Meet The Band: Rikers

Every single Wendesday night all month long, Rikers have been playing at the Garrison. And then, each time, they've headed west to London, where they've played a show at Call the Office every single Thursday night all month long. This is the final week of their dual January residencies, so this seems like the perfect time for you to meet the Peterborough-based band and their dark and sweeping, vaguely Britpopish rock.

We got Rikers keyboardist Alex Perry to answer a few questions. And you can stream or download their EP for free on their Bandcamp page right here, and check out their other work at rikersmusic.com. 

How do you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard you before?

We try to avoid labeling our music, so we often reference bands like The Psychedelic Furs, U2 and Billy Idol. Then again, at times we are a bit heavier than those bands.

Your all-time, all-star supergroup?

I'm not speaking for the other guys here, but I would say Stewart Copeland (The Police) on drums, Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order) on bass, Philip Oakey (The Human League) on synth, Greg Sage (Wipers) on guitar and Debbie Harry on vocals.

What’s your favorite solo ever on your favourite instrument ever?

The outro guitar solo (the last 6 mins or so) on the live version of "Dazed and Confused" from the "Song Remains the Same" soundtrack. The interplay between bass, drums and guitar is just amazing, and it's mostly improvised. Those guys could play.

Let’s say you could pick on film director ever, living or dead, to reflect your musical style by directing a music video for you. Who would be best for it?

John Hughes. Aside from the obvious musical content, there's just something that's aesthetically pleasing about his movies. He was also one of the first directors to really take on "teen issues" in a serious way without making it a farce. When you're 16, it really IS the end of the world when a girl rejects you, and you're parents hate the music you listen to. First world problems I know.

If you could have one musical superpower, what would you want it to be?

That would probably be the ability to play multiple instruments at once using only my mind. Better than using Pro Tools.

Say, for some strange reason, all the music in the world is going to be destroyed, but you can save all the songs from one decade. Which decade's records would you save?

Can I cheat and say 1975-1985? Most of the popular music of the 80's post-1985 (with a few notable exceptions) was pretty awful in my opinion.

What's the worst album you own?

I have so many crap records that I've inherited from living with different people that it's hard to say, but it's probably "Moog! Claude Denjean and the Moog Synthesizer." When the Moog first came out, apparently people thought it would be a good idea to cover everything from Bolero to The Beatles on a synth. The results were mixed to say the least.

If you absolutely had to get a face tattoo of album art from one record, which record would you want to have on your face for the rest of your life?

Sticky Fingers, with working zipper.

John, Paul, George, or Ringo?

Keith.

If you were going to be a groupie for one band, who would it be?

The Runaways.

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Meet The Band is a regular feature where we introduce you to bands we like. You can find all of the rest of them here.