The LJ Rich Official Website

Tickling the Ovaries

There was no choice about my being musical - everything and everyone has a note, and I can always hear it and point it out. Growing up, I'd hear something and play it on the piano exactly - to me this was perfectly logical... I could do this with any tune that was on the radio and play along with absolutely anything! I used to sit on the piano stool, which I had boosted with the Yellow Pages so I could reach the keys - I didn't learn how to pedal until my feet could reach the floor. My parents realised that I should get lessons when I was 5 and the milkman thought I was the radio...

I had lessons from a kindly (but plainly mad) lady who always wore orange lipliner and no lipstick - one of my earliest memories is of writing about 450 treble clefs in a line - completely failing to understand why. When I was 9 I was entered into the Stratford Music Festival and won a medal!

Royal Rumble

It was decided that I should audition for the Royal College of Music - I remember going up all these stairs, then walking into a room where there were 4 people sitting behind a desk - they all looked at me, and I just went over to the piano - where I felt the most comfortable anyway. I played my audition pieces, then asked if they wanted to hear some stuff I'd written. They said yes, and I sat and played the first movement of a sonata that I wrote when I was 6 (it was very sweet and simple - I can still remember it!) I got accepted and given a scholarship. Over the next 5 years, I went to normal school on Monday to Friday, and the RCM Junior Department on Saturdays.

When I was little, I suffered terribly from tendonitis when I was playing piano. I would burst into tears after 10 minutes because my fingers and hands would seize up - so the Royal College gave me Alexander Technique lessons when I was about 12 - this really helped. The Alexander Technique teaches you to use your body correctly - i.e. if you slouch, you're not using certain muscles, which get lazy, and then you get backache because your other muscles are over-compensating. You learn how to use your body more effectively - i.e. learning new habits to cancel out the old ones. My tendonitis cleared up and now I can play for hours.

At RCM, they ask you what you'd like as your second instrument. I remember seeing people lugging huge 'cello cases and tubas around - so I thought "what's the smallest instrument I can legitimately learn?" and came up with... the recorder! (This was a very well kept secret for years - until I played Bach's Brandenburg Concerto at a university Concert - even my tutor said to me "The Recorder?? LJ you are a dark horse!") I'm actually rather proud of it, these days.

One thing that everyone learns unofficially at the Royal College is the ability to identify what instrument someone plays by what they look like - i.e. violinists have pronounced jawlines, clarinet players have strong cheekbones etc. I have yet to find a use for this skill.

Techno Music

At age 12, I loved technology and gadgetry so much (already having taken apart my father's walkman and written an arcade game on my Sinclair 48k Spectrum), I requested electronic music as an option at RCM. Due to some sort of admin error I was given 2 lessons a day on this, and learnt all about sound engineering and how things work in the world of the recording studio by age 15. I was lucky enough to get work experience after my GCSE's at a place called DeWolfe music in London, which provides music for adverts and films.

I turned up for the first day at DeWolfe - and my school had told me to dress smartly for this occasion... unfortunately, my smart outfit, complete with patent leather squeaky shoes and corduroy trousers was so completely different from the slogan t-shirts and ripped clothing that every other person was wearing, my only choice was to keep schtum and hope no-one noticed my overdressed outfit. Luckily, after the first day nightmare, the engineers were absolutely fantastic - while I was there, I learnt the art of practical jokes, 15 different uses of Gaffa tape (very strong waterproof tape) and how to remain cool even when someone is setting light to the desk behind you. I ended up being given a job for the summer dubbing music to film.

1..2.. Testing

On my last day at Angel Studios, I was gaffa-taped to the telephone system - receiver aligned with ear. Luckily, I was ready - I knew it was my last day, (and Gaffa tape is always involved on the last day) - I had tucked a pair of scissors up my sleeve in advance of this occurring, earning the respect (and grudging admiration) of my colleagues. This is how I learnt that the one thing you need to know as a sound engineer, apart from "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and "the simplest answer is usually the right answer", is the art of being completely and utterly prepared.

Previous to this experience, I had been taped to a chair that was taped to the floor amongst other things, and also invented a betting game involving Tascam 1/4 inch tape recorders and carrier bags. We had a lot of free time on our hands...

The First Degree

Even though my music teacher at school bet me a fiver that I wouldn't get in to Oxford, I went for the interview anyway. After going through some strange but interesting questions at interview (including being shown some sheet music and guessing who in the last 500 years could have written it), I got accepted at Christ Church College, Oxford.

When I got there, I played in the College Pool team and invented "air pool" which can only be played barefoot. I also won the title of "Tetris Goddess" after successfully beating off the competition. I was involved in setting up "Oxygen FM", Oxford's Student Radio station, and used to do the very very early breakfast show 5-7am. Oh, and I also did a degree in Music.

The Hit Factory

My first impression of Pete Waterman's Studio was that it was full up with cool stuff - studios, leather sofas, huge televisions, gyms and more studios. I worked very hard here starting off as a lowly tape-op (which means "dogsbody" and "tea maker"), and working my way up to Assistant Sound Engineer (which is roughly the same thing). While I was there, I played piano on a few hits, including Robson and Jerome's "What becomes of the Broken Hearted", I orchestrated and arranged the brass section for the re-release of "Hot Hot Hot", and if you listen very carefully to N-trance's stuff, you might be able to hear me in the backing vocals!

A while before I worked at PWL, I got knocked down by a van when I was 19 - and I still wore the jeans I got run over in because they looked cool. One evening, we were invited out to a party, and I'd gone to work in these jeans - there was nothing for it but to cut the legs off and turn them into even cooler hot-pants in order to go out. I got 10/10 for spontaneity. I still have the hot-pants.

One fireworks night, we bought bangers and blew up differing items in view of the security camera so we could re-wind and play back particularly good explosions. My favourites were the telephone, the pot noodle and the bag of flour. Blowing up a CD was a real let-down. We did remember to stand well back after lighting the fireworks. Please do not try this at home or work...

On the road again

On leaving Pete's, I left to join a band - playing piano and vocals. There is something indescribably good about playing with a bunch of people who all have the same goal as you, namely making fantastic music. It's great when you are really jamming and the crowd love it! I was with a band playing music from 70's to the present covering corporate events, military bases and weddings (amongst others).

I started playing with a band called "Khan", a Rock-opera originals group and we went on tour around the Pacific Northwest of the USA. I spent 2 months playing blues, rock 'n' roll and learning to play poker. While I was in the States, I also developed an addiction to Pancake Mix and deep-fried mozzarella sticks.

We did a gig in Bandon, Oregon, which was cool but hard work - 2 sets of original tracks, and 1 set of covers - we got back to the hotel to find that we'd been locked out of our room by this crazy woman the bass player knew. We could see that the door to the balcony was open: it was at that point that I was nominated to climb up the outside of the hotel to the balcony on the 2nd floor where our room was, and in true action-hero fashion, I was up to the task... of course once we all got in (I'd let the others in through the normal route) it was impossible to sleep because the mad woman the bass player knew was snoring too loudly for anyone to even think.

Back in the UK

I joined another band when I got back to London in order to keep gigging - at this time, it occurred to me that any professional musician you meet will have attended more weddings and functions than a normal person... and therefore has the ability to correctly guess whether or not a marriage would last. I loved playing at army bases and beer festivals - when I'm on stage playing my piano and singing, I'm very relaxed and happy to be there - it's my default state! Since then, I've played a few gigs while I've been on telly, and looking forward to getting my own band together to do my own stuff.

Music for TV

I’ve written music for Granada Men and Motors, jingles for holiday channels, and backing music for informercials – I use Cubase SX for this which is sequencing software, and I run this on a custom built computer by Millennium Music. The discipline of writing for TV is pretty simple – it’s very easy to get inspired when you know you are going to get paid for it! I love the fact that something can be completely silent, and you get a “brief” of what people want from the music – i.e. “sounds like so-and-so”, or “feel like you’re in a rain forest”. It’s a very challenging job to do, because you have to guess what people mean by this…. but also you get a real sense of achievement from hearing it on the television. I’d love to write big orchestral stuff for a huge Hollywood blockbuster!

Still Rocking

I’ve been playing the piano and singing with my friend Terri for Challenge TV’s promotional tour for “Celebrity Poker Club”, a programme that pits celebs against each other in the mighty game of “Texas Hold’em” which I’ve played for years. We got to hang out with Jesse May, the guy who commentates on this and “late night poker”, (addictive viewing for any insomniacs), play cards, and drink Frozen Sambuca, in exclusive Members Only clubs across London, giving us the chance to live the life of a “high roller”, albeit with breaks in the high life to play musical sets… This culminated in a fantastic gig at Just St James where the cast from London’s Ratpack did a few numbers, and we played and sang well into the night… the day after the gig, I flew to Philadelphia, USA to appear on television over there… how rock and roll is that?!!

Pop Music

I decided that music really is my first love so after a chance meeting with someone, I imprisoned myself in a London studio writing some cool original music - I suppose the best way to describe it is funky rocky pop music with a gospel twist, although an easier way to describe it is “contemporary pop”. It's scary doing something I've always wanted to do but as far as I know, it's the only way to go. Grab life with both hands and don't let go! I’ve completed 5 tracks, 3 of which I’ve put on a promotional e.p.  When you write, produce, engineer, play most of the instruments and sing vocals on all these songs – it’s a very strange feeling when you play them back and remember that they were just in your head before, but now you can hear it the way you imagined it to be…. Writing music is a fantastic way to feel vulnerable… but as anyone creative will know, it’s very rewarding as well.

I so love writing songs that are about life, not just love, and I made a conscious decision to write music which is uplifting – so the music I write always has some sort of positive message to it… It occurred to me that if I could inspire people or make them smile from listening to my music, then I would be incredibly happy. My ambition is to play and sing my songs to a stadium filled with people singing along with me – hopefully that will happen sometime soon.

Audio Chocolate

I’ve found that certain musical keys are soothing, while others are invigorating – so I decided to do something with my music degree and my perfect pitch etc etc and write music that would have a beneficial effect on the body and mind. Every composition has been written and engineered for specific uses, although some might work across many areas…

This originally started in 2004 – I was having trouble sleeping, so as an experiment I wrote some music with attention to the speed and pitch of it, in order to see if listening to this would help me in my quest for relaxation… Much to my amazement, I dropped off to sleep at my piano composing, and then had to complete the composition at double the speed as I kept falling asleep when writing it.  Ideally I'll have this ready by the beginning of next year.