Intro:
Richard snow is a very busy musician/songwriter. In addition to playing in TWO bands, he’s had time to record a classic new CD, “Am I Really That Boring?” with The Inlaws. If that weren’t enough, he keeps a high profile on youtube, with clever videos. I recently talked to Richard Snow about he balances everything…

EC: Since I last interviewed you in 2005, ALOT has happened in your musical career. You now have the Inlaws, so you can play your music live. Tell me about how the formation of the Inlaws came about?

Richard: Well the band existed in the 90's but we were called Enellen. Me and Phill (bass) have been friends since we were five. Justin I've known since 1993 when we met in a recording studio. After Tuesday Music came out, Phill asked if I was going to do gigs with it. I said I'd like to but I don't have a band. Phill said he'd play bass with me so the natural thing to do was to ask Justin to play drums. So basically the band is Enellen, the difference being that Phill wrote most of the songs back then. These days Phill mostly writes songs for his other band Sibling.

EC: With your material, is it hard to represent it live with only a trio? Have you thought about adding a second guitar player to the band? Or do you want to keep it a trio?

Richard: Some of the songs are very difficult to play with a trio, some are impossible. On one hand we like the trio thing but I've certainly thought it'd be a lot easier if we had another guitar or maybe keys.

EC: Although some of the songs on "Am I Really That Boring?" are still Richard-one-man-band creations, what was the production like this time around? Did having a band make the recording easier?

Richard: There's three Snowlo tracks on the album. Two of them are just because I'd got the song and wanted to get on with it while I was excited about the tune. If I wait I've got to arrange a time to go do the drums with Justin, and we're both so busy it can take a while sometimes. The other one I played on "Take Me Back Home" is my demo that we just never got around to doing a proper version of. In the end I decided it was pretty good as is.

EC: What about the production this go around?

Richard: The production of the album was pretty similar to last time in that we layer things on one at a time. The main reason is it's hard to get us all together at one time. There's a few tracks where I played live guitar along with Justin and it stayed on the track. We tried or should I say stole a few new production tricks on this album though. One the title track we had a go at recording the drums in the style of "Heart Of Glass" by Blondie, on which Clem Burke played each element separately. On some other tracks, most notably "21st Century" we had a go at emulating that Jeff Lynne snare sound where you trigger another snare with the original. Both time consuming ways of recording drums but you get some interesting results.

EC: There is very little keyboards compared to your previous CD's. Do you just want to go for a more guitar-based sound now? Or do you want to lend your sound to the band's instrumentation?

Richard: I didn't consciously use less keys, but you're right there's less. I just seemed to write most of the songs on the guitar this time. The exception being "Never Hear Your Voice Again" That's driven by a harpsichord arpeggio thing. I was going for a Sonny Bono type of production on that. I say Sonny Bono but I believe his secret weapon was his arranger, Harold Battiste. He always seemed to have a guitar and xylophone doubling the main licks on his productions, so that's a nod to Sonny and Harold!

EC: You've come a long way from the days of using an old reel to reel 4-track recorder! The production on "Am I Really That Boring?" is stellar. When it comes to recording, who is the producer: you, the band, or someone else?

Richard: Thanks Ronnie! you're very kind. The producer is me! I've always fancied myself as a bit of a Phil Spector, preferably without the guns and prison time.

EC: Phil Edmundson (bass) wrote and sings lead on "Fishspeaker" - Is there now a true collaboration with the band?

Richard: Well this song comes from our Enellen days. As we still play it live sometimes and it fits in with the Richard Snow & the Inlaws power pop sound I thought it'd be good to have on the album. I certainly think there should be more Edmundson and Monkton tunes on future albums. This song shows how we can work well as a collaborative effort in that we all worked out the arrangement together. Justin came up with the "baba" vocals on this track. Phill had great idea on the track "I Still Love Your Face" where the three vocal harmonies have a staggered entry, a bit like "Mr Sandman".

EC: When it comes to harmonies - after basically doing all the harmonies yourself on your older releases, what was the process like with a group? Easier or harder?

Richard: It was a pretty similar process. Mostly done one part at a time. As the vocals were on the whole put on at the end, I'd sometimes already done scratch parts and Phill and Justin then recorded over mine. There are some vocals on "21st Century" all done round one microphone. The ones that sound like football supporters! And also on "Am I Really That Boring".

Doing vocals together usually ends up in giggles. On the latter song Justin and I were doing the "He don't care!" vocals and we ended up singing "He Donkey!" and collapsing in laughter. We'd only been drinking tea, honest.

EC: How did the guest contributions of Nelson Bragg and Anny Celsi come about?

Richard: Anny and Nelson came over to England to play gigs to promote Anny's album "Tangle Free World" The asked me to play guitar with them on the dates I could do and for us to be their support act too. I thought it'd be nice to have them sing on one of the tracks we were working on and that was the song that Nelson liked a lot when we played it at the gigs. They've got a lovely blend together, Nelson had a sore throat that day but they still sound great.

EC: I'm a big fan of the 12-string Rickenbacker (I play one as well) and love that it features so prominently on several of the songs. I've gotta know...what is your guitar collection like?

Richard: I didn't know you were a Rickie man too Ronnie, what do you have?

EC: Mine is also a Rickenbacker 330/12. My 6 is a pink paisley Fender Telecaster. Also play a Japanese Hofner bass knockoff (no label, ha ha) and have an acoustic 6 and 12.

Richard: My guitar collection isn't very large for someone who has played for a long time. My Rickenbacker is a 330/12 that I got for my 21st birthday. My 6 string is a mex Fender Telecaster sunburst. I've got a Yamaha CPX electro acoustic which is the main acoustic on the album. There's an old Spanish guitar on a couple of tracks that was given to me by a friend. The Gibson Les Paul you hear on "Fishspeaker" and "Am I Really That Boring" is a beauty but sadly not mine. It was on loan from my friend Blue. Bass wise I have a 1964 Hofner violin bass which is the only vintage instrument I own. My other bass is a Yamaha which looks horrible being shocking pink! But it does play and sound good.

EC: It's great seeing your videos on youtube - I LOVE the video for "Girls On The Tube" at the Cavern, with the black and white grainy film effect, just like the iconic 1962 Beatles film clip. There are clips of "Never Hear Your Voice Again" and "I still love your face" from your new CD. Can we expect more videos from the songs on the new album?

Richard: Yes indeed, in fact we plan to make a couple a few days from now. We might have to do some composite "Ebony and Ivory" type of stuff though. It's very hard to get the three of us together at once these days!

EC: The videos for “Am I Really That Boring?” and “Middle Class Girl” are fantastic. How did you come up with the ideas for the clips? Other than youtube, are there any outlets in the UK for videos? (MTV over here is a joke – hasn’t been about music in a long time.

Richard: We didn't really have any ideas at all till we got to where we shot it. The only idea was to do some lip syncing at a place called Bennerley Viaduct which you see in the back ground on the clips. It's one of England’s many disused railways and the viaduct is the only one of it's kind left in England (told you I was boring!). We just all chipped in ideas and I cut the best bits together. The Beatley/Rutles bit in the "Middle Class Girl" clip was just because I happened to have my case with my Fab 4 gear in it. Shame I didn't have my Hofner but Phill sportingly played his Epiphone upsidedown. MTV seems to be the same here. In fact I just removed the music package from my TV subscription. We'd never get on MTV. It's all major label stuff and you have to be young and pretty.

EC: How often do you guys play live? Just in England so far?

Richard: After Tuesday Music came out in 2005 up till about 2008 we were playing quite a lot. The first gig we did after getting the Inlaws going was support for The Posies, so not much pressure there! In the last couple of years we've not played quite as often though. Mainly because we all have other musical commitments so it can be difficult to get all 3 of us in the same place. We've ventured out of England once when we went over to New York in 2007 to play the IPO there at the Baggot Inn. It'd be nice to play another U.S. IPO one day. We loved New York.

EC: You also play bass in the Beatles tribute band, The Fab 4. Talk about having a full plate! How did that band come about? I saw some of the Fab 4 videos on youtube - it's interesting to see a "lefty" George instead of a "lefty" Paul!

Richard: The Fab 4 has been going many years before I joined. Tony and Blue started the band around 1992. Tony had just come back from America having had some success with his band Blue Train. Some of your readers may remember their top 40 hit "All I Need is you". The funny thing is I saw the Fab 4 once around 1996 and said to my wife, that'd be a great band to play in. And I was right it is, what could be more fun than playing Beatle tunes? I joined in 2008 after they advertised for a new "Macca" and I was lucky enough to get the gig. Yes we've got a lefty George. We've still got that Beatley symmetry but it's the wrong way round. We're The Bizarro Beatles!

EC: And of course you have an edge over your American counterparts – no fake British accents! Do you study the old Beatles videos to get the actions down?

Richard: You mean "The Fab Four"? They are very good. They've got every finite detail down. Even their accents sound good to me!

We do like to get the music as Beatley as possible. Although we sometimes switch vocal parts around. For example I sing some of George's bits on "She Loves You" and Tony (George) sings "Back In the USSR" because he loves to sing it. As for the look and movements, yes I've certainly watched Macca and try to throw in a few of his little quirks. Tony can do George's little skippy dance perfectly! Blue has a great Lennon stance and Gary Is a brilliant Ringo, Very occaisonaly someone comes up and has a moan that "George" is a leftie and "Paul" isn't. We just have to remind them, we are NOT them! haha! It's the music and the overall vibe that's most important to us and we do a great show.

EC: How do you balance your time between both bands? Beatles tribute bands in America is a thriving business, and I imagine that it is the same in the U.K.?

Richard: Well yes, The Fab 4 play a lot more often than The Inlaws. Justin also plays in a covers band called The Modest. It means that the Inlaws are rarely available to play at weekends.

EC: Being a HUGE Beatles fan, I could probably go on and on asking you questions about the Fab 4 - but, I'll try and limit it since I want to concentrate on "Am I Really That Boring?". Does the band play mainly the "hits" in their set list? We used to cover "Cry for a Shadow" and the Star Club version of "Sweet Little Sixteen". Do ya'll throw any rarities in to mix-it-up?

Richard: Obviously there are the big hits that are obligatory and have to be played ,so we know we'll nearly always play "Twist and Shout" , "Hey Jude", "Ticket to Ride" etc. But yes we do also have a little arsenal of more peculiar ones to throw in to keep us and the hardcore fans happy. Funny you mention "Sweet Little Sixteen", we do that too. Also from the star club tape we nearly always play "Hippy Hippy Shake". We also sometimes play "Bad Boy", "Mr Moonlight", "Devil In Her Heart", "Thank You Girl", "All I've Got To Do", "Honey Don't", "Misery". That's what's great about being in a Beatle band, there's so many good songs to play. It's funny though, we tend to think of The Beatles as so famous, surely everyone knows the whole back catalogue but we can guarantee a lot of blank expressions when we pull out "She Said , She Said" mid set!

EC: Our last interview in 2005 - you were a "househusband"/musician. How that the kids are a little older, what do they think about their Dad's music, ha ha?

Richard: Well my oldest who is now 12 asked for a copy of the new album, so I think he likes it. He told me, without bribe of pocket money that this is my best album so far! They both really like the title track.

EC: With the family and both bands, how DO you find time to write songs, much less record and do gigs?

Richard: It's difficult and this is why it's been 6 years since "Tuesday Music". It seems a long time to make a record but I'm sure if we add all the sessions together it only took us 4 weeks! The rest of the time was spent doing all the other stuff. Writing songs you can do while you're doing other things though so that's ok. Mine often come together in the car or the shower. I hope this doesn't put listeners off .

EC: Finally, what's on the musical horizon for Richard Snow in the future? Any plans that you'd like to make a reality?

Richard: I think I'll just keep on making an album every couple of years. I wish we could have got this one out a bit quicker so I hope it won't take as long next time. I've been considering maybe doing a covers album next time with the theme that they're all B sides. I already did covers of "Over You"- Del Shannon and "Why" - The Byrds so that might be fun. I've got a few more obscurities I'd like to have a go at.