Rick McDonough was kind enough to give us a last minute interview about one of his upcoming projects, While Rome Is Burning. Many here may or may not be familiar with Rick, but his fingerprints are all over the place in our little ‘zine. We have covered him before when his project Hidden From Blackout came out, but he is also a member of LS Underground. In addition to those projects Rick is one half of the duo known as Struck Last May, the other person being Michael Knott. Rick has been a great friend to Down The Line and in almost all our issues he has provided the photographs for our back page as well as many of the photos that have accompanied interviews and stories. While Rome Is Burning is unique, artistic and comforting. This is the kind of music that really moves me, and I say thanks to Rick for being so gracious to us!
I know that you and Peter Kusek are in While Rome Is Burning, is there anyone else?
Nope – just the two of us. As of right now it’s just a two-person studio project. While we do have dreams of playing the project live, we’ll have to see if that materializes or not. Peter resides in Texas while I’m over 1,000 miles away in California.
Who plays what instruments, and what instruments do you use?
Peter – Heavenly Vocals, Guitar, Lap Steel, Sampling.
Rick – Guitar, Keyboards, Sampling.
What/who are the musical influences for WRIB?
Cocteau Twins, Sigur Ros, Jeff Buckley, My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, Sufjan Stevens
Is there a title for the new record?
No, it’s self-titled. We thought that for our debut record that would be best, less is more.
Lyrically what can be expected, and did you write the lyrics for this?
The lyrics, like the music, are a collaborative process. While they are minimalistic and provocative, they begin with poetry and journals of mine that seem to be emotionally appropriate with the subject or music we are considering. Peter then ingests them emotionally, interpreting them artistically and intuitively via vocals.
How will this be released? (Download, hard copy, vinyl, etc.)
For now just CD and download. If we found a place to do vinyl cheap enough that would be cool for a future release.
What do you want fans and listeners to know about WRIB?
It’s an emotional experience that we are looking to connect with others through: a place that’s familiar yet different, a place that’s comforting yet thought provoking.
Can you give us a run-down of the other projects that you have coming up?
Together, or separately?
Together:
I’ve been blessed to be able to create music with Peter for years…so anything is possible, but for now we are just reveling in this release.
Separately:
Peter is currently working on an experimental/minimalistic project with his wife called Two Bird Sky. I believe that Peter still plays lap steel with some friends in a cool Austin-based indie band called Sad Accordions. Good stuff for sure.
As for me, the new L.S.Underground – PTSD was just released. I play guitars, lap steel, keyboards, and was one of the engineers. I just finished mixing a 4-song ep with Paravell, and I was engineer and play guitars on that. Paravell should be out soon. Michael (Knott) and I are working to finish off his next solo release entitled Even Star. I’m also still working on a sophomore Hidden From Blackout release and an instrumental keyboard-based project composed as background music, but I’m not sure on the name as of yet.
The following images were not in the print article:
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