Rick Monroe - Interview [D1 Music]

Valdyr: When did you make the conscious decision to plunge full throttle into the life of a rock star?

Rick: I’ve always wanted to play! I guess, looking back, I would say that when I was little my mom had a lot of records. A really eclectic collection. I was so surprised to see such a variety of music. It really moved me to do something similar.

Valdyr: Like many independent artists, you've fought your own way up, including releasing your first two albums on your own label, Divorce Records. How rewarding has it been to create your own label?

Rick: It’s always been kinda weird. Interesting things always seem to happen to me. I never meant to start the label. I went in to start recording a live album, and that’s when I met people like Keith and Matt. Bam, things kept rolling…started really pushing it, got all the air play, got distribution, and then I get a publicist. We go from barely have anything in stores, and then I have a spot on “Entertainment Tonight”. We were landing all these TV shows and radio shows, had a ton of press, but not really selling in a lot of stores. We were unable to fully capitalize by getting the records out. On the next record, it was the same thing. I started hanging out with the Texas Tornadoes and ended up recording in their studio, then started doing USO shows. I toured everywhere with that...Russia, Cuba, Vietnam, all over the world, and that led to a lot of interesting opportunities. There was this woman at the time doing “Voice of America” and the show “Border Crossings” which was trying to stop propaganda during the Cold War. The goal of the show was to provide free radio for people with only once source of news. I remember realizing that I had millions of people listening in on that show. We even got calls from China! We had a few Chinese ask me if I was planning on writing a song for the Olympics! I was thinking, “What is this translator saying?”
But because of that show, she liked the way I handled myself, so I ended up doing a private show for Gorbachev. And I’m there, doing vodka shots and trying to sing in Russian with him. Seriously! Later I was invited to Russia; at that time many of the political figures were big on orphanages, so I was asked to do a tour throughout the orphanages in Russia. We just kinda stumbled into things like that. I went to Vietnam too. It’s crazy that I can just look around and say “Hey, you’re the PM on Burma...can you pass the tongs?” I actually went to the gym with him once. Then I realized that I was hanging out with someone who had made terrible human rights violations…it’s crazy how things turn out.

Valdyr: You've worked with many notable artists on your previous albums, including Keith Howland (Chicago), Lance Morrison (Don Henley, Rod Stewart) and Matt Laug (Alanis Morissette). How has it been like working with these guys, and how did it come about?

Rick: A lot of them were friends of mine. Like Bruce Howe – he does the music for South Park now. I remember watching Ren & Stumpy and him saying “Man, if only I could do something as cool as that!” I just knew a good group of guys. They’ve all gone on to do amazing things. It’s sheer luck.

Valdyr: Is there anyone on that caliber on the new album?

Rick: Some of the guys helped me with the tracking in Nashville. Micheal Rhodes, for instance. He had just stopped playing with Sting the night before he flew up. But I also ended up bringing my record home and had my guys work on it, too. We wanted to see if we could keep the quality up ourselves, and we did.

Valdyr: Who would you like to work with in the future, and why?

Rick: Oh, I wanna work with Nelly! Just kidding. I dunno, there are so many great musicians out there. My wife’s telling me to mention Gretchen Wilson. I would love to work with Gretchen Wilson. She’s phenomenal. I came home one night and was just ranting and raving to my wife about her. Leann Rhymes is great, too - polished as a gym. But I really love the guttural singing from the heart.

Valdyr: You’ve mentioned that you’ve played virtually everywhere; there's a lengthy list on your site about all the countries you've toured, which we now know that’s because of your work with the USO. But such extensive touring is quite a feat for an independent artist. From experience, what advice would you give to artists who'd like to follow in your footsteps?

Rick: You just have to think outside the box. Follow every lead until it works. So much comes across the desk, and in my case, it was usually the extremely bizarre ones that worked out. I’d look into something, and the next thing you know I’m opening for a big festival in Arizona. Then, my brother called the USO, and at that time they just happened to need a band. I’d tell bands to really pursue non-traditional methods and not be afraid to throw yourself out there.

Valdyr: You've performed at some VERY notable audiences, including the US / Vietnam Embassy in honor of the re-opening of diplomatic relationships between the US and Vietnam, as well as for Mikhail Gorbachev, the former President of the Soviet Union. Both have strong political implications; do you consider your music to have any kind of political or moral message that's important to the world today?

Rick: Not at all. Pretty much to me, politics and art are separate. Some people combine them, but I’m just trying to make people to feel. Most of my music is focused on the good and the happy, because life is pretty crappy to begin with. Maybe in that sense that brought me over to those countries. After traveling so much, I’ve seen that no matter where you go, people are all the same. Everybody feels.

Valdyr: What can you tell us about your upcoming tour? Where will you be going, and why should everyone make plans to see your live show?

Rick: Europe first – Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and England that I know of. We’ll be gone for about a month, starting in May. I can’t wait to go and see the European version of line dancing! There’s a US tour in the works. We’re mainly doing some festivals first, but then there will be a more solid tour for the record release – some sort of promo tour, probably mid to late June. Our single is doing really well, especially in Europe. A lot of country artists don’t look to Europe or elsewhere; they just look to Texas, the south, etc. But I really want to keep my music global. I actually just got an invite to Argentina in fact.
As far as live shows go, I give everything I have - energy, a good edge - we come off really clean. Some bands you might be disappointed by the sound not being same as the album. But for us we match it, if not even beat the album quality. We’re fun! We try to create a real party atmosphere.

Valdyr: What would like to tell your fans about your new album?

Rick: Buy it! I think it’s something they’ll dig. I hope they enjoy listening to it as much as I did making it. That’s how I feel about my music. I’m more proud of this than anything I’ve ever done.

Valdyr: In checking out your site, I saw that you had a page dedicated to your truck, which just rocks. So tell us about the Bronco.

Rick: It’s pretty cool! I got it on Ebay in fact. This dude was broke and sold it dirt cheap. This truck was in pieces. Every time I work on that truck, I send him pictures. Lately he’s been stationed in Iraq. He says he can’t believe how much I’ve done. In fact, I just got a letter from him saying he’s back and safe. He’s coming to see it! He was a gunner on security for the convoys, so he was always in a kill zone. I was really happy to see that he came back safely. He’s always excited to see what I’ve done with the truck.

Valdyr: How did you become associated with D1, and what do you hope will come of this distribution alliance?

Rick: Well, we came together through my manager, Harlan, who has known Jay for many, many years. He was talking to Lou, and found that Jay was looking for country singer for the label. These days, country is a very cool thing, and people are really getting it. And yeah, I wanted a distribution deal. They seem to think it’s something good. And I want to get records in the market place. I’m excited, they’re excited, so it’s the beginning of a great relationship I’m sure. I dig Jay’s work, especially the mixing he’s done for some others. It’s cool. And you know, I’d rather be the unique guy. I know seeing a cowboy on the front of D1 probably raised a lot of eyebrows! But if I went to Nashville and got on one of those labels, I’d have to stand in line to be noticed. Again, the cool thing about music is the diversity. With things today like MySpace, people list their music style and it’s everywhere from 50 Cent to Orgy to Tim McGraw! People are diverse, and it shows.

Valdyr: This was a great interview, and you’ve definitely got a lot of awesome things in store. What else would you like to make the fans aware of?

Rick: We’re getting ready to shoot a new video for our first single, “Remember the Music”. The song is getting pretty good airplay on secondary stations, but we’ll really be working on pushing that towards major market stations soon!

Valdyr: Thanks so much for the interview, and good luck!