We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Richard McPhee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Richard, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I am releasing an LP of songs this year. The songs were created and recorded by my band Buffalo 40. We played the gig circuit in Washington DC from 2012 through about 2018. At the tail end of that run we recorded a lot of original music. However, due to a lot of life getting in the way we never finished the recordings.

Since that time I learned to edit, produce, compose, record, engineer, etc – everything needed to complete these tunes I learned how to do and eventually got them to a point where I was comfortable releasing them.

It was truly a labor of love. I’m proud of the songs and collaboration it took to create them. I happy to have been able to complete them even after so much time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As it pertains to this interview the closest definition I could give myself would be an artist. Although the level of apprehension or perceived pretension that comes with that word is not something I am comfortable with. Creativity has always been something that I’ve had and enjoyed expressing. It’s the passion side of my personality. As a profession I handle business decisions and work a 9 – 5 job. I can’t complain. I do okay. It’s a good job, but a job. Most of the time I’m thinking about the next song to write or set list to curate, mix to correct, etc.

Mostly my creative side is working on music these days. I am the singer and a guitar player in our band. I write, produce, and mix music as well. It is 100% a group effort from the band I just hold some of the controls.

I started playing guitar fairly late. In college. My father played. Growing up I would watch him bring out the guitars and bongos and start up a sing along (never getting the words right, and never caring). We would put lyrics on the TV and play loud music to sing and dance to. Usually after football parties. It was always about having a good time.

I move to Washington DC in my 20’s and shortly after my good friend followed me south. We shared an apartment and picked up the tradition of “always having a good time”. Music was the driving factor. Whether that be playing the guitars, blasting the Layla album, or The Last Waltz and packing a two bedroom apartment with way to many friends, music was playing.

I met my wife in that time. To this day it would be very rare that you enter our house and there is not music playing. We spent our formidable years hitting every concert we could only to miss a pop up Neil Young acoustic set in Baltimore. One of our few regrets we’ll never get over. Haha.

We have two beautiful daughters now that obviously take up a lot of time and energy and we wouldn’t have it any other way. My band rehearses in my basement that was renovated and quickly turned into a studio before my wife could think… the girls get to bang on the drums or learn some notes on the keyboard, turn up the amps. We hope they develop a passion and respect for music as much as their mom and dad. They have certainly been initiated into it young enough. That being ColdStream’s (my current band) #1 dance crew at gigs.

Music is where I go to push creativity. Sports is where I go to unwind or ramp up depending on the day. I also host a sports podcast. It’s called Simple Minds Sports. It’s me and two friends from elementary school. We all grew up in New Hampshire playing sports together through high school. Sports were my first passion. I have found music to be much easier on the back and knees these days. However, especially being a Boston fan, the fandom never goes away. So, once a week I get to hop on a Zoom with two life long friends and make fun of each other while we sprinkle in a little sports talk about the home town teams. It’s called the Simple Minds Sports show because although we are in our 40’s our sense of humor is still that of a 12 year old. Oh, and we usually sound like buffoons ribbing on each other. Our sports takes however, 60% of the time are spot on, 100% of the time!

That’s pretty much it. ColdStream rehearses and jams every week. We gig out once a month or so around Frederick, MD. We’re constantly creating and now we have started releasing our music. Fight Song was our debut release with many more to follow. It all fills up a huge part of my brain and day to day life. I can’t imagine that every going away.

Be open minded and supportive. The online community can be so visceral and negative. The immediate jump to putting people down is having real world impacts. If someone you know creates something, anything, and they share it, take the time to experience it and try to provide constructive feedback if they ask for it.

Live music/art soon will be if it is not already the most “real” interaction anyone will be able to find. The world is so chronically online, a healthy shift towards experiences is needed.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The idea of publicly sharing what you have created was a massive hurdle for me. It only really happened at a time in my life where the consequences were low enough for me not to care as much. It was a combination of that and just being more comfortable with myself/ not giving a fuck, maybe?
When I was younger I think I was afraid of the opinions of others too much. I did not give enough thought to if I like it that maybe someone else would.

I’m happy to have had support from my family and a strong push from my wife to just start sharing. It opened up a community of people I didn’t have access to who are like minded and supportive and fun.

If a “non creative” has never had that feeling it’s hard to explain the fear and importance of it. But, you have to take the leap. No risk it, no biscuit.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coldstream_music21/ ; https://www.instagram.com/thebeauferndaleproject/; https://www.instagram.com/buffalo40music/
• Twitter: https://x.com/Simple_Minds_S
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simplemindssports2919
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/buffalo-40; https://soundcloud.com/coldstreamband21
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@simple_minds_sports?lang=en