About the Music

---

I knew very early on that music would play a major role in my life.  I was raised in a home where the turntable was always spinning a Neil Young, Joni Mitchell or Beatles record and the sounds made every day feel somehow, important.  My earliest memories are of my dad’s band practices, my mom’s acoustic guitar and, me, sitting on a piano bench hammering away at the keys.   

When I was a little kid, we lost some of the most loved members of our family and I remember feeling almost overwhelmed with grief over my Mother and Aunt’s passing.  I spent countless hours under bulky, spiral wired headphones where I could feel the full gravity of my emotions in the songs that I listened to.  Music made my melancholy seem understood and shared.  Even when nothing was on, “Time” by the Alan Parson’s Project, “I Go Crazy” by Paul Davis and the entire “Thriller” and “Sgt. Peppers” albums were playing in my head!!  I was profoundly intrigued by how people were able to express, both, deeply bold and subtly understated thoughts and feelings with words and music.  So, I got into trying to do the same thing.  As a teenager, most of what I wrote was about saving the environment and pledging my undying love to the girl in pre-calculus.  But, it was a start!!      

After college and into grad school, my sensibilities really began to darken though, and my inner light was dimmed significantly by life as a professional musician in my 20s.  I played 6 nights per week most of the time in dank bars and party spots until 4AM and usually had a beer in my hand and a chip on my shoulder.  During these years, I always had a hard rock or metal side project where I would write and record about the hopelessness and futility of the mortal coil that I felt and I would take to the stage to scream out my sense of disillusionment as best as I could.    

But, as I got a little older and started to take a bit better care of myself mentally and physically, I made a conscious decision to change the content and underlying intent of the music that I wrote.  I began to feel more responsible for what I put “out there” and I came to realize that I needed to use music to fight despair, not to dwell in it.  So, I began to craft music that was centered in hope and based in spirituality, (and with a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies, I’ve collected a good deal of cross-cultural information and perspective on the subject).     

Taking this stuff into consideration, along with my personal belief system, I’ve quite naturally found myself conveying the philosophy of the Buddha and the teachings of Jesus through my music.  It isn’t, however, my intention to be preachy or pretend to know any great secret, but I really want to reiterate some ‘good ideas’ through what I write, record and release.  As a father, I want my sons to inherit a better, safer world where people treat each other with dignity and respect.  Whether on a large or small scale, I want to do my part to spread a message that might help to facilitate that goal.  I think that is what ‘Mr the Invisible’ is all about.  Thank you for letting this music into your life!!!

- Rick+