BIO
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EARLY DAYS
Rich was born in 1970 in the northern suburbs of New York City. At age 17, he decided that I wanted to perform music in a band, and so began learning the guitar. Because the learning curve was steep, and he was craving the immediate gratification of playing out right then and there, he began playing the drums at that time as well, and soon became proficient enough to play drums in several high school bands. But the guitar playing continued, and was his true passion - drums never seemed to provide the creative outlet that guitar did. In college, he played drums and sang in three bands, the most interesting being a funk/jam band called JASMINE GROOVE. But still……. the guitar playing continued, and became the main focus once out of college.
STYLE
Rich is self taught on guitar, and rarely in 20 years of playing has he spent time on learning cover songs. Hence, an around the campfire request player he is not; he has always been much more interested in the sounds, riffs and progressions that seem to appear out of thin air, into his head or out of his fingers. He grasps onto them, arranging them into original songs and compositions. Stacks of countless "idea" tapes are piled up, on which are recorded ideas and progressions, too many to probably ever get to.
Early on, there were probably as many instrumental compositions as lyrical, though now the opposite is true. Still however, to this day, the lyrics form slowly in comparison to the music, and are nearly always the last part to come together in lyrical compositions. The music is usually all composed and arranged first, with melodies for the lyrics in place, long before the lyrics come together. The art of music is an opportunity to connect with listeners, and this opportunity is a shame to waste with lyric filler. So meaningful and thoughtful lyrics have to come together before a song can be finished.
FIRST RECORDINGS
In 1993, a friend was selling a 4-track recorder for $75 and, though not actively looking to buy one, Rich couldn't pass it up. He spent lots of time composing and arranging on the 4-track and, being that his lifestyle as a biologist/environmental educator was transient, it allowed him to arrange and record, even when not in a place where he could play with other musicians. Over the course of a month in 1995, he recorded his first album in an apartment in Tarzana, CA. It is called Something from Nothing, and it consisted of long complex arrangements, with plenty of room for improvisation on acoustic guitar and bass. In 1998, while in graduate school in Columbia, MO, he completed the second album, Fluid. It was more varied in tone and experimental than the first album, with both electric guitar, as well as the usual acoustic sound. This album was also an outlet for Rich's instrumental song writing, ranging from the mellow "Meadowlark Yellow" (recorded with Hayden Mattingly), to the spacey "And For Our Children?" (a song spilling out the sadness of whaling).
EARLY RAINCROW
From 1997 through 1999, Rich and his longtime friend and fellow musician, Hayden Mattingly, found themselves in the same place: both were studying conservation biology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. They took full advantage of this time time together writing songs, playing live shows and recorded two albums as the band Raincrow. Between Blue Moons was released in 1999 and A Part of It in 2001. For more information, go to the Raincrow BIO.
1999 THROUGH 2003
After leaving Columbia, MO in 1999, Rich worked as a biologist in Arctic Alaska and then Peru, and finally took a teaching position at the Catalina Island Marine Institute in California. There, over the course of a few years, he played a lot of solo shows, including at a sushi bar/comedy club, and worked on new material. Moving back to Columbia, MO in October 2002, he played the occasional farmers' market, two Raincrow reunion shows, and numerous instrumental lunch shows with Dirk Burhans (bass). After returning from four and a half months at sea as a seabird biologist, where he spent much of my free time writing and arranging new material, he landed in Minneapolis, MN.
ED MACY LIES
In late winter of 2004, Mike Musty and Rich Pagen began playing regularly together. Each dug out countless songs from their respective vaults, and after considerable time and musical exploration, decided on the songs that best complemented one another. Soon, a studio was squeezed into Mike and his brother Pete's new office space for their business, and later moved into the basement of a large house on Girard Avenue S in Minneapolis. Shows were set up at coffee shops (including the show that was recorded for the live CD Kind of live from the Charrette Underground) and Ed Macy Lies played regularly for a good part of a year. For more information, go to the Ed Macy Lies BIO.
2005 THROUGH 2008
Rich began regularly working on at-sea seabird and marine mammal surveys during this period, as well as lecturing on passenger ships in the Arctic and Antarctic. During this time, he released a solo instrumental album, A refrain from abstinence, version I, which he performed while on an art fair circuit during the summer of 2005. He also began performing on ships, selling CDs to passengers, and donating all money to raise money to support sustainable fisheries and prevent bycatch. He is currently working on a solo project, a Raincrow project, and a re-release of the 2005 instrumental CD in its final form.
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