Simple Economics by The Rich
ORIGINALLY RELEASED SEPTEMBER 2005 ON FERAL MEDIA.
“From the honest sounding ambiguity of the vocals to the addictive bass-lines Simple Economics takes complex and ranging influence from punk, rock, new-wave and twists them like a rubix cube into something that simply makes sense.” threethousand.com.au
Who?
The whole concept of The Rich is the brainchild of R.T.C.Ennis. An art school dropout, he has been writing music ever since he can remember. Banging away on the parents' grand piano as a kid, playing guitar as a teenager, giving it all up for visual art, giving up art for writing, giving up writing for music.
What?
There would have been more twists and turns no doubt, but Feral Media and SBS stopped him in his tracks, put him on the straight and narrow: they wanted an album. This was serious, too much for one man, and so The Rich was born as a band, not just an idea. R.T.C Ennis called upon his brother Michael to add guitar, Patrick O'Neal for the bass and Doug Galethwait for the drums. The Rich was alive!
Why?
The perceived nihilism of post modernity has thrown up the punk aesthetic one more time, but this time The Rich are the vanguard of this movement and things will never be the same again. They proclaim to the world that they are the sum of nothing, making sounds in an age of disposable music and 99 cent downloads that get lost in directories and archives because too much (music) information is never enough. This is true post-punk, not just a rehashing of an old style, they are not calling for anarchy, just the realisation of an existentialist inevitability.
The Rich are not laying the claim of being maladjusted youth, all angst and pathos. No, they realise that between an audience and an artist there is a type of power struggle, more Weber than Marx, and by sheer force of will The Rich attempt to come out on top.
So this is not some branded outfit pretending to be the disenfranchised, this is the disenfranchised pretending to be the Establishment.
How?
The album might be post-punk, post-new wave, post pop, contemporary retro; call it anything you like (they really don't care). The fact is The Rich are an action packed four piece that go off with a bang every time you press play.
Ultimately, the sound is based around just about every style of pop/rock guitar that has ever been done over the past 40 years, its been twisted, distorted, deconstructed and reconstructed into a new sound that rings true to the listener the first time round.
Tracklist
| 1. | Naught Radio | 3:24 |
| 2. | Sleep | 3:02 |
| 3. | Smash and Grab | 3:12 |
| 4. | One Night More | 3:30 |
| 5. | Uncontrollable | 3:14 |
| 6. | Real Big City | 3:37 |
| 7. | F15 | 4:26 |
| 8. | Leipzig 89 | 3:42 |
| 9. | Sloth Boy | 3:09 |
| 10. | El Greco | 3:17 |
| 11. | Enfant Terrible | 2:56 |
Credits
Band members:
R.T.C. Ennis, vox; Michael Ennis, guitar; Patrick O’Neill, bass; Doug Galbraith, drums; Mark Newbound, guitar.
All songs written by R.T.C. Ennis and performed by The Rich.
Produced by Daniel Jumpertz. Recorded by Dave Ashton at SBS multitrack studios
Melbourne. Mastered by Greg Seiler
Other liner notes:
Thanks to every one who helped us on this project which includes some early players, Morgan Robertson and Miles Gallagher. Big thanks to Linda, Kate and Sharon for letting me take your boys out to play. Special thanks to Danny and Caroline as well as Suzie and Jacinta: You all rock our world. Thankyou Bec (for just about everything).
Album artwork:
Layout and design by Sopp Collective.
License
All rights reserved.
We are an artist-run record label based in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Here you'll find visionary artists making records they believe in. We're in it for the long haul!