|
Boston Beats: Please state
your name, age and occupation for the record please.
Dwight Ritcher: Okay, my name is Dwight Ritcher. I am 30 years
old and I’m a musician.
BB: How did you get into music
and when did you learn to play?
Dwight: I grew up in a musical family. My grandfather had a big
band in the ‘40s and would play a sride style piano around the house at
a lot of family parties. I started out playing the drums when I was
about 17 years old, and played around with that for
a while. I actually made my living in the summers working with
community theatre groups and stuff playing like little pit
orchestras. Around that time I was also playing some piano too and I
kept up with that. Even now I play, but not as my main instrument. Then
the guitar came later. That’s my main instrument now.
BB: When did you write your
first song?
Dwight: I wrote my first song probably at 19 or 20,
working with some friends. I grew up in New Jersey and I think it was
probably down there at some point. I was real interested in the blues. I
grew up with my mom playing country music and of course my grandfather
played in the big band. I always liked Michael Jackson and Run DMC; they
were real popular when I grew up. Yeah, probably around that time,
probably around 20.
BB: When did you move to
Boston from New Jersey?
Dwight: I left Jersey about I guess 15 years ago and went up to
Vermont where I went to school. I ended up playing up there in a group.
I played a Fender Rhodes piano and a high hat with my foot and we had a
guitar player in the group. We played all over Vermont with that group.
We were in the Vermont Blues and Jazz festival. We were a pretty popular
act up there for a while. It was sort of a real rough blues act. So I
did that and then I moved to Boston for 4 ½ years and now I live in New
York.
 BB:
How long have you been in New York?
Dwight: I’ve been in New York for just about 9 to 10 months and
am up here usually two weeks of the month. So I’m sort of between the
two places.
BB: What are your musical
influences and what’s your favorite album?
Dwight: Let me think about that for a second. Musical influences
are pretty varied. I really like a lot of the old blues players. Albert
King, B.B. King I am also crazy about singers, Patsy Cline, Willie
Nelson. Al Green, Donnie Hathaway, Johnny Cash. For instrumentalists,
I’d say for guitar players I’ve always been a fan of Grant Green, the
more jazz type guitar playing. Sam Cooke is another one for singers. I
like a lot of different people.
BB: Some of your stuff sounds
a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Is he an influence?
Dwight: I love his playing. I’m a big fan of his and I’m a big
fan of his brother, Jimmy Vaughn. And T-Bone Walker, another Texas guy.
I like his playing a lot as well.
BB: How would you describe
your style?
Dwight: I think my style is pretty stripped down. I try not to
play too much more than I can hear in my head. I think I have a little
bit of an unusual sound because I can’t play with a pick. I taught
myself how to play guitar so I just play with my thumb. I think it sort
of gives me a cool sound when it works. I broke my wrist a bunch of
times, so I couldn’t really get it; it just didn’t feel right to hold a
pick.
RECORDING
BB: What has been your
experience in recording music?
Dwight: In terms of not being a sideman in other
people’s projects, I’ve recorded three records. One when I was in my
early twenties, which was a blues record. I had a manager at the time,
and a shoestring budget. I think we had $5,000 to work with, a couple of
cartons of cigarettes and a couple of bottles of whiskey. Five days
later we had a record. I didn’t even really know what was going on at
that time. For the last two records Drive Around Town and Radio Man we
had a bigger budget and a studio focusing on my original songs. I love working in the studio. I just
like the whole creative process. I like trying to get myself relaxed,
getting into the zone, working with the fellas, and trying to make an
album that has a whole statement to it, a feel to the whole album. Even
though some of my songs I’ve put together I think are a little bit
different. I just hope at the end when we are done with it, it all fits
and it sort of captures one certain theme.
BB: What do you do to get your
best stuff down?
Dwight: I just get real familiar with the material, and go over
it as much as I can. Then when it’s time for the studio, I try not to do
too many takes. If we can’t get the song within a couple of takes, you
know, with a couple of overdubs, I try to sit on things for a while. I
try and let whatever happens in the studio happen pretty organically. I
try not to force anything because that gets me out of the zone. We just
try to keep things relaxed but focused and that’s pretty much it. I keep
a quiet mellow environment, have a couple of drinks. Whatever it takes
that day to get the music the way we want. If it doesn’t work that day
we might work on some
technical sides of things and come back. I don’t try to force it, it
won’t happen that way.
BB: Do you prefer the studio
or playing out?
Dwight: I like both for different reasons. I like the studio
because you’re making something that is permanent. If you can capture
it, and get in that zone and capture a good feeling and get your songs
down then you’ve got a finished product you can be happy with. I like
playing live for the opposite reason, because it’s everything completely
in the moment and you can improvise with your voice, the guitar and the
band. You never know what’s going to happen. You might have a good gig
or you might not, but you try to just put it out there and see what
happens.
PLAYING OUT
BB: So what makes for a good
show?
Dwight: It’s a great audience and having all the guys relaxed and
having that interplay. Having the audience open to all the different
sides. So maybe some high energy tunes, maybe something more mellow and
just having everyone be up for taking some risks. Maybe they will be
willing to come along for the ride as long as you’re putting yourself
out and being honest for them. That’s cool, It’s nice to play somewhere
where people really pay attention to the music and are interested and want
to make a night of you and them.
BB: What do you think has been
your best show so far?
Dwight: Well, I have had a couple of good ones. We had a really
good one this spring at the Lizard Lounge, and another at the Living
Room down in the East Village. Both of those were good sounds and good
audiences. We were just able to feed off each other and get the exchange
going. Those two were the two that stuck out in my mind.
BB: Do you have any pre or
post show rituals?
Dwight: Yeah, I mean I try to relax. I usually might have a drink
and just try and settle back. Get my head quiet so I can get on stage. I
might do some vocal warm-ups and try to have the guitar in my hands for
a half hour or so before we go on. After the show I just go talk to
everybody and hang out. That’s pretty much it. I try to do warm-ups
every show but I don’t necessarily get that to happen every time.
 BB:
What’s the preferred drink before the show?
Dwight: Anything on the rocks. But just one, I’m not a big
drinker. I’m not out there boozing before the show. Maybe when I was
younger but not anymore.
BB: Do you do any interesting
covers?
Dwight: Yeah, we do a couple obscure ones, but we don’t really do
too many covers anymore. That’s a cool question. Yeah, Tyrone Davis, we
do a song by him. He’s an R & B singer. We do a song by him called
Change My Mind, which is a cool song. We used to do a cover of a song by
Al Green called Tomorrow’s Dream, which was a B-side of one of his
recordings that my friend Dan gave me. I don’t even know where he got
it. I thought it might be interesting to do one of his obscure ones, so
we used to do that. If it feels good every once and a while we will play
Crosstown Traffic. We also use to do Give Me the Night by George Benson.
Not too many covers, mostly original stuff. Those were the ones I could
think of off the top of my head.
THE BOSTON MUSIC SCENE
BB: What are some of you
favorite places to play?
Dwight: I love the Paradise. I did a solo show opening for a John
Butler there about a month or two ago. He’s been doing really well. He
is from Australia. He was on the David Letterman show a couple of weeks
ago, he’s blowing up. Another favorite is the Lizard Lounge. I’ve played there and have had a couple duo shows with my
girlfriend Nicole at the Toad. Some early shows and the last one we did
which was last Thursday. It’s too small to bring into the band now but
that place, that room, sounds great. They have a lot of really cool music
there and a lot of different acts. I was there last night and caught a
country act. They have lots of cool stuff there so I think the room
sounds good. Johnny D’s, too.
BB: Who are some of your
favorite people to play with? I noticed that there were some tracks out
there with Red Beans.
Dwight: Yeah, my first record called On Your Way Up, that was a
blues record with Red Beans. That was me playing guitar, and my current
bass player Greg Paraskos playing guitar. Gretchen Anderson, the six
foot one Swedish bass player, who played bass for us. She is one of my
good friends, she just had a baby and got out of it. I love working with
my girlfriend, Nicole Nelson, she comes and sings backup. I do some
shows with her band too. She is a super singer and an up and coming
singer songwriter. She is really getting some great material of her own
together. I’ve got to sit and play with a lot of people. I’ve definitely
had some fun sitting and playing music with Tim Gearan. He is a regular
guy on Mondays at the Toad. Toni Lynn Washington, I did a gig with her
and Nicole a little while ago which was fun. I just like to play with as
many people as I can, and although we can’t have them on the gig all the
time, it’s just fun to get together. You get a high after a gig with
somebody else or if they can come by and sit in. Everyone here has
different ideas and different approaches and that’s just cool.
BB: Are there any local bands
that you’re into?
Dwight: I love the Tim Gearan Band. They play Mondays at the
Toad. I had a kid open for me called Ely “Paper Boy” Reed, and he was
cool. He is sort of like old ‘50s and 60’s R & B he loves that stuff.
Some obscure stuff, Clarence Carter, Brook Benton and OV Wright. He’s
into stuff like that, and he opened at one of our shows. He was cool,
he’s working really hard.
IN CLOSING
BB: If you could play on stage
with anyone alive who would it be?
Dwight: Wow! I have to give you just one?
BB: No, you can give a
couple.
Dwight: Wow, this is really, really hard. I don’t know, there’d
be a couple of different angles to take with that. I would be psyched to
play with B.B., that would be great to do a gig with him, just because I
think he’s such a talent. I would be psyched to play a gig with Tom Waits. I
really like his stuff a lot and I think he’s an interesting character.
We would probably have a bunch of fun. It would be fun to do a gig with
the White Stripes. I get a kick out of their band. I think they are
very, very cool.
BB: If you could be in a
profession other than your own what would it be?
Dwight: I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.
BB: What do you hope to be
doing in music in a few years?
Dwight: I’d like to get management again, and be playing. I’d be
happy with doing 100+ shows a year, and be playing in bigger venues,
theatres. We do some pretty big venues, but it would be nice to increase
our fan base, reach some more people. Work on some new records, get a
chance to play with other people. I’m going to be in a film coming up.
We shot on Sunday, it’s called “Where’s the Music At.” It’s a
documentary of about twelve unsigned bands down in New York City. David
Bowie is going to be on it, Pete Townsend, some others, giving their
commentary about things. I’m still sticking around and working on our
music, and hoping we are going to get a break so we can get ourselves to
even bigger audiences. It’s fun doing festivals, too. It would be nice
to do more of those. I don’t see myself on MTV or anything, I see my
niche somewhere in between. You see a lot of groups out there that have
done really, really well and they’ve done it a little more grass roots
and have had more freedom that way.
BB: Traveling the country
playing 600-person rooms, shows like that.
Dwight: That would be cool, yeah, that would be nice. I really
like playing theatres too. That would be fun as well. It would be great
to be on a level where I had the artistic freedom to do all the stuff
that’s in my head because I physically do not have the budget for the
record. I have gotten pretty thrifty and crafty at stretching those out,
but there are a lot more chances I’d take if I could. If I had the money
to be able to take those chances, that would be very nice.
BB: What do you hope people
will get out of your music?
Dwight: I hope people will get a strong feeling from it and they
will be able to relate to it, however that is to them, and be open to
how I am trying to express myself and add to that however they may.
BB: What advice do you have
for aspiring musicians?
Dwight: Keep your ears open to every kind of music, because so
many people have so many good ideas. Don’t be afraid to like what you
like. If you are a country musician but you happen to like Eddie Van
Halen who plays some great shit, it’s alright to like that. Follow
whatever it is that feels good to you, and don’t be afraid. Don’t put
any boundaries on yourself, because that sucks.
To learn more about Dwight Ritcher, visit his website
at
http://www.dwightritcherband.com/
*Pictures courtesy of
http://www.dwightritcherband.com/
and AVS Photography
cliffb95@aol.com
|
