Tio Rico: Scott (Bass), Ash (Drums) - Last Stop: RBY
I (virtually) sat down with two of Manchesters TÃo Rico for a pleasant musical chat last week, here's the interview.
RBY: So guys, introduce yourselves
Scott: Hello, I’m Scott, i play bass and do backing vocals.
Ash: Hi, I'm Ash. I play drums, I do vocals and I write a couple of guitar parts.
RBY: ok, so a bit of background then, Tio Rico, how long you been around and whats it all about?
Scott: Ed (Guitar/Vocals) and I started jamming and writing ideas down in 2014, we played our first gig in jan 2015 so that would make us officially 5 years old. Ash joined us on drums in...2018? Whats it all about... I don't really know, just making a racket, meeting cool people and having fun.
Ash: I’d say, for me, it's just about just channelling some of the energy of certain punk and post-hardcore bands into something British and just playing around with it.
RBY: What kind of racket appeals to you, whats your influences?
Scott: My influences musically are quite wide, from punk like Rancid and Pennywise, to stuff like Korn, Primus and the Pixies.
Ash: for me, I'd say there's definitely Fugazi and Minutemen. certainly in the way I play drums on the record. For clarity, I play on Stay Happy, Plastic, Permanent, Don't Tell Me to Smile and Unfledged. I'm also pretty influenced by Husker Du and Replacements when approaching this. I'd agree with Scott on bands like Rancid. The first part is my approach to drums. then the rest is based on my general appreciation of sound for the band.
Scott: Ash plays drums on the tracks he mentioned, theres 3 drummers on that record!
RBY: How long has Shit Show Pony it been in production for?
Scott: Good question... I think it was probably close to 10 months, purely because of having to find a new drummer part way in to recording, when did you join Ash, sept 2018?
Ash: I joined around then, yeah
RBY: Ah yeah, so Ash you came along with stuff ready to record?
Ash: I came in, had to learn 10 songs for a gig so we just blasted them out. I think I found out a couple of months in there was an album to finish. So I ended up having to make drum tracks for the ones I play on. I also had Permanent, which was a song I'd written a while ago and mostly just left it lying in my metaphorical cupboard of songs. I think it was around about November 2018 I started recording drum tracks. It just took a while to figure out what was going to happen and I managed to get my vocals done before I shredded my voice with a cold.
RBY: What other bands have you all been in? (maybe are still in)?
Ash: I’ve been in a few bands - indie type stuff and I have a couple of other projects with some friends. I've been solo acoustic as Milhouse Van Halen but that's kind of a once in a while thing
RBY: Where about have you been gigging and who with?
Scott: We’ve been all over really, mostly around the northwest, but we've been down south a couple of times, we play a lot with other bands on the Horn & Hoof roster, and loads of the local bands from Manchester. Some of my favourite ones are the gigs out of Manchester though, like when we played with Faintest Idea and Vanilla Pod in High Wycombe and more recently the three day mini tour we did with Worth Taking from the states.
RBY:. Whats the link with Horn & Hoof Records, I realise H&H is Scott amongst others but tell me a bit about Tio Rico and others and Horn &Hoof?
Scott: Crikey! I’ll give you a quick history of Horn & Hoof. So when my old band Glue Ear recorded some music, we had no idea of who to send it to, there was no way a big label would take it, it just wasn't good enough, and we didn't really know any local labels.The only other option was to release it ours ourselves. I started Horn & Hoof. The name came from my love of goats, and the fact that i wanted something goaty but wanted the look of the jolly roger, hence the goat head (and horns) & Hooves.From there i helped a few other mates bands release some music, i think the other bands first were The Distrakted (some of these guys are now in Kringer and the Battle Katz) and A Victory At Sea (Who later became AVAS). and its all sorted of gone from there. I used to put on gigs in Manchester one a year at Satans Hollow under the name Scottfest, these were all layer punk gigs, so to keep doing gigs just seemed natural. So there you have it, we release music by our mates and put on gigs. We also stock music from other bands form the UK and Europe. Ed (or Rico) Officially joined the Horn & Hoof crew a couple of years ago too,
RBY: The Tio Rico name, whats that background?
Scott: Well its the name of uncle in Napoleon dynamite and he's just a legend, there was some reason why we changed it to Spanish though but i cant really remember. But Tio Rico is also a name for Scrooge McDuck and the name for what is effectively walls ice cream in Venezuela, i think it’s the name of some payday lender in Mexico too.
RBY: On the music side, what instruments and setups do the band use and like?
Scott: At the moment i use a fender squire jaguar bass, a fender rumble 500 bass head, which is amazing because its soo light and powerful an a peavy 2 x 10 cab. Ed uses a Fender Telecaster guitar with some Hot Slag pickups , an Orange head and he has an Orange cab but its so heavy we try and avoid taking it.
Ash: I recorded on the same kit I've had since I was about 15 cause I'm not made of money. It's a Mapex kit. the line's discontinued now but I used a Brady Dixon 13 inch snare that's usually cranked pretty high up for a bit of pop.
Scott: Pedal wise Ed and i both use boss TU2 tuning pedals and i have a Bass squeeze pedal and a foot switch for my head, Ed uses a Big Muff, a crayon and a Boss distortion pedal.
RBY: The bass sounds low and loose, especially on Shit Show, almost Stranglers but far more extreme, is that what you're aiming for?
Scott: I want something that sounds a bit aggressive and has a bit of bite to it, i wanted the compression pedal so the high notes don't get lost when playing, that gives it a bit of bite, but yes i also love the loose sound. Again thats something I've liked by bands like Korn, they have that super loose string sound. The guitar isn't strung loosely or anything, i think maybe its just because i smack the shit out of it.
Ash: I once got told by a producer, who summed it up: I try to hit the drums when I shouldn't and as little as possible. for me, just doing mental bang bang bang drum beats isn't that interesting, certainly over a long period. my first drum teacher was a jazz teacher, so we did a bit of that and some blues. I like to think about a groove that goes with it. a lot of drummers say "play the song not the drums" but I didn't spend nearly 20 years learning how to play to just do the same drum beats over and over. so I listen to clinics and records of different drummers, then put them in there. that can include jazz, rock, prog and so on.
RBY: Who are your influences (if you know Eds that'd be nice)?
Ash: Ed likes Nirvana and I'll always judge him for that.
Scott: Rancid, Pennywise, Nirvana, Primus, Pantera , i could go on, ed will say Fresh, The Pixies for sure, not sure who else, maybe Fugazi and Nirvana.
Ash: I don't like Nirvana, being maybe 3 or 4 songs. they're a bad attempt at better bands. I'll stick with Fugazi, Husker Du, some hardcore and Dinosaur Jr.
Scott: Some of the stuff you writes sounds very nirvanary?
Ash: That’s because Nirvana did very standard stuff that nicked from Replacements, Husker Du, Posies, Pixies and so on, you write a bunch of chords, you write a Nirvana song
Scott: Hit a nerve there
Ash: Complaining about being famous and how shit it is then trying not to be famous on purpose equals Nirvana. Pearl Jam just did the sensible thing and stopped releasing videos and singles. job done.
RBY: What do you think of the current scene before the Covid 19 virus?
Ash: I love The Kimberley Steaks and their new album was pretty decent, playing with them on an all dayer last year was a dream especially as they're jolly nice chaps.
Scott: Theres loads of decent bands about a t the moment, one of my fave bands on the local scene is Hummer, has been for years (Editor: we have a Hummer interview being posted soon). Everyone in the punk scene seems really nice, there are a few bands that are obviously trying to score punk points by saying or doing stuff which i find a bit frustrating, but hey everyone is jolly nice so its all good.
RBY: Then the virus landed. How have you all coped with it in life, as a band, musically etc?
Ash: I haven't played drums in a few months because I'm a nice neighbour and not setting them up at home. cut back on spending and hopefully I'll still be working in a couple of months. I wrote loads of riffs and sent them to the other two. might revisit them once we can start practicing again.
Scott: Not been coping too bad, i couldn't see my missus for 10 weeks as she lives in Bradford and works for the NHS but I've managed to see her a few times now so its all good. I did a few bass play throughs on the Til Rico stuff on instagram, and have set up some home recording equipment so i can record an write a few demos to get some songs ideas down and show the guys
Ash: I’ve made sure to do my bit though, just where I can.
RBY: What plans have you got - should this actually all be over one day?
Scott: Get to the pub and have a good few beers and hopefully play some gigs. It’d be nice to get to go on holiday too since my trip to Barcelona was cancelled 5 days before we were due to fly out. And get a little tour on the go with the Dry Retch and the Rites of Hadda boys!
RBY: Hah, that was a cracking lineup, good variety of bands
Scott: Yeah i really enjoyed those gigs, they were a great way to end the year on
RBY: Haha yeah end the year in March…
Ash: Just see some mates. Hopefully be able to go back to a creative writing group I used to frequent.
Thanks to the Two Rico guys for their time, when this is all over they plan a few small tours and currently have a recent album (Shit Show Pony) as well as other stuff available.
Word and photos: RBY
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tioricoband/
Bandcamp: https://tiorico.bandcamp.com/
Horn & Hoof Records: https://www.facebook.com/hornandhoofrecords/