ftprints11 (footprintseleven) is the primary vehicle for multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer Richard Rummery – who has a unique and diverse approach to modern popular music. He began in musicals and talent quests as a child, winning the Thunderbolt Talent quest in 1972. Playing bass and keyboards in various school bands, he began writing, influenced by Genesis, P. Gabriel, Bowie, Frank Zappa, Santana, Jethro Tull and pop music. After completing a course in audio engineering at ASRE in
In 2002, after several years spent in prison - where he had the opportunity to record in the studio extensively, writing and recording the first ftprints11 albums View frm Nowhere and Colourblind. He also produced the music of inmates for a double album with a multicultural ethos and nothing to lose. The cd album, called Bravo was a world–first, and was supported by the Corrective Services Minister at the time. Rummery then formed a production company called November MediaMusic with Wayne Capper, whom he met there, and set up a recording studio. It was in this period that ftprints11 was born, releasing the cd album Colourblind to wide critical acclaim. He played local gigs with seceral line-ups but foundit too slow going, able to work faster and nmore effic iently on his own. Frustrated at the lack of competent musicians to work with on his level in such a small town like Armidale, he decided to become a solo artist and has not looked back since.
Ftprints11 emerged in 2003 with Colourblind, (to be re-released) followed by the double album set Unsound and Thump (2006) - two contrasting cd albums that have gained international exposure for ftprints11’s unique musical approaches. The single ‘I can’t escape love’ lifted from Unsound was released in the US on 3000 Records gathering valuable airplay and featured on U.S. reality TV show Laguna Beach. The catchy and subversive pop of ‘I’ll take you somewhere’ (from Thump) was been selected for a Rock 4 Life compilation album. Ftprints11 albums include Violet Millions, Reflexion, The Kissing tree and the new album Sandy. These albums all show the diversity and depth of ftprints11’s music – called flexrock - and while categorization is difficult, since his influences and styles are diverse and uniquely incorporated into his original musical statements, it is widely accessible music with power, depth and subtlety.
Also a radio show producer Rummery has a couple of awards for Excellence in Broadcasting and recently did a series of shows for CAHMA called ‘News from the War on Drugs’ heard on 2XXXFM ACT.
Finishing his PhD in philosophy (UNE) and publishing his paper titled 'Narcissism: Theories of Self and Knowledge with reference to the notion of reflection' Philosophy Study, No. 3, Vol. 1, March, 2012, p211-223.
Othe writings in philosophy can be found here: www.triond.com/rwrummery
Discography: Unsound (2006), Thump (2006), Violet Millions (2008) Reflexion (2010), The Kissing tree (2012) and Sandy (2013), as well as singles Break it up (Jack&Jill Coke Vol 10. 2012) and Its our goal! (Socceroo world cup song).
In the current global state of music online there is so much noise, so many artists and wanna-be clamouring to manipulate the social media sites and become famous. It is the pursuit of fame for fame's sake alone. Mediocrity is the new standard, asongs are formularised by talentless bitter hacks with nothing to say, and too many are willing to sell themselves and their skills strictly for profit. pop musicis more and more like advertising jungle, aimed at an inceasingly younger market, recycling bland cliches in not-so-new drag and pretending it's already popular, added to the reality talent shows that try to fabricate success at the cost of credibility, is killing real music and musicians. Music is now used as an tool to selling a wide range of unnecessary products of consumption to brainwashed, ignorant people whose imagination has been compromised by mass media and pure capitalist interests.
“It is the music that communicates itself, no matter what the genre, but only if one listens and is competent to judge and thus appreciate it.” Its immediacy to the heart, and its temporal aspect, which suspends 'real' time, make music the prime exemplar of art and emotion in human life. It is a universal expression of the particular thatis more than mere semiosis and psychoacoustics; its relation to number links it with all experience and matter as well as logic and metaphysics.
The modern listener has very wide tastes, often too wide to pinpont or predict. Yet marketers of music need them to be identifiable as a demographic group so they can find ways of coercing them into becoming a customer and keeping them. But people who follow trends change their mind as the latest ‘fashion’ dictates and fail to develop a soundtrack to their own life through independence of choice which is unique to them and comes to form their intimate identity. These days many young people do not even pay for the music they listen to, preferring to copy it from friends collections – who themselves have copied it. Therefore the artists who are trying to survive do not get enough opportunities to be heard, and this has lowered the standard of pop music as corporate record companies aggressively market to specific demographic groups, and now hope to expand on their profit by organizing ‘collaborations’ between artists of different genres. The listener may not realize that their acceptance or toleration of mass media techniques opened up the door to even more middle-men and parasites inserting themselves in the artist-listener relationship. One wonders why the quality of musical artists has dropped dramatically in the last two decades even as we are in a global listening world. But now ftprints11 aims to recover some of that quality via the fusing of musical genres and styles, enhancing the quality of the musical experience for the listener.
Rummery's new record and publishing label November MediaMusic is now launched, so watch out!
Download ftprints11 albums now! Support Australian music!!
Bookings: novembermediamusic@gmail.com
Phone: 0435526984 Studio: (02) 67713807
