Richard X. Heyman - vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keys
Influences
Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Zombies, The Incredible String Band, The Who, Motown, The Beach Boys, Todd Rundgren, The Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Phil Spector, Leonard Bernstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Procol Harum, Steve Winwood
Sounds Like
The Beatles, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Who, The Zombies, The Rolling Stones, Emmet Rhodes, The Kinks
“Think back on it all” - goes the opening line of Kenyon Walls, the first track on Richard X. Heyman’s new debut-album-that-never-was Actual Sighs, and an apt way to begin a musical journey through Richard’s past, present and future. One might cheekily observe that it was twenty years ago today (or rather, this year) – 1986 – that Richard X. Heyman released his first indie disc, Actual Size, a collection of six of his finest songs recorded on an 8-track Tascam machine in a home studio, the same one on which Richard would subsequently record his classic album Living Room!!
Living Room!! took on a life of its own after Richard was described as “an undiscovered treasure” in a Rolling Stone review of the album, leading to his signing with Cypress/A&M, who re-released Living Room!! in ‘89, and then with Sire/Warner Bros., who released his second album Hey Man! in ‘90, which Stereo Review cited as Album of the Month. Cornerstone came out in ‘98, garnering stacks of praise from the music press, a featured interview in Goldmine magazine, as well as another Album of the Month in Stereo Review. 2001's Heyman, Hoosier & Herman, with Peter Noone crooning the track Hoosier, had Rollingstone.com rave “hooks galore and ebullient melodies, and lyrics revealing the emotional power that pop can pack into its brevity”. Richard’s fourth full-length CD, Basic Glee was called “one of the finest records of 2002” (Listener Magazine), his “most tuneful and soulful set yet” (Stereo Review Sound & Vision), “impossibly catchy” (The Illinois Times). Said The Chicago Tribune: “An exemplary tunesmith – Heyman creates something fresh from his influences rather than parroting them.” Richard’s fifth, Rightovers, was released to the RXH fan club only in ‘03, and via the internet to the general public in ‘04. Said the All Music Guide: “at his best, Heyman’s level of craft actually approaches that of the Fab Four…a listen to Heyman’s fifth album, Rightovers, offers plenty of evidence that he is truly one of the past, present and future masters of smart power pop…Rightovers is just as strong and every bit as enjoyable as one of Heyman’s ‘real’ albums…anyone who loves a great melody and a killer hook will fall in love with this disc.”
A prolific songwriter, Richard has a backlog of songs that have never gotten their moment in the sun – not through any dearth of confidence in their quality, but more due to lack of space, time, money, etc. There are pages of lyrics in Richard’s files for which (alas) Richard can no longer recall the tunes and cabinets full of cassettes in the Heyman household – “work tapes” – with snippets of melody which have never been turned into full-fledged songs. But then there are the ones that have lived on in both Richard’s and wife/bassist Nancy’s musical memories, many of them written in the Actual Size era, that have survived the test of time -- the ones whose moment has finally come. Richard felt it was time to give these early works -- plus the original six tracks from Actual Size --another shot at the limelight. The royal RXH treatment. Altogether, they comprise Actual Sighs, Richard’s would-have-been-first album.
So here you have it, the resuscitated, rejuvenated Actual Size, now rechristened Actual Sighs, boasting twenty songs – re-recordings of the original six plus fourteen more newly recorded tunes. Produced by Richard and engineered by Nancy, the tracks were mixed by Ed Stasium (an old New Jersey friend of Richard’s who gained international recognition for his work with such luminaries as The Ramones, The Smithereens, Living Colour and Marshall Crenshaw) and long-time Heyman engineer Tony Lewis, who’s mixed Richard’s previous three releases.
Here’s a nutshell bio: Richard started banging on things when he was five, got a full drum kit when he was seven, and was astounding audiences with his chops by the time he was twelve. He picked up guitar and piano in his teens, which was also when original songs started popping into his head. Richard went solo in his twenties, although he’s found time to lend his amazing drumming skills to such great artists as Brian Wilson, Link Wray, Jonathan Richman and the Left Banke’s Michael Brown, composer of Walk Away Renee. He also played keyboards for the legendary Ben E. King. His influences are as varied as Bernstein to The Beatles, Richard Rodgers to the Rascals, and the Blues to the Byrds. On the live front, Richard leads his own band on guitar and keyboards.
Thanks, You ROCK!!! Getting the word out about my photo book, Metallica: The Club Dayz.. It's available though Amazon world wide. Amazon dot com Cheers Bill (Former Chief Photographer of Metal Rendezvous Int. Heavy Rock - Metal Magazine)
Envíanos una fotografía que nos diga que es para ti el lado oscuro. El concurso estará abierto a partir del lunes 19 de Octubre del 2009 y se cerrará el domingo 1ero de Noviembre del 2009. La foto más terrorífica será premiada el 3 de Noviembre 2009 y se utilizará en la campaña de promoción de “El Lado Oscuro” en donde se le dará crédito al ganador y los primeros libros de la colección.
Bases: La convocatoria es para hombres y mujeres de 13 a 25 años. La foto deberá ser enviada a El.lado.oscuro.oceano@gmail.com en formato jpg, en alta resolución, con tu nombre, tu edad, tu teléfono y la siguiente leyenda: Al enviar esta fotografía cedo los derechos para que pueda ser utilizada en la campaña de promoción.
The band 20 GRIT will be on The Metal Scene T.V Show air on TV Station "KJLA" Reaching Over 4.5 Million Homes In The So.Cal Area airing Tues Oct 27th 10PM
This beautiful (yes, beautiful) album has been in the making for over a year, us Noble Brats, have worked so hard to create a perfect mirror of our essence and did everything by ourselves. From recording to mixing to mastering. and the result has exceeded even our own expectations. All the songs in this album are full of contrasts and a rockin' out exploration and critique of the different emotions that control our lives, emotions that might keep us in an unhealthy relationship even when we know it's not good for us, emotions that drive some to systematically cut into their own skin to get a sense of control over their pain, emotions that make us wonder about our place in this world. So if you feel ready to take a chance and go on a journey into the darkness of our souls, we promise you a light at the end of the tunnel, you might even see yourself in our eyes.
Hiya! Check out my latest efforts on MySpace Player and also –at higher sound quality (320kps) on the “Soundlick” player in my “Blog” section. Most are demos but I will be putting up my previous CD release for free soon.
Hit me up for possible musical collaborations –or feel free to leave comments about your own projects etc.
Just stopping by to say hello and give you some news. The award winning album 'Coolgilly and the Freakshow' from Centascope is available worldwide from CD Baby and directly from the merchandise page of the official website. You can also get the album from Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon.co.uk and many more.
Heyyy!! Have you jumped on the bandwagon and joined TWITTER?? If so, FOLLOW ME!! http://twitter.com/jessijaejoplin If not, hurry up and join. I promise it's a lot of fun :)) xoxo, Jessi
Just to let you know I will be playing your music Tuesday on my show on www.HGRNJ.org between 12 noon and 3 pm Eastern Time ( 5-8 pm England or 6-9 pm Central Europe Time). I hope you can tune in, if you miss the show you can Check out my Playlist's
Hope you like what you hear! Let me know what you think!
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