These young rockers are on their way to superstardom and
there is no stopping them now. The Lynch family and bestie
Ratliff love performing together and it shows with every onstage bounce and bop.
R5’s charismatic and electrifying performances keep their adoring fans coming
back for more. Staying power is the name of the game and these talented kids
have what it takes to achieve world domination.
AT
HOME IN LITTLETON
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| Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org |
Born and raised in Littleton, CO, Riker, Rocky, Ross and
Rydel started performing shows in the family’s home basement to the delight of
their friends and relatives. The spirited crew was entrepreneurial back then
and charged $1 for their events with no flack from their audiences.
Growing up rocking to their parent’s music, R5’s early
influences include the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Elvis. In 2007, eldest
sibling Riker, first exhibited his performing chops and wanted to head out to
California to pursue an acting career. Keeping up the notion that the family
who plays together, stays together, Mark and Stormie Lynch moved the entire
family to L.A. This proved to be a wise move for the family as the kids began
to find multitudes of opportunities in the town where dreams are made.
As kids, the siblings were all pretty artistic, enjoying
piano and dance lessons. It was Rocky who taught himself to play the guitar by
watching “Fall Out Boy” videos on YouTube and eventually teaching his brothers
to play. In an excerpt from an interview on July 1, 2015
with Kevin Studer at Bocamag.com, Riker Lynch explains how he got his start and
the bands that inspired him.
BM:
How old were you when you first started playing an instrument?
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RL: I took a couple piano
lessons when I was little, probably when I was 6 or 7. I took lessons for a
couple years. But then I stopped that, and when I was 16 or 17, I got a bass
for my birthday. I asked for it because Rocky started teaching himself how to
play guitar and he showed me some videos of Fall Out Boy and I was like, “That
is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I want to do that.” So, I asked for a bass
and I got a bass.
BM:
So Fall Out Boy was a pretty big inspiration for you?
RL: Yeah, a huge
inspiration. Fall Out Boy and then the first rock concert that Rocky and I ever
saw together. We were at Red Rocks, Colo., and we saw OAR, and this was before
either of us could really play instruments, but I think watching something like
that at that venue made something click in our brains that was like, “That’s
something we could do.” The rest is history, as they say.
WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA
The Lynch’s landed in Los Angeles and began to pursue their
careers in acting, dance, music and commercials. But forming their own band was
their ultimate goal. Rocky, Ross and Riker all played guitar, Rydel had control
of the keyboards, but none of the siblings played the drums. “We have always
been a group,” notes Rocky. “We grew up as a group. Then we met Ratliff and
pulled him right him.” (www.r5rocks.com/band)
The Lynch family met Ellington Ratliff, eventually their
fifth “R” at a dance studio. The brothers all had become dancers and performed
with “Rage Boyz Crew” on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?” So
did Ellington. They discovered Ellington played the drums and the line-up was
complete.
ENTER R5
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| Courtesy of THCenter.org |
In 2009, the band started a YouTube series called “R5 TV”
and became a hit with millions of views. In March of 2010, R5 self-released an
EP titled, Ready Set Rock. By 2012, the band signed a contract with Hollywood
Records.
Working with producers Emanuel “Eman” Kiriakou and Evan
“Kidd” Bogart in 2012, they released their debut 4-song EP, “Loud.” They wanted
to produce music that made people want to sing out loud in their cars and have
as much fun as they have while they perform. The key to R5’s growth started
with some small club dates in 2012 to a 50-date North American tour in 2013. They
get their fans into a frenzy with their electrifying performances and make them
want to come back for more.
IT GETS LOUDER
It does get louder. In the fall of 2013, R5’s debut album,
“Louder” was released. It included four tracks from “Loud” and seven new songs,
including the hit single, “(I Can’t) Forget About You.” “Louder” rocketed to #1
on iTunes in 10 countries and propelled the rockers into a new stratosphere,
with a positive, fun and inspirational vibe.
SOMETIME LAST NIGHT
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| Courtesy of flickr.com |
Coming off of an incredible 150-show tour for the past year
and a half, R5 played packed houses from North America to Australia. And
they’re about to start again. Showcasing their much anticipated sophomore
album, “Sometime Last Night,” the band begins its U.S. summer tour on July 7 at
the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts in Orange Park, Florida.
Instead of the “party vibe” the band wanted to generate
with “Louder,” “Sometime Last Night” is more about their life experiences and
things that happened to them “sometime last night.”
Riker explains to
Bocamag.com, “RL: I’m really excited. The whole
album in general, I’m excited for the fans to hear. I think it has a really
cool theme, which happened really naturally. I always love something
spontaneous and something that doesn’t take a lot of thought. You know, it just
kind of came to us and all the songs kind of fit in the “Sometime Last Night”
category. They all happened sometime last night. I’m just excited for them to
hear the whole thing as an album.”
EVEN MORE THAN MUSICIANS-
SOME SIDE GIGS FOR THE BUSY FAMILY
In between the music making, Ross and Riker were landing
acting and dancing gigs in Los Angeles and becoming well known on their own.
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| Courtesy of flickr.com |
Ross Lynch is known for the lead male role in Disney’s
wildly popular, “Austin and Ally.” It debuted in December of 2011 and is now in
its final season. In early 2012, Ross landed the male lead in the Disney
Channel Original Movie, “Teen Beach Movie.” The sequel, “Teen Beach Movie 2”
was just recently released, giving this band the recognition it deserves.
From 2010 to 2012, Riker Lynch played one of the Warblers,
the acapella group featured on the hit series “Glee.” Between rocking with his
bandmates, Riker also found time to perform on “Dancing with the Stars” and
took second place on the show’s 20th season. Maybe it’s in his
blood, since Derek and Julianne Hough are his cousins.
WHO DOES WHAT?
·
Ross
Lynch (vocalist/rhythm guitarist)
·
Riker
Lynch (bass/vocals)
·
Rocky
Lynch (lead guitar/vocals)
·
Rydel
Lynch (keyboard/vocals)
·
Ellington
Ratliff (drums/vocals)
R5 is kicking off their summer U.S tour at the
Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts in Orange Park, Florida on July 7 at 7:00
PM. These young rockers have what it takes to make it to the top and stay
there. They genuinely love each other, have a blast on stage and it shows.
It’ll be an electrifying evening you won’t want to miss.
My niece is going to this show and she is sooooo excited. I am sure it will be awesome!
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of this bank until recently and wow, these group is a huge hit worldwide. I can wait to see all the people at the opening on the 7th, it should be fun.
ReplyDelete