Richard Atkins Interview - The Final on Vinyl Podcast

I had a great time today speaking to Richard Atkins about his most recent release, Pianistically Speaking.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:14

Hello everyone, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with a Final Vinyl Podcast, and today we are with Richard Atkins, and I just listened to his most recent release Pianistically speaking. Uh very uh unique title for any album I have ever seen, that's for sure, and it certainly fits the description. Welcome aboard, Richard.

Speaker 0:36

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 2 0:39

Appreciate you taking some time to spend with me. And I really enjo enjoyed your music and um I would like to hear more about your project, uh what went into it, and some of your influences over the years and what everything started for you as far as uh music and and recording.

Speaker 0:59

Sure. Um well for many, many years, um um decades in fact, um I was always playing the piano for other employers. And you know, uh living in New York for many years, I have played every venue imaginable from uh savings banks to department stores to high-end hotels to restaurants in the Bronx. So after after many years of that, um and having a a classical background as well as a Broadway show background, and uh being exposed when I studied music at the University of Maryland in College Park, I was also a theater major, so I was a music performance major and a theater major, and so that exposed me to Broadway show music and and other non-classical composers like George Gershwin and Scott Joplin. So that started to formulate my compositional style, uh, which you hear on pianistically speaking. Um so uh at a certain age, you know, I I I I didn't want to be performing for other employers. I wanted to put out my own music. And so I started recording, and um my music kind of fell into a new age, new age crossover neoclassical style. Um so that's kind of where uh I'm at today, and I'm working on uh another album now called Autumnal Solitudes, which will be a fall release uh before my Carnegie Hall debut on October 24th.

Speaker 1 2:44

So that's kind of Carnegie Hall. Wow. Good for you.

Speaker 2:49

Thank you. I'm very excited about that. I I just had a concert here in New Mexico at Keller Hall at the University of New Mexico concert hall, and that went very well. Uh kind of like a a preview for for the Carnegie Hall concerts, and I'm I'm trying to get booked in other concert halls. Um but before you know, during COVID, apparently um that kind of put the kibosh on a lot of solo piano concert bookings around the w around the country. I hear that in Europe they're they're still doing quite a few, but not as many here in the States. So Carnegie Hall will be a good uh departure point for me, uh I hope.

Speaker 2 3:29

I would think so. It almost seems like it's uh a rite of passage to the next level of your career to play at Carnegie Hall. Does it seem that way to you?

Speaker 3:39

It does. It does. In fact, um I lived in New York for many, many years. My wife and I um unfortunately my my wife's office was ten blocks from ground zero during the 9-11 attacks, and um she's she saw the whole thing up close and personal, and so after that, we decided to to leave New York City and move to New Mexico. Uh and that has been an egg an excellent um choice for creativity. I know a lot of people, a lot of my New York friends are like, you went from New York City to New Mexico. Um tell me how that that works. So of course it's it's it it's quite a bit of a a culture shock. But my wife and I had always vacationed out here in New Mexico and really love the the culture, the the the the clean air and and kind of the artistic vortex. They say that you know, Sedona, Arizona is where that is, but it certainly is in the land of enchantment um in New Mexico. But uh we're happy to be returning back to New York City uh for Carnegie Hall.

Speaker 2 4:47

I bet. That's quite a transition, but it sounds like it was a good one. And you know, thinking about that, I can't imagine what your wife went through seeing all that happen. You know, it's comparable to being uh a veteran of war and coming back after that, you know. It's just seeing all this horrid thing happen before you, it just I just can't imagine. It's awful.

Speaker 5:11

Well, yeah, it's truly um I have a quick story about that. I I have had this history of of premonitions, and I had a premonition in the morning of the shuttle disaster. I couldn't tell you exactly what I felt was going to go wrong, but I knew something very bad was going to go wrong. And on the morning of 9-11, we lived 30 miles north of New York City, and so my wife would commute on the Metro North train from White Plains, New York into Grand Central. And on that morning, I woke up and I had that same feeling, my wife had already left for work, that something very bad was going to happen. So I immediately called my wife on her cell phone and I told her, I've got a bad feeling about today. Get back on the train and come home. And she, of course, thought I was crazy. And then she, as she's walking up the subway stairs to go to her office, she hears and sees the first plane crash into the you know, World Trade Center. And then I couldn't reach her uh for three or four hours because communications were down. So it was an it was a definitely awful day. Um and she still suffers from PTSD, you know, during commemorations and when that date, September 11th, comes up every year. But we have uh enjoyed our 22 years now in New Mexico. So it it all worked out.

Speaker 3 6:37

Well, glad she has you to uh soothe her, you know, with with the music.

Speaker 2 6:44

I'm sure you play piano for her to help her.

Speaker 6:47

Yes, I do. Um she actually works at Sandia National Labs and ever since COVID she's been working at home upstairs in the loft. And so I I just recently purchased a my Forever piano last year. It um but I had to get a I had to get a digital um piano to put in another room because I I can't play during the day because she's upstairs working. So I got my Forever Piano, but I can't play it only on weekends.

Speaker 2 7:21

What kind of piano is it?

Speaker 7:24

Well, um it's actually um a Kawhi, but it's a it's a special kawaii. It's called a Shigaru Kauai. And and this is the higher, the highest end in the kawaii line. Uh they're all made by hand. It takes five years to build each piano, five years to age the soundboard. And so when I was searching for uh my forever piano, because I used to play at Abraham and Strauss department store in New York City, and after they went under, uh the the department store had a fire sale on on pianos. And so I was able to purchase a baby grand piano that I used to play in front of the escalators, but that was only a a a small five uh five foot one inch baby grand, and after 20 years of it out here, I got tired of it. And so uh I had heard about this Shigaroo Kauai and just an amazing, amazing piano, amazing sound, and um yeah. So I record out of my out of my home now. I don't have to go to a studio because this piano is so so nice. So I have a a mobile engineer who comes to my house and we record here in New Mexico. So it it all worked out great.

Speaker 2 8:38

Kauai, is that Japanese?

Speaker 8:40

Yes. So uh you should look up Shigaru S-H-I-G-E-R-U Kauai. And there's in fact, uh the the vice president of Kauai uh has nominated me uh to be a an official Shigaru Kauai artist. Um so I'm uh you know in this group of of highly professional uh world-renowned pianists who are now Shigaru Kauai artists because I I like to only play on that instrument and and promote that because the the Kauai people have been so nice to me uh and had created such a wonderful sounding piano. It's up there with Bosendorfer, uh Fazzioli, Steinway, and Yamaha. It's in like the top five.

Speaker 2 9:29

So that's cool. That's great. It sounds like your career is really ascending in many different ways, you know, and which is a wonderful thing. You worked hard, so right. Now you mentioned you mentioned you mentioned something about I'm sorry, I just have to get this thought out before I lose it. The the aging of a soundboard. Now that's a term I had never heard before. Is that particular just to pianos? And and what's the reason for that?

Speaker 9:56

Um you know, I've done some research on on the building of these higher-end pianos, and um they actually it's the combination of different types of wood. Um, like in the in the uh Bosendorfer and uh Kawaii, they use spruce and they use maple, and so um those woods go into the making of the soundboard. And um I I guess I guess aging uh a piano soundboard is like aging of a fine wine. It takes a certain amount of time for the wood to um either you know dry out, or I don't know the exact reasons why they have to age soundboards, but um it it makes the um the sound and the resonance uh so much nicer um when these woods are aged a certain amount of years. And the combination of woods, it's very it's very scientific uh today. You know, uh the piano has evolved over the years to uh such a wonderful, uh better sounding instrument than it ever had in the past. So I hope I kind of answered your question.

Speaker 2 11:16

Yes, uh and the fact that it's wood that makes sense, you know. And uh you know wood wood is used for so many different things and it's aged for different reasons, and uh that totally makes sense.

Speaker 3 11:29

So do you have a vinyl collection?

Speaker 11:36

Uh I I do uh from uh from college. I d uh my wife and I both have um quite um quite a vinyl collection. Uh we have to find a uh uh a turntable again that we used to use. Um you know. And I know that uh I I've been reading that uh vinyl is is really coming back and and CDs are coming back. Um so I I look forward to uh getting a uh a new turntable so we can play our old vinyl again.

Speaker 2 12:11

Great. There's a lot of choices out there. You could spend a lot of money if you want to, that's for sure.

Speaker 12:18

Well, um, so you know, I know you're a vinyl specialist, so is it more like uh, you know, a lot of the famous uh musicians like you know, uh the Rolling Stones and and uh Taylor Swift that are coming out with more with the vinyl, more of the you know, all the uh you know, star-established artists.

Speaker 2 12:38

No. I I think it's pretty much caught on in in all genres and all artists, whether you're the Rolling Stones or an indie artist that's just emerging, um it's very attractive to an entirely new crowd that has come around uh over the past three or four years, I would say. Um and what bands like to do, and it totally makes sense, is they will put on maybe two hundred or five hundred units and then split it up with different colors, which people are attracted to that, the the colored vinyl. And because it becomes instant collectors items if there's only a few hundred out there in the whole world, right? And with today's today's technologies, um the the sound isn't affected at all, which you know, back in the the day, maybe the sixties, seventies period, when colored vinyl came out, people were like, Well, the sound's just not that good. Well, it's not that way anymore. It doesn't matter what color they use, it sounds just as good as black vinyl. And um if you get clear vi if you get clear vinyl, that's like the ultimate because black vinyl collects static. So that's when you get all the pops and and and different things over a period of time and it c collects dust. So yeah. So there's uh a lot of different things that come into play, but it's not exclusive to people that have the the backing and the funds to do to do that and to put put out different types of vinyl.

Speaker 14:15

So interesting. Um with that, with with uh you know, vinyl coming back and and CDs, I also read that um the one of the largest Google searches these days are TVs with uh VHS players in them.

Speaker 3 14:35

Is that right?

Speaker 14:37

Yeah. So there's because they were saying vinyl's coming back, CDs are coming back, and also VHS. Uh, you know, there's a lot of VHS tapes out there and collectors and and the biggest Google search uh hundred 140% more are people searching for TVs with the built-in VHS players in them. So it all goes it all comes around uh uh you know back to square one.

Speaker 2 15:06

It does. I was just gonna say that. I was just um reading something uh and about the cosmos and how everything resets and starts all over again, and that's why you see these patterns and things re-emerge and it's a cycle. It's everything is like that. It's it's very interesting when you look at the whole picture, you know.

Speaker 15:29

Sure. And and it's exciting to me because I'm an old school guy with you know vinyl and C D, so you know, a lot of my professional other musicians are saying, Oh, nobody's buying CDs anymore. But I have uh uh since I've started recording, I have sold uh a lot of CDs and I'm glad to hear it because you know it's a source of income, of course.

Speaker 2 15:53

Well, I hope you consider putting out your next release on vinyl and you know maybe put it out there and you know do a pre-order and see what kind of reaction you get.

Speaker 16:04

You know. Well I'd love I'd love to after after chatting with you, I I I would definitely look into that. Uh my my daughter is a Hillary Duff fan, and so she just came out with a pink album that was only exclusively sold at Urban Outfitters, the the the retail store. But when I went in there they were they were like, well, we haven't gotten the record yet. So I just ordered it for her on the Hillary Duff site. So I'm excited to give her her pink Hillary Duff album.

Speaker 2 16:37

Well, that's another thing that the um companies like that have come on board with that. You have them, um, you have Target, you have Walmart. There's all sorts of different companies that are coming out with their exclusive editions, you know. So they they they really have jumped on board and uh looked at that as a definite source of income. Different different venues, you know. So yeah.

Speaker 17:05

Sure. That's exciting. I I I especially am interested now in the in the clear version, so I will look in look into that.

Speaker 2 17:14

Yeah, that it really does make sense. Uh it's something I didn't realize until probably the last year or so that you know there was the difference between the black vinyl and the clear vinyl. I'm thinking, you know, what what could be the difference here? You know, and it makes sense if something's black, how it will pull in the the dust particles and you can see it right on the vinyl, right? That's why you're always cleaning it before you drop the needle. And and with the uh the clear vinyl, it just doesn't happen that way.

Speaker 17:42

So d now what about the uh colored vinyl? Um do they pick up static like the black or not as much?

Speaker 3 17:50

Uh, you know what? It's a good question. Uh I would think black would be the worst, probably. Right.

Speaker 2 17:57

You know, and um if you if you take colored vinyl and you hold it up to the light, you can a lot of it's translucent so you can see through it. And some of it is like splatter with all the different colors and it's not, but I really haven't noticed any kind of difference in sound or or static or anything with that. Cool.

Speaker 3 18:17

Exciting. Exciting stuff.

Speaker 2 18:20

So you're working on a new album already. When when do you expect to release that?

Speaker 18:25

Um probably around um July uh or August. You know, I it's it's an autumn fall type album. Um and I do um I work with a graphic designer, but I'm also a photographer, and so I take all the photography for the album. Um and so I'm gonna be previewing a lot of that music at Carnegie Hall, so I want to release it. Uh my Carnegie Hall dates in late in late October, so probably July or August, you know, right before the fall season. Um I'm excited about that. And uh again, I chose Autumnal Solitudes because uh there is no album out there right now called that. Um there's an Autumnal Solitude. Uh originally I was gonna call it Autumn, but then there are like, you know, 300 albums out with the title Autumn, so I had to kind of figure out an alternative.

Speaker 2 19:26

Right? Do a George Western thing, Autumn. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 19:30

That's right. That's right.

Speaker 1 19:36

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 19:38

A lot of my uh I know you would ask me some of my influences, and um uh a lot of uh I I I really uh love um melody and rich harmonies. Uh so since I'm an old school guy, I you know, in my concerts, not only do I do my own compositions and I do some classical, but uh I do a lot of uh compositions like uh Henry Mancini, who I love, um Michelle Legrande, John Williams, John Barry. You know, uh a lot of my music is very uh visual. And so in my concerts I add a slideshow with photography. Um so I put up you know photos that are kind of um appropriate to the type of song that I'm playing. And the audience seemed to really love it, you know, because I I just uh you know, I I don't want to just get up there and and play the piano and have them sit there for an hour and a half. So I also have a theatrical background, so I'm trying to, you know, and with today's audiences the attention span is isn't what it might used to be. So adding a visual uh to the music uh is really something that the audience appreciates. So that's kind of uh you know some of my influences as far as my my music.

Speaker 2 20:55

Multimedia, definitely. Yeah.

Speaker 20:57

Yes, yes. The Cirque du Soleil of of piano.

Speaker 1 21:03

Oh that's cool.

Speaker 21:05

Well that's always been that's always been my dream is to is to have a multimedia type show around my piano music, um, with uh ballet dancers and uh you know gymnasts and pantomimes and uh motion picture slideshows to my music. So I'm gonna be contacting some people in in Las Vegas to see if they they might like that kind of idea. 'Cause that would be exciting.

Speaker 2 21:32

It would. I saw the circuit circusoley um Beatles thing for uh four probably about four years ago out in Vegas. It was phenomenal. So much going on at once. You probably have to see it five times to get it all, you know, it was just amazing.

Speaker 21:48

So well I you know, I thought I thought I was a creative guy, but when I see Circus Olay shows, I I'm like I I'm blown away by the by the creativity, the special effects, the music, the the talent of the performers. It's just crazy.

Speaker 2 22:07

Definitely. Well, you know, if you don't have that going on in the background, you're playing Piano, there's a slideshow going on in re in everybody's head as you're playing that music. You know, music is, especially instrumental music like yours. I mean it for me it's natural as soon as it starts, and I look at the you know the track title and this whole thing starts to formulate in my mind and the little story that goes on as you're listening, right?

Speaker 22:34

Exactly. Uh and you know, uh after you you listened to the album and some of the descriptions that you gave about each track, uh you definitely um saw the uh the visuals that I was trying to convey, which which is uh very rewarding to me, because it's you know, if you see what I'm seeing, that's that's a good thing.

Speaker 2 22:54

Oh, that's great. Uh I'm glad you uh you feel that way and that it turned out that way for you. Good.

Speaker 23:00

Yes. Very good. Very very descriptive in in your you know uh descriptions.

Speaker 2 23:08

Oh good. Descriptive descriptions. Yes.

Speaker 23:12

There you go. Very alliterative keys.

Speaker 2 23:18

Well, Richard, it's been wonderful speaking to you today. Uh I really enjoyed it. And uh just so I to let people know once again, Richard Atkins pianistically speaking, that could be a tongue twister. Um that album came out uh last May, and he's currently working on a new album that'll be coming out in around the July time frame, then into October, performing at um back in New York from whence he came at Carnegie Hall. So uh a lot of things going on for this gentleman, and um I hope that you will think about me when you put out the next album so we can do this again.

Speaker 24:01

I certainly will. Um and if people want to find me, you know, I I do have a website and it's uh pianistically-speaking.com. Just you don't have to spell it correctly, you can just do a Google search for Richard Atkins pianist. Um I used to be confused with uh an Elvis impersonator whose name was Richard Atkins, but he unfortunately passed away, so hopefully uh your search will come to me.

Speaker 2 24:28

Well, I'll have all that information uh with with the review and the interview and your stream and everything once I post that today, Richard.

Speaker 24:35

So perfect. I appreciate it, Geese. Uh thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 24:41

Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. Take care.

Speaker 24:44

You too. Take care. Bye. Bye bye.