♪ You are my love and my life ♪ ♪ You are my inspiration ♪ What's up, everybody?

My name is Manny and today we are live from KVCR studios in San Bernardino.

This is Rhythm Lounge where we spotlight the top musical talent from across the Inland Empire.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the one the only Raincross Drive.

♪ Been away.

♪ ♪ I haven't seen you in a while.

♪ Howve you been?

♪ ♪ Have you change your style and do you think ♪ ♪ that we've grown up differentl ♪ Dont seem the same.

♪ ♪ Seems youve lost your feel ♪ ♪ for me.

♪ ♪ So let's leave it alone.

♪ ♪ ‘cause we can't see eye to eye.♪ ♪ There aint no good guys.

♪ ♪ There aint no bad guys.

♪ ♪ There's only you and me and we just disagree.

♪ ♪ Ooh-oh ♪ ♪ I'm going back ♪ ♪ to a place that's far away.

♪ ♪ How about you?

♪ ♪ Have you got a place to stay?

♪ Why should I care ♪ ♪ when Im just trying ♪ ♪ to get along.

♪ ♪ We were friends ♪ ♪ but now it's the end of our ♪ ♪ love songs.

♪ ♪ So lets leave it alone ♪ ♪ ‘cause we can't see eye to eye ♪ There aint no good guys.

♪ ♪ There aint no bad guys.

♪ ♪ There's only you and me and we just disagree.

♪ ♪ Ooh-oh ♪ ♪ So lets leave it alone ♪ ♪ ‘cause we cantsee eye to eye.

♪ There aint no good guys.

♪ ♪ There ain't no bad guys.

♪ ♪ There's only you and me and we just disagree.

♪ ♪ Ooh-oh ♪ ♪ Tonight I'm gonna break away.

♪ Just you wait and see.

♪ ♪ I'll never be imprisoned by ♪ ♪ a faded memory.

♪ ♪ Just when I think I'm over her ♪ this broken heart will mend.

♪ ♪ I hear her name and ♪ ♪ I have to cry.

♪ ♪ The tears come down again.

♪ ♪ It happens all the time.

♪ ♪ This crazy love of mine ♪ ♪ wraps around my heart, ♪ ♪ refusing to unwind.

♪ ♪ Ooh-ooh.

♪ ♪ Crazy love.

♪ ♪ Count the stars in ♪ ♪ the summer sky.

♪ ♪ That fall ♪ ♪ without a sound.

♪ ♪ And then pretend that you cant hear ♪ ♪ the teardrops coming down.

♪ ♪ It happens all the time.

♪ ♪ This crazy love of mine ♪ ♪ wrapped around my heart, refusing to unwind.

♪ ♪ Ooh-oh ♪ ♪ Crazy love.

♪ ♪ Tonight I'm gonna break away ♪ ♪ just you wait and see.

♪ ♪ I've never been imprisoned by ♪ ♪ a faded memory.

♪ ♪ It happens all the time.

♪ ♪ This crazy love of mine ♪ ♪ wraps around my heart, ♪ ♪ refusing to unwind.

♪ ♪ Ooh-oh ♪ ♪ Crazy love.

♪ ♪ Tonight ♪ ♪ I'm gonna break away.

♪ Welcome back, everybody.

This is Rhythm Lounge, where we spotlight the top musical talent from across the Inland Empire.

With us today, we have the band Raincross Drive straight from Riverside, California.

Guys, I want to take a second to introduce yourselves and share which instruments y'all play.

My name is Ralph and I play piano.

My name is Kelly.

I play bass and acoustic guitar.

My name is Mike Geoghegan and I play bass and acoustic guitar.

Awesome, guys.

Well, thanks so much for stopping by.

Taking time out of your busy schedules to be here today with us.

Share your talent and your music here in San Bernardino at KVCR studios.

So we're going to jump right in.

What would you say kind of inspired the name Raincross Drive and how did you guys get formed as a band?

Well, the name actually comes from the river, the symbol of Riverside.

The official symbol of Riverside is the Raincross.

Gotcha.

And so we were coming from Riverside.

We thought, well, that's that's a great motif.

And there is actually no street in Riverside named Raincross Drive.

Wow.

And it just sort of fit what we were doing.

So we ran with it.

Gotcha.

So maybe one day theyll actually make a Raincross Drive after us.

Yeah.

I mean, I feel like they might owe you guys a street.

Right?

Right.

Yeah.

It's a sort of a dead end.

Yeah.

A dead end street.

We've formed.

We've known each other, I think, over 30 years, right?

Oh, yeah.

Wow.

But we formed this about six maybe coming up on seven years ago.

Mm hmm.

And Mike and I had started the the idea with another musician of doing seventies with harmony oriented type music.

And then when Ralph joined that same starting year, it really clicked.

We took off and we thought we'd play a couple of times a year, but we end up pretty busy, so.

Wow.

I know you you said you guys recently played at Hops and Spokes in Yucaipa.

How did that show go for you guys?

It was great.

It was great, great people.

The beer was great and the room is very good.

A lot of the brewpubs, they kind of have more of an industrialized kind of a look and feel to them and there's a lot of bounce in the room.

Yeah.

So which is perfectly suited for what we do with- we have a low volume.

Kelly plays the percussion with his feet and so our harmonies can kind of bounce around in the room.

And it and it's a very nice feeling.

Gotcha.

I still need to make it to Hops and Spokes.

That'll be one way to get me to ride a bike is the breweries.

Oh, there you go.

Yeah.

Anyway, so I want to ask you guys all mentioned something about harmonies and I know as a musician, as a band, harmonies is something that is so difficult to master.

What would you say?

How did you guys start?

All three of you guys just naturally harmonized or did you guys have to work on that?

Both.

We all have a natural sense of harmony, an ear for it, and we all have sung in other bands.

So it's a natural because we can literally take each other's parts and sing those.

But right, you know, maybe Ralph could kind of describe how we end up with our harmonies, but.

Well, we all rehearse around.

The nice thing about this is we can rehearse around the kitchen table...

Right.

...in Mike's house.

Yeah.

And we'll bring you know, we're always listening for songs that'll work for the format and we bring them in and whoever sings lead will sing lead.

And then the other two of us will figure out the other two parts and tighten it up.

But it's really it's a lot of joy Gotcha.

to sing.

Yeah.

You know, and to sing three parts like this, I mean, this is,it's a huge part of the fun we have with it.

Right.

Is being able to do that.

It's a lot of work too, because we have tuners for guitars and basses and keyboards in tune.

But the vocals, it's always a little bit different, always sounds a little different to blend.

Gotcha.

But after a certain amount of years, we just go out there and I think people would you say people They respond to it.

I think even back when I was when I was a kid and I'd heard, you know, people singing harmony, I was always drawn to it.

And I think that still holds true today.

To anybody that would hear us singing in harmony, they just they want to stop and listen.

Right.

Yeah.

Definitely caught my ear, my attention.

I was going to ask, so if you guys just wrote a new song, how long does it take to get that harmony down?

What would you estimate that to be?

Well, that's a different area, like writing, songwriting and adding harmony to that.

Mm hmm.

Everything we do is a cover song.

We pick seventies, 1970s and a little bit of sixties, a little bit of eighties hit songs that were on the charts that have a format that works for us for harmonies.

Right.

As far as writing a song and then harmonizing within that, that's a whole different ballgame.

And we've all had a lot of experience with that in the studio.

This is a little bit different since we're picking songs that already have great harmonies and we're trying to reproduce that.

Gotcha.

And I know you mentioned earlier today off stage that you guys have all been a part of other bands and produced full albums.

Can you guys each tell me a little bit about what albums you've released and what bands you are part of prior to Raincross Drive?

Oh geez.

Well, Mike and I have been in a bunch of bands together through the years.

The Sedan's..

The Box Cutters.

...The Box Cutters, Actual Size, and...

The Dangers.

...The Dangers, were actually in The Dangers.

Who are, I guess, will also be in this series coming up and the Kelly also had lots of bands too.

And even back in the eighties and nineties we would sit in with each other.

You know, there's always a cross-pollination going.

Right.

Yeah.

You show up to someone else's gig and you pick up a guitar.

Right.

Yeah.

Wow.

So that's happened where one of you guys just shows up to someone's gig and then you're on stage.

Pretty common.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

We would set up for it, you know, hopefully Kelly will come by tonight and he can plug into... We have a spot for him.

So, you know, amongst the three of us, there are thousands of albums out there with with our names on it.

Its nothing huge that you're going to go, you know, not, you know, household names, but it is a lot of work to put out an album.

It's a nice, prideful thing to have them.

I don't know if there is valuable anymore as like a physical piece.

Right.

But we came from a time where making an album was a large undertaking and something to be proud about.

You know, what I really miss about albums, too, is the album booklets just, you know, even 10, 15 years ago you went to the store and purchased an album and then you got to flip through that booklet.

A lot of times people had like the lyrics in them.

That's one thing that I definitely miss from, you know, that time in music.

But Mike, I know you mentioned too you were also part of a couple other bands and released some some albums as well.

Yes.

Yes.

Well, while Ralph and I are in The Sedans and we've released an EP, a six song EP a couple of years back, and we're also in The Dangers, and I think we're on our starting our 13th album with them.

Wow.

Yeah.

So.

Sheesh.

That is exciting.

It is.

It is.

So I'm sure you guys are all, so you guys have a ton of music to play, whether that's, you know, cover, you know, cover songs or your own music, your own original music.

So I'm sure, obviously you guys play a lot of live shows and across the Inland Empire and beyond this this area in this region.

But I was going to ask you guys, what is one of the most difficult parts about being a musician in a band in the Inland Empire?

Hmm.

You know, Ralph, maybe... Traffic.

Traffic.

Well, yeah.

Friday gigs.

Right.

Gotcha.

You know, I mean, Mike and Kelly, both.

Both have, you know, hourly, you know, they punch in, punch out.

So yeah.

You know, Friday traffic used to be you could make it down to Orange County, you know, for a gig Right.

on Friday after work.

But now it's sort of.

Yeah, I think.

Little bit more of a challenge, you know, just getting I mean, even getting, you know, from Riverside to San Bernardino, sometimes that's...

The logistic part is always a challenge.

But finding appropriate places to play.

And of course, we hope for and sort of expect some compensation for the amount of gear we bring and the work we put in.

So that's always a challenge, is finding something.

We've done a lot of things that were fun, that didn't have pay.

Right.

Yeah.

But when you when you do it, you know, a couple, few times a month, it's a challenge might be finding a place that fits us Right.

that we're not going to get beat up.

Mm hmm.

Right.

Yeah.

And it's going to attract the kind of crowd that we like.

And we put our hearts out there and sweat and our talents, and we hope to get a little bit of compensation.

So definitely all about tailoring the audience, because what's the point of playing at a venue where, you know, nobody listens to that style of music, whether it's your guys band or somebody elses.

So totally understand that.

And Mike, did you have anything to add?

Well, yeah.

Any place that we play at, we want to be able to invite our family and friends to, you know.

So that's kind of a benchmark for us when we're choosing a place.

Yeah.

You know, so if it's a hardcore biker bar, it might not be for us, you know?

Right.

Gotcha.

I totally get that.

So... Oh, sorry.

I didnt mean.

I was going to add a general challenge of being a musician also is juggling your other life's responsibilities, work and also sort of keeping in shape.

A lot of people think you just show up and put the instrument on and sing.

Right.

But if we're singing for 3 hours, we have this instrument and this instrument.

So.

Right.

That's a challenge.

Totally.

And that's so crazy that you point that out just because by doing the intro here saying, my name is Manny, I'm like, dang, good thing I'm not a vocalist cause my voice will be shot after half a song, basically.

But yeah.

So how would you say COVID and the pandemic has really, you know, how did that affect your guys?

band and obviously a lot of places shut down and gigs were kind of nonexistent for a while or a period of time.

How did that affect you guys and when did it start picking back up, would you say?

We had about five or six months downtime.

We were you know, obviously, everybody was getting used to the new, that new normal.

And we wound up coming over to my house and saying, let's start putting something together because we haven't played with each other in such a long time.

And as Kelly was saying, there's like a muscle memory that goes on with it too, that you have to keep that going.

It's just like working out.

And it was great to play together again.

Right.

And then we started kind of picking up a couple of gigs here and there.

We did one at Redlands Footlighters and they had an outside parking lot and they had it all gridded off... Yeah.

...for everybody, like, where the parking spots were.

Gotcha.

And we were outside on a stage, so that was really great.

But then the second wave hit and we had to kind of stop again, but then we restarted.

And right now we're as busy as we've ever been.

Gotcha.

Which is wonderful.

Yeah.

We're actually playing indoor gigs... Nice.

Okay.

...this time around.

Last year.

Last year, I think they were all outdoor gigs.

Gotcha.

And I'm sure at that point you guys are just glad to be playing somewhere.

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was so weird and so odd because this is what we do.

Yeah.

It's part of the rhythm of your life and everything.

Right.

And And the distancing, like when we played a parking lot, but that first audience person is, you know, further than your camera sometimes.

Right.

And we get off on interaction and responses.

Yeah.

Nice to play inside.

Yeah.

And of course, we're blessed with great weather in California, but even then, in the winter, it's a little bit it can be a little bit cold to play an instrument outside.

So especially if you're from California, any time it drops below 70, that's cold for us.

Yeah.

If you have to put a long sleeve shirt on in California, it's cold.

Yeah.

And if it gets below 50, you need to wear long pants.

Exactly.

I was going to say.

So speaking of like gigs and places that you guys have performed at, what's one area or location or venue that you would really like to play at?

What's like what's a goal of your guys'?

That's a good question.

That is a good question.

There are areas we'd like to go in that we think we would fit really well.

We've been lucky.

We've done some corporate events where we're playing for CBS Sports or Network or something like that, and we've had a run at Downtown Disney.

Nice.

Which is great.

We auditioned for it and we got right in, so those are, you know, on a wish list for a lot of people.

But there might be an area like I would love to play in Temecula at the wineries down there.

That would be amazing.

Yeah.

Get in that area more.

Right.

It might be our demographic.

There's a bunch of them, you know, there are things like that areas, maybe Palm Springs.

Gotcha.

Yeah, yeah.

Something like that.

But we're pretty happy.

Yeah.

Yeah, we've been.

And another thing too, with us going out to play, there's the response we're getting.

I think as we were feeling so good about being able to play together again.

Right.

Other folks are just happy to get out and listen to live music again.

So it's a it's a really nice situation for any band that's able to pick up and start working again.

People are ready for it.

Yes.

People are beyond ready for it.

Yeah.

What would you guys say is your ultimate goal?

I know obviously you guys have been professional musicians for the past over 30 years.

What's your guys goal individually and collectively moving forward?

Why dont you take this?

Individually, I mean, at this point, I mean, we're not, you know, spring chickens.

So, you know, that rock star dream and everything, you know, that's that was sort of in the past.

And I mean, you get older and you realize, well, for most people who get to do that, it isn't all that once once you get past it, you know, you don't have much in reserves Right.

and so forth, but this right here is in so many ways, I never thought like a little cover group would be sort of a pinnacle of the things that I've done.

But to place play these songs that influenced us to play.

Yeah.

With two of my best friends, it really doesn't get better than that.

Right.

You know, when you go out, like I said this year, we just finished up six weekends of gigs and the response to it, like Mike said, we, we haven't seen that yet.

We've, we've done good with crowds but people are really enthusiastic right now.

So really every Saturday it's like this big kick for us.

That's exciting.

Yeah.

Well, guys, thank you so much for coming in to Rhythm Lounge.

Our very first episode.

Thank you guys so much for watching.

We will see you all next week.

♪ Loving you girl is ♪ ♪ so damn easy ♪ ♪ you are ♪ ♪ my love and my life.

♪ ♪ You are my ♪ ♪ inspiration.

♪ ♪ Just you and me.

♪ ♪ Simple and free.

♪ ♪ Baby youre everything, ♪ ♪ Ive ever dreamed of.

♪