[Guest Room] RICHARD X. HEYMAN

Ladies and Gentlemen!

This blog is pleased to offer it's readers a space where the artist - the main force behind the magic of music - can develop and exercise your memory on subjects suggested by our blog exclusively for him.

To inaugurate this section, me and my friend Rafael Paulino, who will take part on this new venture, invited none other than Richard X. Heyman. If you don't know him yet, Richard is a fabulous american multi-instrumentalist, who summarizes in his music, elements of the sixties and the seventies, creating a unique sound, filled with memorable harmonies.

...and now... with you... Mr. Richard X. Heyman!!!


Sérgio & Rafael to Richard X. Heyman: New York '"through a rock musician´s eye", from the 70s until now.

"I grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, which was a forty-five minute drive from New York City.  The rock music scene in New Jersey in the early 70’s was, for the most part, based on playing covers of popular songs so your band could get gigs at local top-40 bars.  So it was a real culture shock going into New York to hear groups at the burgeoning CBGB.  First off, these New York bands were doing their own material, and what some of them may have lacked in musical prowess, they made up for with originality and exuberance."

"In 1976, I moved to Washington, DC where I landed a gig playing drums for guitarist Link Wray.  At the same time, inspired by the bands I saw at CBGB, I started a group called The Rage, doing my own songs, in which I moved up front playing guitar and singing lead.  In ’78, I went out to Los Angeles, where I had a steady job playing drums in a country-rock band called Cooper Dodge."

"I returned to New York in the early 80’s and began my solo career in earnest.  There was a vibrant music scene happening in the city – Max’s Kansas City, CBGB, Tramps, Trax, the Mudd Club, the Peppermint Lounge, Private’s, Club 80, The Ritz, The Bottom Line were all going strong. Many of the songs that my band performed in those early days ended up on my first couple of albums."

"Lots of now-classic bands were on their way up in the early 80’s, and Nancy and I got to see many of them up close.  We were yards away from Bono when U2 played at The Ritz.  In fact, many soon-to-be-big acts played The Ritz – Prince, The Pretenders, Squeeze, The Bangles, The Eurythmics, REM and many more. Marshall Crenshaw had a big local buzz and we saw a few of his shows at CBGB and Trax. A year before they became international stars, The Police played CBGB."

"That scene has come and gone, and new pockets of music have cropped up in other neighborhoods, but I have fond memories of those years, pushing our amps and drums home through the streets of the East Village at 3:00 in the morning after playing a set at CBGB.  One night we saw Billy Joel filming the video for “Uptown Girl” at a gas station on the Bowery, right across the street from the club.  Those were great times."

Sérgio & Rafael to Richard X. Heyman: Changing your style: have you ever felt inclined to follow a certain fashion in music to get a commercial break through?

"There’s an old saying that goes “nothing is created in a vacuum.”  I can’t speak for other songwriters and musicians, but I think everyone is influenced to some degree by what’s happening around them".

"Of course, the choices and preferences of what you like and admire are big factors in the outcome of the creative process.  For me, I was surrounded by the music of the Beatles, Dylan, Stones, Byrds, Kinks, Motown, the Who, the Beach Boys and many others".

"I also listened to a lot of Broadway musicals and classical as well as old and new jazz, blues and R&B.  All that said, I don’t believe I ever intentionally tried to jump on any bandwagon or trend in hopes of cashing in. I always wrote and played music because I love it, especially the emotion that a set of chords and melody can evoke".

Cornerstone (official video)

Artist: Richard X. Heyman

Song: Cornerstone (faixa 1)

Album: Cornerstone

Word: Richard X. Heyman

Year: 1998

Label: Permanent Press

http://www.richardxheyman.com/