The last few years have seen Calgary, Canada-born, New York City-seasoned, and now UK-based song-smith Rich Ragany build up quite a reputation with his various bands of rock ‘n’ roll trailblazers, The Role Models, The Loyalties, and most recently, Rich Ragany & The Digressions.
Rich’s songs have won over the hearts of many, most recently with the critically acclaimed albums “Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache” and “What We Do (To Not Let Go),” which gained considerable airplay on BBC Introducing and rave reviews and features from Classic Rock, Vive Le Rock, Louder Than War, Powerplay, and more.
Following the critically acclaimed ‘You Can Get Dark With Me’ release (our review is below) , Rich has just put out a new video for ‘Sierra Bonita’ taken from the album as well.
Order link: musicglue.com/squidger
Our review of the album can be found here:
Over the years, Rich has shared stages with the likes of Ramones, Bad Brains, SNFU, Rammstein, Oasis, The Lemonheads, Warrior Soul, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Whitfield Crane, Ginger Wildheart, The Professionals, Steve Conte (New York Dolls), and has packed out venues in his own right with each band.
All this experience and resulting attention has led to signing a deal with Barrel And Squidger Records (known for releasing music by CJ Wildheart, Massive Wagons, and members of Status Quo and Sex Pistols) for his brand-new album titled “You Can Get Dark With Me.”
Rich describes the new album:
“After the big dramatic production of The Digressions’ albums, I wanted to create something more personal… a world of its own. So, I decided to deconstruct to reconstruct. Every song is a mix of home recording, from the first day of writing each song, and proper studio work, to keep a real personal ‘straight from the moment of inspiration’ feel… but with a sonically and emotionally expanded spirit as well. Guitars were recorded on the fly in my bathroom as I wrote, in real-time. Mostly acoustic, later taken and manipulated to sound ‘electric’ (inspired by the Stones’ similar sonic experiments on ‘Street Fighting Man’). Backing vocals were done on the spot… some of these literally recorded on a phone mic in my bathroom. I then took all this to my trusted friend and talented producer, Andy Brook, and added big studio-grade bass and drums via the talented duo of Simon Maxwell and Ricky McGuire… and experimented some more. Then JUNO and Canadian Country Music Award-winning producer (and another old friend and brother) Russell Broom got involved in a few tracks, most notably ‘SIERRA BONITA.’ Travelling back to my early home of Calgary and recording with him really brought things full circle. So… songs that started out so simple and solitary had travelled quite far. In its own world… reaching out now.”
Order link: musicglue.com/squidger
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