Rick's Studio

This part of the web site is devoted to my music career. In this area, you can find information about my bands and solo projects. There are lyrics and mp3 files of my songs, as well as detailed writing about the meaning of the songs and how they came about.

Recordings

This section contains all the recordings I've appeared on over the years, including those with my bands. You can click on the album covers to see detailed album credits, as well as links to all those songs written by (or primarily by) me.

Bands

These are bands I have played in over the years. The View was my first band, very much a cooperative unit, but one over which I exerted some measure of artistic control. I played rhythm and lead electric guitar and did some vocals. After dealing with the emotional and financial burn-out from that band breaking up, I decided to let someone else take up the brunt of the song writing. I was tired of writing music for a fixed rock ensemble (studio recording allowed for more flexibility of instrumentation), but I loved playing the music.

The result was I ended up in a band led by a guy named Steve Shattah which we christened The Shattered. Since Steve played guitar, I was brought in as the bass player. This lasted a couple of years until creative differences drove us apart.

Arriving a few years later in San Diego, I immediately hooked up with a songwriter named John Murphy. He had been playing acoustic guitar at open mic nights and was looking to put a full band together. He and another guitarist came by my studio to record some of John's compositions, and next thing I know, I'm in Lost On Our Way. The band started with a drummer and me on bass, but when the drummer graduated from college and moved away, I became the drummer. It's been a lot of fun, playing a variety of instruments in a variety of bands, creating original music, playing shows, and meeting other musicians and fans.

The View (1988-1995)
The Shattered (2004-2005)
Lost On Our Way (2010-2012)

Reviews

Everyone's a critic! While my visual art has generally received enthusiasm wherever I've shown it, my music tends to elicit a sharp divide in critical opinion. I find this interesting, as most of the guiding philosophy I've used in making music was developed while doing painting. For example, my painting evolved from a very realistic style, with all elements plotted out in advance, to creating spontaneously generated abstract works. This mimics a change in my music composing style, from making carefully crafted songs in which parts were written out to recording improvisation and editing a song out of it later. Anyway, here are a few other opinions of my sonic endeavors!