  I mean, I knew I could play, but the recording bit...  anyway, I digress...)

I didn't get a reply

I was patient

I don't want to bug people or upset opportunities

I waited

A week

A second week

I couldn't wait anymore, so I wrote again:

"Hey mate!  How's it going?  Just wondering when you need these drums for?  Let me know!

Smiley face"

No reply.

I wait again...

Now, I could drag this out more and more, but long story short, after about 2 months of waiting and being excited and disappointed and hopeful and then excited all over again, my friend replies and, with massive apologies, he informs me that, the day he initially wrote to me to ask about the drum recording, who should "happen to pop into the studio"...  you guessed it:

PHARRELL GODDAMN WILLIAMS!

So, twice, this guy, who has no idea I even exist, has stolen my lucky break.

Moral of the story:
Don't worry about the things that didn't happen, or the things that could have been.
Just keep doing what you're doing.
Keep enjoying the things that you do achieve.

And enjoy all the success's of all the times that you do have, which make all the stories, like this one, that you get to tell...

Or, something like that.

And maybe, Mr Williams, just maybe, if you do ever happen to read this, get in touch and finally give me the lucky break I've been waiting for.
Or, maybe not.
You don't actually need a drummer.
You're pretty damn good yourself.
As this track (that I didn't play on!) goes to show.

If you want to hear any other silly stories, comment below and I'll try to think of something just as interesting :-)

Rich

Releases and latest news

April.
The weather.
What is all that about?!
I returned to Berlin at the start of this month to a mix of hail, snow, rain and wind, but now, at least, it is sunny and getting warmer...
This is good.

There are lots of other good things about April 2015:


This month sees the official release of the FlyCatFly album "Pocket Full Of Pain".

This is a special album for me as, not only did I play the drums, I also feature on the album playing a little bass guitar, keys, singing some backing and I also am proud to say that it is my first official mixing and production project, having recorded a lot of it at my own studio.  It was a fantastic learning curve and I really got excited about creating string and song arrangements along with the beautiful Cord and Sina.

I am looking forward to the second album already - we already have 7 songs halfway finished, so I am hoping this one takes a lot less time to finish!

We officially release the album this Friday in Arpke at a show we will play with a good friend of mine, Gaz Brookfield who is currently on tour across Europe.  I cannot wait.


As for the rest of this year so far; well... where to begin...?

I guess with the ill-fated "tour" of the UK in March.  I was looking forward to playing a fairly big tour in March with Eban Brown, lead singer of The Stylistics.  However, due to unfortunate circumstances we only got to play one show together.  It was a good one though, and so I hope that there will be another chance to play with Mr Brown next year.


However, spending a month in the UK without a tour wasn't a total loss...  I got myself busy!  I ended up teaching at The Academy Of Music And Sound for a couple of weeks, including some extremely successful workshops - so successful in fact that I plan on returning to the UK in December to do some more!  Details to come...


I also had the extreme honour of being asked to record with song-writed and producer Sam Bates for his current project, "The Incredible Disappearing Boy".  Three days in the studio to record 4 songs for the debut EP with some of the finest musicians in the area.

One of the quickest turnarounds ever, the EP is already out, and to make the entire experience even better, I got to work with some of the most amazing and talented guys in the business!  One of the tracks on the EP is not only one of the best songs I've ever been a part of, but it is in fact probably one of the best songs I've ever heard.

Sam - you are a musical genius.


The UK aside, I also completed recording an album and music video for Flemming Borby, which sees the video release party and concert happen in Berlin tomorrow night (15th April) at The Monarch in Kreuzberg.

Flemmings album is another album I am excited about being released later this year.






The Blowbacks have now started posting songs to their soundcloud and I am sure this is yet another album which will be officially released soon.

Zeki Min keeps the videos for his last album coming.  This keeps my appetite up for the recording of the new album which is booked for May this year.

I finished recording an EP with the üer-talented Nadav Meir at Legato Sound Studios recently.  The release is due soooooon!  (I've already heard it and it's bloody beautiful!)


Idan Altman has given me some new tunes to work on - extremely mellow and laid back, this will be nothing if not some of the most beautiful music he's produced so far...  Keep a look out for this in the summer...


I also have my first paid producer job coming up!  So, I guess now I can officially also call myself a music producer!

So, if anyone wants any recording time in my studio, mixing, or music production, please let me know.  My rates are good and my tea is better :-)


The other avenue of work I am keen to push right now is my teaching.  After such successful workshops in the UK, I realised how much I really enjoy teaching.
Basically, I want to be busier.  So, anyone wanting drums recorded or anyone wanting to learn more about drums, drumming or the music business, please get in touch.


And finally...

belarus.

Not the country.  The band.  We broke up 8 years ago!  A lifetime.  And I miss it still.
But, we have some incredible news.  I think I have to wait for the official broadcast before I can tell you all what's going on, but, it is bloomin' cool!  I cannot wait to share with you all...  :-)

Look out for the updates

Go and buy good music

Employ me as a drummer, teacher, producer, mixer or tea boy

Enjoy the sun

Welcome to Berlin

So, it's been nearly 5 years since belarus split up!  I can't believe how long ago it all was!  An amazing band with some truly special and talented friends...  Well, I have been extremely busy since then.  I crafted a nice career for myself in Swindon teaching drums full-time.  This was punctuated by many many band projects both recording and live.  I will post some more recent videos and pictures up from these bands soon.

The teaching was really interesting and very challenging.  From teaching complete beginners one-to-one, to classroom diploma & degree level drums at  The Academy Of Music And Sound, I have met many fantastic young drummers and musicians with more potential than I could have dreamt of at their age (god, I sound so old!)

Spending time with young musicians and teaching drums has been a massive part of my life for the past 10 years, but, in my deranged wisdom, I decided in April that I would move on, leave Swindon behind and try something new.  So, I have said farewell to all the inspiring people Swindon has (and there are a LOT!), and I have relocated to Berlin.

My move to Berlin has also meant farewell to my teaching for the time being and I have to say that I really miss it.  The students I have had the pleasure of spending the last years with have probably been some of the most inspiring of all.  Some students that had a massive positive affect on me in particular have been at The Commonweal School in Swindon, (a performing arts academy for 11 to 16 year old's).  Commonweal have a fantastic P.I. unit and even though some of the students there have severe disabilities, they wanted to learn the drums.  This was a huge challenge for me as well as for them.  But, teaching children with physical disability is probably the most rewarding job I have ever had.  It makes me realise how the rest of us have got it really easy.  And still we complain!  Ah well, the human condition, eh...

Amazing work, amazing school and amazing kids.

It has been a pleasure to teach all of my students and I have to thank each and every one of them for the enjoyment I have had over the past years.

So, what now.  I miss teaching, I really do.  But, my plan for Berlin has evolved continually since I had the idea back in April.  The one thing I definitely wanted to do (and am doing) is to play the drums every day without having to analyse the process so much.  The thing with teaching, (which actually helped me to improve no end) is that you have to really understand what it is you are trying to teach.  So, you spend an awful lot of time and effort understanding fine details in every part of what you do.  Then you have to spend an awful lot of time and effort trying to get someone else to understand it and learn how to achieve it.  Teaching drums sounds easy.  It really isn't.

So, by not having to teach any more, I can now enjoy playing again.  Playing without thinking about it all so much!  So, the first part of my plan is working.  Yay!

The other things I am doing...  well:

I am currently trying to find my own recording studio in Berlin so I can have a drum-session studio of my own, for recording anything for anyone, anywhere in the world.  I already have a few albums to record, so that's my main career focus.

I also have a music synch licensing/publishing/library/record label type thing I am working on.  As I said before, I have the pleasure of knowing and working with some fantastically talented people and I know an awful lot of musicians, singers, songwriters and produces who are making amazing albums and recording some truly magical work.  So, I though I would try to help get this music heard.  It needs to be heard.  I will discuss this business another time, but that's another project I am working on.

I am writing a book!  A big fat old nerdy book about drums.  I might post some of it up here when it's ready to be read...

I need to learn German.  Mein Deutsch ist echt schlecht.  Enough said.

And, I would be happy to teach anyone in Berlin who is looking for an English speaking drum teacher.

So, I am planning on being extremely busy.  My main focus being a recording and session drummer.

I will have a studio set up very soon, and I am available for travel anywhere in the world to play live or record.

Just let me know what you need and I'll get it done!

So, there's my welcome to Berlin and to my plans for now.

Blog again soon

Rich

:-)