“It’s just really easy to listen to and I’m really pleased with the simplicity of the arrangements and the production and also from a vocal point of view I’ve kind of wanted to really explore the lower more warmer tones and territory of my voice and I’ve done that with this record.”
From tour release: Rick Price has walked the journey many musicians’ dreams are made of. From the very beginning, as a nine year old boy and the youngest member of his family’s band, music was Price’s passion. Since those humble yet defining days, set amongst the backdrop of country Queensland, the self-taught artist has forged an internationally praised and respected career spanning more than three decades.
We chatted to Rick Price while here in Australia on tour to discuss the past, present and future of all things Rick Price, and as the owner of a set of handwritten lyrics to ‘Heaven Knows’ and being a fan for twenty plus years, this was one to tick off…
Your new single is ‘I’m Coming Home’ so after living away for a while now in Nashville, what’s the one thing you look forward to coming home to the most?
You mean coming back to Australia? Well seeing my family I guess would be the first thing, and what else? Of course playing shows for my Australian buddies and just being back on Aussie soil I think is a bonus in itself, so they’re the three pronged event to me, family, events and shows and just being back in Australia is awesome.
‘The Water’s Edge’ has been out for a little while now, and I absolutely love it, and it takes on much more of that singer songwriter type feel, is the album a perfect representation of where you are as an artist these days?
Yeah well it’s certainly a perfect representation of where I was when I recorded that, and that’s 2010, so yeah, yeah it is, I think the more and it’s strange to say this about your own record, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It’s just really easy to listen to and I’m really pleased with the simplicity of the arrangements and the production and also from a vocal point of view I’ve kind of wanted to really explore the lower more warmer tones and territory of my voice and I’ve done that with this record.
Is that something you set out to do specifically or did it just end up that way?
It kind of evolved that way I suppose, but it did strike me sometime throughout the 90’s I think, the late 90’s I thought man, everything I write is super high, well not everything, most things I write are super high and I was in the studio one day with a friend of mine Mark Punch, who’s a brilliant guitar player and singer in Sydney and he said ‘just try that song down, just take it down a tone and see what it sounds like’ so I took it down, he said ‘go down again’ so I went down again and again until I was a whole fifth down from the original key of the song and he said ‘man that sounds great down there’. So I just started kicking it around a little bit, some of my songs and arrangements and I put out an album called ‘Revisitied’ where I did revisit my hit songs and rerecorded them in an acoustic way and I did exactly that, I took all the keys down into warmer keys like a whole fifth down and I really liked the sound of it. That’s where it kind of started for me and it’s not like I don’t sing any high notes anymore, I certainly write in the warmer keys now, it’s more comfortable, I like it.
Are you constantly writing new material and if so is it something that we may hear soon?
Yes, I’m always writing songs, it’s just something I do most days that I get a chance to. Sometimes I’m writing with other people and other days just writing by myself, and that’s pretty much a constant for me. So I’m working on a new album I’m hoping for February / March next year.
You’re back in Australia for some shows, what can fans expect to hear set wise when they come and see you play on this run?
I like to keep it pretty open on the night, I like to take requests because I like for people to leave knowing they’ve heard their favourite song, but essentially I base it on a greatest hits I suppose, so I’m playing all of the songs people would know and have become the most popular songs in my set, and also songs from my ‘Water’s Edge’ album, which is fairly new, and I also like to road test a couple of brand new things that I’m writing at the moment. Plus some old favourites, so it’s a little bit of everything, but I like people to think that if they come to a show that they can just call out a song and I’ll do my best to play it, as long as it’s one of my songs of course. *laughs*
I was impressed with the search for local musos to open for you on this run, what was the idea behind showcasing new talent this way?
Simply to give people an opportunity to be heard that they might not ordinarily get, and it also gives my audience a chance to hear artists that I’m impressed with. What I did was, I ran a competition and people sent in their youtube links or audio links so I could see them playing, I just picked my favourite people from those selections Like I said, it gives them a chance to get out there and be heard and it gives my audience a chance to hear some new artists. For me when I was coming up with music back in the day there were just so many gigs, too many gigs to play, now it’s really difficult for artists to get a leg up, to get an opportunity to be heard, especially playing their own music. Pretty easy to get cover gigs, but hard to get venues that will support them playing their own music so it just kind of struck me as a good idea. It’s a privilege for me to be part of it, I feel pretty lucky from my angle as well.
You now reside in Nashville, what has being over there allowed you to do that you weren’t able to do in Australia?
Nothing really, I get up and do my thing like I always do, and there are certain things that I like to do on a regular basis and writing songs and recording and performing is part of that daily ritual for me. I’m just doing it in another part of the world and I’m getting some different experiences in that I’m playing to different audiences, I’m writing with different people and I’m sort of observing the music that’s coming out of Nashville despite listening to stuff and working with writers and being in the studio, it’s pretty awesome and you can hear a lot of great music that comes through Nashville as well. I think the singer / songwriter more rootsy based stuff that I’ve been drawn to is very popular in Nashville, it’s a standard sort of every day music that goes on there, so my style of theme fits in beautifully to the Nashville community, so I’m drawn to it for that reason too. I don’t really feel like I’m living in America, I live in Australia, I jump on a plane and I’m in one pace then I’m in the next and it all happens pretty quick these days.
Besides shorter hair, what do you see as the biggest difference between Rick Price 2013 and Rick Price 1992?
I think, well obviously I’m older, I don’t know if I’m any wiser, of course I like to think I am but probably not. *laughs*Let’s see… I guess I’ve calmed down a fair bit, I had a lot of nervous energy when I was a younger performer and I think I was pretty anxious to impress people and I sang high and all that sort of stuff but I think I’m a bit more relaxed these days, that’s pretty much the only difference you know?
Your debut album is still very big in the AOR world, it took off back then, looking back was that something you were not expecting when it did take off so big?
No I was not expecting it to take off that big, I guess as a musician and a writer I had an inkling that I had some pretty good songs there and certainly management, record label and publishers felt the same way, so it wasn’t like ‘oh my god what a shock we’ve had a hit song’ but I didn’t think it would hit radio and go right across the board and get as big as it did so quickly, so it was a lively surprise.
It took off internationally too didn’t it?
Yeah I toured and I did promotional tours all over the world for that album, in Europe, Germany and certainly in Asia we had a lot of success there and sold a lot of records, I still to this day go back to Asia and play concerts all the time. I’ll be in Jakarta in September this year.
So is there a song of yours that you feel defines who you are as an artist?
You know one of the favourite songs that I’ve written and one that I can listen to and not kind of cringe *laughs* because I’m such a critic of my own work and I don’t like all of it, I’ve come to accept a lot of it but I don’t like a lot of it, but I really like ‘The Water’s Edge’ the title track of my last album, it’s probably the simplest song I’ve ever written and it really pleases me to play it and to hear it.
Other than this Australian run and you mentioned Asia, what does the remainder of 2013 have in store for Rick Price?
I’ll finish my tour here at the end of August, I’ve got shows in the United States in September and also in Asia and then from October / November / December I have some scattered shows but I’m going to be working on the recording of my new record, so that’s what I’ll be doing up until Christmas time. Then I hope to be touring here in February / March with the new album, so it’s all pretty much spoken for, they say you have to at least try to have a rough plan at least six to twelve months ahead, it always changes but you know…
Essential Information
From: Sydney, Australia
Website: http://www.rickprice.com.au
Current release: The Water’s Edge
Catch Rick Price on tour in Australia now – details and ticket information HERE
August 2 – The Abbey Canberra ACT
August 3 – Gibraltar Hotel Bowral NSW
August 7 – Jamberoo Pub Jamberoo NSW
August 8 – Centro CBD Wollongong NSW
August 9 – Lizottes Dee Why NSW
August 10 – Lizottes Newcastle NSW
August 11 – Lizottes Kincumber NSW
August 15 – Wellers Resaturant Kangaroo Ground Victoria
August 16 – Norwood Hotel SA
August 17 – Harrigans Irish Pub NSW
August 22 – Blue Beat, Double Bay NSW
August 23/24/25 – Gympie Muster QLD
