HSCs, hibernation and Honey: How The Rich Pitcher found their sound

The Bowral-based radio station has been focusing on a local musician or band every month as part of their 100% Home-Grown campaign.

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November's pick is much-loved Goulburn band The Rich Pitcher, known for their upbeat and rollicking tunes.

The boys - Thady, Corey, Nick, Andy and Rich - have recently released their debut EP Honey after years of performing covers across the region.

Lead singer and co-founder Rich sat down with Highland FM's Lea Steed to reflect on his music journey.

Lea: How did you get started in music?

R: "It all started in high school. A good friend of mine was playing guitar at the time and he's still playing for us, he's the lead guitarist in our band. He was playing so I jumped on and started learning drums at the beginning, dropped that then picked up the guitar.

"It wasn't until Year 12 when I was studying music for my HSC, my teacher told me my guitar wasn't quite good enough for HSC and that I should try singing. It was Year 12 when I started singing and that was really the biggest introduction right there.

"After school I took a few years off, went to university, when the same music teacher contacted me and asked if I wanted to start a duo, that was around 2014 and the rest is history."

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L: Tell us about your band?

R: "There are five of us and they're a really great group of guys. Tony, he and I started the band back in 2014 as an acoustic duo, is on the bass guitar with some electric kick pedals as well so we've got more of a bigger sound.

"As we started to get more enquiries we started trialing a drummer, his name is Corey and he's a really great guy as well. We worked together in Goulburn as well so we're good mates. He's a beast on the drums.

"We've recently brought in a guy, Andy, who plays the keys for us but he's also a really solid drummer. Nick, my high school friend, is our lead guitarist as well."

L: What's the song-writing process?

R: "Typically I will start on guitar, get a little bit of chord progression, nothing too much and just hum along to that. What I typically find is that I will get some words pop into my mind, I'll write those down and then come back maybe months later.

"That I find is usually the start point for my chorus. In Honey if you're home, I have a line, 'I'm on my way to where I'd rather be, honey if you're home leave the light on for me.'

"That was the line I had for months and months, I then travelled overseas and when I got back the rest just wrote itself. It's guitar, chorus and then building a story around that chorus."

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L: I see you have a few gigs lined up?

Rich: "We do! It's been a long couple of years for us, we've had a lot of lost gigs in the last few months in particular but it's all coming back pretty strong.

"We have a couple coming up out in Crookwell which is exciting and one is an 'originals' gig with the Conservatorium in Goulburn. We're super excited about that, it's not often we get to play our original tunes in a live setting."

L: What have you been doing during lockdown? Have you been able to rehearse?

R: "No, we pretty much went into hibernation mode. Corey lives in Queanbeyan and Andy is in Bundanoon so it was impossible to meet up. We stayed in touch but music really wasn't a thing for a couple of months.

"We're really excited for it to come back now!"

You can check out the latest goings on at Highland FM here.

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