Meet The Ricos

Man this week has been moving a little too fast for my taste. Let’s slow things down with some hypnotic enchanting strumming courtesy of The Ricos. This wavy trio delivers delicious psychedelic rocky tunes with a tinge of slowcore. What you are left with is a lot of fuzz and a lot of feelings.

In our latest interview we chat about their recent release “Spirit State” as well as some other fun stuff. Check it out!

A self-portrait by The Ricos

Would You Rather

have two cats for feet or two very small wheels for feet? Also please tell us why.

Joseph B. Purcell: I'm pretty torn. At first, I feel like having not one but two cat feet would be great mainly for companionship's sake... but I think it'd also have potential to get a little old after a bit. I'm not really sure how they'd feel about spending all that time with me either... On the other hand, I have a feeling those wheels could really come in handy. If anything, it sounds like a pair of Heelys you'd never have to take off.

Connor Wynne: Two small cats... potential for companions and if I train them well enough I could move faster.

Dan: C'mon, wheels for sure. I was trying to attach wheels to my shoes long before Heelys came around. 

Some questions with The Ricos

Of the three [cities outside Philadelphia you performed in last summer] which has your favorite music scene Manhattan Brooklyn, or Asbury Park? Why?

Joseph B. Purcell: They were all awesome. The folks at Asbury Lanes treated us extremely well during that show we played in Asbury Park... especially since that was our first time ever performing there! It was pretty weird being given a spotlight like that while still feeling like just a drop in a barrel with all the live music that's constantly going on there. I think Rebelution was playing a few blocks away right while we were. (laughs)

Looking back, our show at Bowery Electric in Manhattan was pretty cool too. Dan and I have played there before in a previous band so it was nice going in already having a feel for the room. It was sort of surreal playing somewhere with so much history though; we were performing a block away from CBGB's... which is now some trendy rock-themed retailer. Seeing all the gentrification like that in the city is a downer but regardless it's always a pleasure being there. If I had to pick a favorite show/scene though, I'm gonna go with Brooklyn. We shared the stage with this artist based in the area named Tobias; they've been making some cool lofi/alternative stuff we really like. We also had our friend ZekeUltra - who just put out an excellent rap album called (The Power Of) The Will Of Man through our UK buds' label Home Assembly Music - come up and perform with us as well... It was just an overall great night.

Connor Wynne: Probably Brooklyn for me. Asbury is cool too. Manhattan is kind of weird to play music in.

Dan: It's really hard to say... those were a great couple of days we had last summer. I'd have to agree with Joe about playing at Bowery Electric; we have played there in the past and it feels comfortable. The energies in both Brooklyn and Asbury felt more tied to the music scene, though they were all great in their own way.

How do you keep the creative momentum of your project going during quarantine?

Joseph B. Purcell: It's been pretty tough. Luckily we've had a lot of the groundwork covered before shit hit the fan recently... We recorded an additional EP's worth of material around the time we finished up/released Spirit State so now it's just a matter of putting the finishing touches on those songs and getting them out there. I also spent this past fall in London recording demos for our first full-length album so when the time comes to really start working on that the blueprint will already be right there in front of us. All in all, it's been challenging trying to meet up to work on this stuff together given COVID-19's recent social restrictions but we've been finding ways to stay creative on our own time.

Connor Wynne: I've been making a lot of electronic music/beats, which is how I keep creative since it's easy to do from anywhere with just a laptop.

Dan: I've just been playing the drums a lot lately; it's definitely the best instrument to play when you're angry. I've also been writing super emo songs that would rival even Gerard Way in his prime.

If you had a magic walkie talkie that could only talk to one person dead or alive who would it be?

Joseph B. Purcell: (laughs) I don't know where to begin. Recently I've been reading the novelization of 24 Hour Party People - a biopic based on the life and endeavors of Factory Records co-founder and celebrated UK TV personality Tony Wilson. The book was written by Wilson himself a few years before he passed away in 2007; it has a lot of cool insight on starting a label and his experiences working with artists from their roster like Joy Division/New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Section 25, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, The Happy Mondays and more. I'd love to be able to pick his brain on managing egos, balancing creative and more conventional kinds of work, etc.

Connor Wynne: An older farmer from thousands of years ago... or maybe Frank Ocean.

Dan: My head immediately goes to two very different places. First I thought MLK so we can get some advice on everything that is happening right now. On the other hand, I thought Donald Trump just so I could tell him to go fuck himself. 

What is your stance on canned margaritas?

Joseph B. Purcell: Great question. I wouldn't really go out of my way for one but if someone was kind enough to offer me one of theirs I imagine I'd have no issue enjoying it.

Connor Wynne: Not for me personally... I can see people getting into them at a party, but a marg is just three ingredients.

Dan: Put it in my hand and I'll drink it. 

What is the collaborative process like between all of you?

Joseph B. Purcell: It hasn't been as democratic as I'd care to admit but I'm currently working on improving that. I think that's mainly because this whole thing started as somewhat of a personal project of mine. I started performing/recording music under the moniker "Rico" in high school, so once others got involved we made it plural and went from there. Since the majority of what we're working with now is based on material that dates back as far as then, the process has remained the same for the most part. I'll write a song on an acoustic and/or electric guitar, add lyrics (or at least general melodies) then share what I have with the band as an attempt to flesh it out and finish it. There's also been some rare cases where I'll hear a song in a dream, then wake up and go from there trying to recreate what I heard...

Since Dan and I have played together before, we've had little to no issue finding a common ground sonically. He's a genuinely talented musician too so that makes matters a lot easier for both of us! It wasn't until Connor joined in on bass though that the group really began to develop as a whole. Seeing that he's stemming from more of a producer background then Dan and me combined, Connor's really played a huge part in the studio when it comes to choosing/using microphones, mixing, mastering and so on. To make a long story short, I've been (and still am) a bit of a control freak with all this but I plan to let things become more collaborative organically once we start working on the album.

If you could compare your music to one dish which would it be and why?

Joseph B. Purcell: I'm not sure if it's just because I've been making a lot of it recently, but I feel like our music is a lot like soup. We start with a generally uninteresting, watery base then try our best to make it better by adding whatever other ingredients and seasoning we have at our disposal.

Connor Wynne: Ravioli. Dense but comes in many forms... it can be seasoned any which way.  It's also kind of sloppy overall as a dish. 

Dan: Hoagie. A lot of different things coming together that are similar yet different... and they're always good. 

Where did you find the footage for the music video of "True”. How did you go about picking the right footage to match the song?

Joseph B. Purcell: I'm gonna need a minute to try and remember since I actually made that video a year or so ago essentially just for the fun of it. We decided to finally put it out to help promote the release of the Spirit State cassette tapes that are available now via Utica Records - a Greater Philadelphia-based label we basically started ourselves with the help of a few friends. Around that time though, I was exploring the Prelinger Archives online to try and find old public domain footage for some other video stuff I was working on. Now that I think of it, a lot of it came together coincidentally in a weird, subconscious way. To offer some context, the Spirit State release artwork is actually an old paint-by-numbers painting my Great Aunt Peg did decades ago. I've found that thing sort of haunting for years and decided to use it for the EP (and also bring it onstage for some shows we've played in the past). It wasn't until the video was basically all put together that I realized the angel in it looks almost exactly like a younger version of my Great Aunt Peg... like, she was there the whole time.

Like the song (and EP in general), the video deals with similar themes of passing on, right and wrong along with my incomplete understanding of all three. I thought the old lab footage was pretty inspiring in a strange way and held some similarities with some of the subject matter of the songs... taking a closer look at small things, finding life and answers through them and whatever.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Joseph B. Purcell: With racial tensions recently reaching a breaking point, I think it's critical to not only speak out but create concrete efforts and action against the socioeconomic inequality we've been experiencing in this country. Whether it's accomplished by attending rallies and protests demanding justice for marginalized demographics like POC's, feminist groups and the LBGTQ community or simply voting in local elections and donating to community bail funds and organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and The Bail Project, we must band together and educate ourselves to successfully combat systemic corruption. We need change. We're not going to achieve it simply by posting or tweeting about it. We need action!

Connor Wynne: Black Lives Matter. Defund the police.

Dan: Fuck the police.