We were lucky to catch up with Richard Mangicaro recently and have shared our conversation below.
Richard, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
This is a continual challenge for us creative artists….especially in these times. In the years prior to digital downloading, creative artists were able to make a living selling our music, along with touring, live work and selling our merchandise. Before the age of streaming, if you liked someone’s music, you would go to their websites or a record store and buy their music. This was normal. Now, entire generations who don’t even know what that’s like. When streaming music entered the business, it basically enabled the very, very few at the top of certain corporations to make billions off of us creative artists, while paying us literally less than pennies on the dollar for each stream. While I completely understand the ease and convenience of streaming music, it has taken away a big part of our revenue stream. Like everything, the positive side to it is that our music is distributed on many platforms digitally. But it falls on us to self-promote our own music and this is much more difficult, for lesser known artists. We all have learned to wear MANY hats – we write, create, record, perform, engineer, produce and finally promote our own music. While our skills have increased by necessity, many of us most also hold down other work, along with being creative artists to make ends meet and to be able to afford to create our own music.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Ever since I can remember, from a very young age, I knew I was going to be involved in music. I feel it ‘chose me’, I didn’t choose it. I was one of the lucky ones who saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and that, along with watching the Latin music that was featured on I Love Lucy – this all steered my path. I began playing very young. I just followed it. Like many, I learned in school, played in many bands, went to music college, got a degree – all while performing live from a young age. The importance of playing constantly with others and playing many different music styles, helped me develop. I feel that I’m very lucky to have grown up with so many iconic, legendary bands and artists who really made what popular music is today. From playing in many bands, it was a step-by-step process that led me to ultimately performing and recording with some of those very iconic artists whom I grew up listening to. A lot of hard work, practicing, studying and learning to be a professional. I think I’m most proud of how I look at being a professional – being prepared; being on-time; knowing my craft; knowing how to get along with others with mutual respect; respect for the work that comes my way and never taking any of it for granted because so many would love to have done what I’ve done and I feel very fortunate for that. I’m also most proud of my many years playing with Eagles co-founding member Glenn Frey, which harks back to what I said earlier…getting to play with the artists that I grew up listening to.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
For much of my career, I was a working musician. Playing clubs with various artists, more on a local level, working in many different genres and styles. While playing and doing some recording projects, for many years I also held down other jobs. Probably the most pivotal of those jobs was my 19 years as Artist Relations Manager for the Swiss company, Paiste Cymbals. It was through my connections at Paiste, that I began to meet some of the world’s greatest drummers and percussionists, working with them closely. As time went on, they began to learn of my own musical abilities and from this, I met a drummer named Scott Crago. Scott was instrumental in my ‘big break’, as he was playing drums for the legendary American band, the Eagles. When the Eagles weren’t touring, each of the individual members had their own bands that they toured with and it just so happened that Glenn Frey, one of the Eagles founding members, needed a percussionist who sang and Scott recommended me. That began a 15-year, unbelievable experience for me, playing in Glenn’s band and also playing for Joe Walsh, simultaneously. Before Scott was in the Eagles, he was also the original drummer for a band from Southern California called Venice – another band whom I played with and still do sometimes, to this day. Venice is one of the best vocal bands in the country and we’ve played with many iconic artists like David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Michael McDonald and many others. So my biggest pivot I feel was from meeting Scott Crago, him believing in me enough to introduce me to the Eagles’ Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative artist is the collaborations we have when making art. We don’t do this alone. Yes, we do a lot of work on our own to get our craft to a certain point, but the best part of it is the collaborations with others. There’s nothing more rewarding than being a part of something creative with others…the pride we feel when we’re playing live with a great band…we look around that stage and realize that together, we’re creating something special, as a team. We look out at our audience, see them moving, singing, smiling, dancing and we’re the ones providing that. For a moment in time, we help them forget their troubles. There’s really nothing better. It’s an incredible feeling and it’s addicting. Along with the live work, when we create original music, once the record is finished, it’s an incredibly proud moment to release that music, celebrating it with the team we worked with to bring it to life. Our co-writers, producers, engineers, players with play with – it’s an amazing thing to produce something that lives forever and it creates a life-long bond with those whom we work with on our projects.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.richmangicaro.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richmangicaro/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richmangicaro/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rich-mangicaro-22341b205
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RichMangicaro
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/atnoon-jc-rm
- Other: https://richmangicaro.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
Rob Shanahan
Kristina Sado