VicFriendly Rich, Canada’s legendary songsmith of dark and deranged folk songs, returns with a new and unexpected release: Friendly Rich Sings The Nihilist Spasm Band, out July 1st, Canada Day. A longtime friend and supporter of the pioneering noise group, Friendly Rich gathered a cast of top-tier improvisers in New Orleans to pay tribute to one of the country’s most innovative and iconoclastic bands. “I traveled to New Orleans with my good pal, guitarist Nichol S. Robertson, to team up with heavyweights Klaas Hubner, Michael Ward-Bergeman, Simon Lott, Drew Seigler, and Alex Puzzle,” says Rich. “Why travel to the USA to honour Canadian noise makers? Because this band of Canadian and American musicians are some of the finest noise musicians around, and we got to spend two days making something very special.” The resulting sessions were raw, joyful, and chaotic, in keeping with the spirit of the Nihilist Spasm Band, a collective that has challenged musical norms since forming in London, Ontario in 1965.
Listen here: https://idpl.lnk.to/okB8hH
Friendly Rich’s connection to the NSB goes back decades, having booked them at his Brampton Indie Arts Festival in the early 2000s. “They’ve always been super supportive of my work, and when this idea came to me to honour them with a recording, they were fully supportive, which means the world,” he explains. With Klaas Hubner behind the mix and production, the project found not just momentum, but heart. “It’s champions such as Klaas and all my pals on this record who keep me creative and smiling!”
“I thought it was a cool idea to drop a record without much notice on Canada Day, to celebrate our distinct way of making art here,” says Rich. “I pull a lot of inspiration from those guys in my own artistic practice, and I feel really thankful to have had the opportunity to bring Nichol S. Robertson to New Orleans with me to connect with these great musicians and make something truly wild. I hope you enjoy this new offering.”
Friendly Rich is a composer from Brampton, Canada, best known for his work scoring three seasons of MTV’s The Tom Green Show, his long-running project The Lollipop People, and his eclectic label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. His recent European collaborations with Hazelwood Records have brought him to stages across New York, Montreal, Berlin, Vienna, and Prague. Rich also recently completed a PhD in Music Education from the University of Toronto, where he focused on musical playgrounds as a tool for community development. With Friendly Rich Sings The Nihilist Spasm Band, Rich tips his hat to a Canadian legacy of noise, invention, and artistic rebellion. “One can either produce,” he says, “or become produce.”
D I S C O V E R
Website: http://www.friendlyrich.com
Bandcamp: https://friendlyrich.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendlyrich
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendlyrich
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Friendly_Rich
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/friendlyrich
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1SWneDpUI2N0Bz46xl1cg5?si=zo59VzLcR9mAZr6F_m9ksg
