A Richard Album World: It Might Be
A kaleidoscopic interview with Chicago’s DIY pop idol, venue owner & cassette label proprietor
by Ryan Lang
Photography by Katy Albert
Anyone who has hopped around various house venues knows you’re bound to meet musicians who are dedicated to the artistic expression of their sound. I happened upon Chicago nerd-power-pop legend Richard Album over 3 years ago in Humboldt Park at his own house venue Big Forever. He now has five albums out on his cassette label Athletic Tapes.
When I set out to interview Richard, I pictured an hour FaceTime or a meeting over a cup of coffee to finish up the initial intake of information. I was determined to finish the interview especially after Richard replied to a text indicating he was up for it. Little did I know the lengths I would have to go to complete the project. The following is a composite consisting mostly of one and two minute phone conversations with Richard Album that took place over the course of 11 months.
September 7 was a two minute conversation with Richard while he was boarded on the runway waiting to fly to New York. November 17 was a one and a half minute call just before Richard was flying to Seattle. And even the almost humorous 38-second conversation I had with Richard as he waited for his latte at an airport Starbucks. “I thought I said ‘half-caff,’ goddamnit!!” We all get impatient at times. I edited the fragments of 14 conversations to flow naturally, holding true to the original words of the elusive Richard Album.
Ryan Lang: I recently listened to the whole Richard Album collection. It was quite a joy.
Richard Album: A journey.
It was a journey. How would you describe that journey as a whole?
Richard begins alone in the wilderness. He’s working his way towards some type of magic kingdom in the center of this fantastic realm, and as he’s moving along on his journey, people, elves, gnomes, and warlocks are joining his band. So, at first on “You Can Call Me Album” he’s alone; just has his bow and arrow and guitar. Then he’s able to fall in with a Seattle group for the second album. They work well but they abandon him. Then he reaches the Chicago-suburbsesque part of the fantastic realm and starts working with “The Singles” who have helped guide him ever since…
Cool. When I first met you at Big Forever you told me your spirit animal was David Byrne. So, when I was hearing parts of your collection it sounded like David Byrne meets Elvis Costello. But “Saturday Night Album” seems like a whole new direction. Who would you say are some of your other influences?
Well, it is mostly David Byrne and Elvis Costello. But I appreciate any gentleman that can command the stage talking about his emotions. I’m a big Morrissey fan. For “Saturday Night Album” I just wanted to pay tribute to all the club jammers; the songs that always made me tap my toe. I think it’s less of a new direction and more of a side project…kind of. You get to see a little bit of “Party Richard.”
Turning toward your latest album, “Richard Goes Cold.” How did you set out to produce this record? Was it a concept from the beginning or did the songwriting come together as you went?
Yeah, it was kind of a concept that informed the writing of the songs. I was just really hung up on the winter time in Chicago; the cold weather and all the things that make people isolated from each other. I was thinking about segregation a lot and just what makes the city so brutal and hard on the people that live here. So, I just had an inspired period where I was writing about that. I started by recording demos of the songs, but then I showed them to the band and they said, “Sounds like it’s done. Sounds perfect!” So, the album, as it exists, is a collection of polished demos. I’m very happy with how they turned out. And Plastic Horse Records, based out of Minneapolis, is going to put it out on vinyl sometime this fall, which is exciting.
Way cool! And you’re currently touring on this record right?
I’m going over to the West Coast to play some shows and I just toured on the East Coast. I did my first overseas show in Dublin. They were screaming for more. They can’t wait until I come back.
In the record you say that you’ve never been out of the country but now you’ve done a bit of traveling?
Yeah, we gotta retire that song.
Well, I think it’s interesting to see how that will influence your future creative projects. Just seeing the world on a bigger scope and how that will affect the Richard narrative a little bit.
I’m glad you brought that up actually. The next album is going to be a world music album, but I don’t want to reveal too much about that yet.
A world music album. Can’t wait to hear the surprises! I want to hone in on “Richard Goes Cold,” where you talk about belonging in the suburbs. Is this where you grew up? Are you making a statement about how the city is so hard in the winter that you want to get out of there?
I feel like I wanted to have a more personal narrative related to the idea of “white flight,” you know? And how the city became so segregated. I have never lived in the Chicago suburbs, but when I interact with people who live there, there is this kind of sense I get that people feel like they belong there. Like it’s their “destiny” to end up in the suburbs.
Could you talk on some of your other projects like your house venue Pinky Swear and your cassette label Athletic Tapes?
Pinky Swear was called Chicago’s cutest DIY venue by local blog Store Brand Soda. Others have said we are very family friendly. You can bring your kids to Pinky Swear. I see there is a long line to board the plane here.
Okay…
So Pinky Swear exists to bring people together to inspire ideas of magic and possibility. So, we hope our shows inspire some type of “Oh I could do a show or performance like this if I wanted to,” and just to be a safe place for people to be creative and meet other creatives. For Athletic Tapes I would say it’s a sporting life. [laughs]
How do you all find artists that you’re interested in for Athletic Tapes? Do you help with production?
Uh, a little bit, but mostly some sweet people we know are releasing music and we swoop in and ask if they want to do tapes. We usually do runs of 50 tapes, and we print and dub everything ourselves. They look nice. They sound nice and they have a little bit of a handmade feel to them. And we think the sports thing is funny.
So, you have the equipment to produce that quantity of tapes. That’s a lot of tapes!
Yeah, it’s a system we rigged up with tape decks. We’ve learned a lot from other Chicago tape labels like 1980 Records and Teen River.
I could talk longer but I don’t want to get in the way of your flight…
Yeah this is my third time at this airport this week. Last week my flight was canceled mid-air after an hour and a half of travel. So, I better get going. Don’t want to miss this one.
OK, Thanks for your time. Have a good flight.
Thanks!
