Biography:
Thank you for visiting Rickysticks17.com. Rick is a semi-professional drummer and music producer, with a great deal of recording experience, both behind the kit and in front of it as an engineer & producer. Rick is also an multi-instrumentalist, who is signed with Vinyl Records LLC. He is also a motivational speaker, actor and model who is signed with Nine9.
His reputation as a drummer in the industry is one of relentless hard work, professionalism, reliability, and focus. Rick has also appeared on TV, has been featured on many blog talk radio shows, and will have his first booked published in 2019.
Rick was born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. He started playing drums at the age of 15, and was heavily influenced to play the drums by Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Rick played in cover bands throughout all of his high school years. During college, he took off from playing in local bands but continued to practice as he earned his B.A. in Economics from New York University, his MBA, and other advanced certificates while he began his career on Wall Street. Once he established his career, Rick joined the scene again playing for New York City greats such as Seeing Voices and a few others, and playing in all the local live music venues such as Arlene’s Grocery, CBGB's, The Delancey, and Webster Hall.
Rick is the former drummer of Damn Your Eyes, a hard rock & metal band from Long Island, New York. In June 2018, the Damn Your Eyes guys brought Rick in to finish recording drums for their self- titled debut EP. The band went on to release that EP in August 2018. In November 2018 the band began writing new music, and then recorded 10 new songs in January-February of 2019 and released their first LP entitled “Kill The Outside” in August 2019. Both the EP and LP can be found on all streaming outlets. Shortly after the album was released, Rick decided to move on to new recording projects.
During 2018-2019, Rick also wrote and produced 20+ programs for his "The Working Drummer", segment which was featured on the blog talk radio show called "Around The Kit".
In November 2016, Rick produced and released an EP for a Long Island band called For The Desolate.
In 2015, Rick released a CD called Alchemy which contains 8 originals & cover songs.
In the Summer of 2013, after an extensive audition held in New York City, Rick was contracted to record with a well-known 80's & 90's rock guitarist for his solo blues CD. Rick recorded drums for 6 of the 12 songs that were released.
Some of the other bands that Rick has had the pleasure of playing for are: We Are The Enemy (L.A.), Jailbreak (co-founder), Hazel Gaze, Afterburn, Seeing Voices, Tempest Crux, The Street Angels, Barefoot Walking.
Some of the teachers that shaped Rick's playing are: Joe Bonadio (Genre: Jazz) who broke all Rick's bad habits as a teenage drummer. Joe taught him how to read and write music for the drum set and sent Rick out into many Jazz gigs around New York City. The second teach that Rick had was Sandy Gennaro of Joan Jett and Pat Travers, Sandy was featured in the April 2014 of Modern Drummer. Sandy taught Rick solid playing, methods of keeping time and developing a grove. Finally, Rick took lessons with Jerod Boyd (Genre: Metal), the drummer of Miss May I. Rick, has taken many lessons with Jerod who has taught him the methods of today’s metal playing.
In addition to his drumming experience, Rick has had the experience of working directly with the industries biggest music marketing and public relations firms. Because of his advanced business and technology education, Rick is a tremendous asset to any music project, not just behind the kit, but also when it comes to effective social media development, website development, launching, digital music distribution, and band and brand management.
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