# Richard Hewson’s RAH band: Journey From Bedroom Demos To Global Streams

An episode of [Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1751194045), 19 May 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c41d385f-64b2-4514-9415-b4d50130ce01/b427b814-7743-4ef6-8157-b4d5016a45dd/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d1742151-672b-4e4d-997b-b4d50130ce0c

We sit down with Richard Hewson, the creative force behind the Ra Band, to trace how an under-credited arranger turns frustration over fees into a self-made recording legacy. We get the real stories behind “Clouds Across The Moon,” Abbey Road sessions, vintage studio gear, and what it feels like to be rediscovered through Spotify and TikTok decades later. • arrangers paid a fee without royalties, pushing Richard toward writing his own songs • building early Ra Band tracks as a one-person “bedroom band” on multitrack tape • jazz influences shaping a pop sound, plus the Paul McCartney connection that opens doors • turning an “international operator” memory into the sci-fi story of “Clouds Across The Moon” • writing lyrics by creating a story scene, starting with simple phrases and expanding them • “Messages from the Stars” going viral on streaming and reigniting the back catalog • receiving the Roland SH-5 as a first synthesizer and sticking with vintage gear • analog warmth vs digital sameness, plus why hiss and tape feel “timeless” • favorite string arrangements and the craft of writing orchestration by hand • Abbey Road memories, Phil Spector’s massive orchestra request, and McCartney’s reaction • praising session musicians as the real heroes who can nail anything first take • seeing the Ra Band performed live by his son and a nine-piece touring lineup • where to find the music on major platforms and hopes for a vinyl run If you haven't already, take a quick second to tap the follow button. It really helps the show reach more people who love music and entertainment. INTRO/OUTRO Music: T. Wild Mantor Music BMI See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:14] Speaker 1: My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to
[0:17] Speaker 1: work with a diverse range of talent through my years
[0:20] Speaker 1: of experience i've recognized two essential aspects industry professionals whether
[0:26] Speaker 1: famous stars or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories
[0:31] Speaker 1: to tell secondly audiences are eager to listen to these
[0:35] Speaker 1: stories which offer a glimpse into their lives and the
[0:38] Speaker 1: evolution of their life stories this podcast aims to share
[0:42] Speaker 1: these narratives providing information on how they evolved into their
[0:46] Speaker 1: chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom,
[0:50] Speaker 1: discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who
[0:53] Speaker 1: helped them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes
[0:57] Speaker 1: stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi,
[1:04] Speaker 1: I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. If you
[1:07] Speaker 1: haven't already, take a quick second to tap the follow button.
[1:10] Speaker 1: It really helps the show reach more people who love
[1:13] Speaker 1: music and entertainment. Thanks for being here. Joining us today
[1:17] Speaker 1: is a true pioneer in music, an artist whose influence
[1:20] Speaker 1: stretches across decades and genres. Richard Hewson, the creative force
[1:25] Speaker 1: behind the Ra Band, has helped shape the sound of
[1:28] Speaker 1: modern music in ways many people don't even realize. From
[1:32] Speaker 1: producing and arranging for some of the biggest names in
[1:35] Speaker 1: the industry to creating timeless hits like Clouds Across the Moon,
[1:40] Speaker 1: Richard's work blends innovation, storytelling, and a signature sound that
[1:45] Speaker 1: still resonates today. The Raw Band isn't just a project,
[1:50] Speaker 1: it's a legacy of creativity, vision, and musical excellence that
[1:54] Speaker 1: continues to inspire artists around the world. Today we're diving
[1:58] Speaker 1: into his journey, the stories behind the music, and what
[2:02] Speaker 1: continues to drive his passion after all these years. Thanks
[2:06] Speaker 1: for joining us today.
[2:07] Speaker 2: Okay. Amazing.
[2:09] Speaker 1: In the early years of your music career, you was
[2:11] Speaker 1: a producer and an arranger. Then you created the Raw Band.
[2:16] Speaker 1: Can you give us a little bit of a background
[2:18] Speaker 1: on how that all came together?
[2:20] Speaker 2: Well, I don't know whether you know, but I did
[2:22] Speaker 2: about 10 years of arranging for Alden Sundry. And back
[2:26] Speaker 2: in those days, as it is even today, arrangers don't
[2:29] Speaker 2: get royalties, music royalties. You just get a fee, which
[2:33] Speaker 2: wasn't very big in those days. And I did so
[2:36] Speaker 2: many records, and I thought, oh... Look at the millions
[2:38] Speaker 2: they're making and I'm making 25 quid. So I thought,
[2:41] Speaker 2: I've got to write my own tunes because I'm never
[2:44] Speaker 2: going to last unless I turn to writing my own songs.
[2:47] Speaker 2: So the very first one I did, I probably was
[2:49] Speaker 2: one of the very first bedroom bands, you know, recording
[2:52] Speaker 2: everything in his bedroom on a very... small multi-trap machine,
[2:57] Speaker 2: and I could play the guitar, I could play the bass,
[3:00] Speaker 2: I could play the keyboard and synthesize. Well, I didn't
[3:03] Speaker 2: know synthesizing those days, actually, but I could play the keyboard.
[3:06] Speaker 2: And so I decided I'd have a go at making
[3:08] Speaker 2: a record. Actually, I was a jazz head, really, in
[3:11] Speaker 2: my previous life, not really a pop musician at all.
[3:15] Speaker 2: So I knew nothing about pop music except the tracks
[3:17] Speaker 2: I'd worked on. So I thought, well, I'll have a
[3:20] Speaker 2: go at making a pop record, what I thought was
[3:22] Speaker 2: a pop record. And I just put it all down
[3:24] Speaker 2: on the multi-track tape, and it sounded pretty good. And
[3:27] Speaker 2: then I put some brass on it. I took it
[3:29] Speaker 2: then to a big studio and put brass on it.
[3:31] Speaker 2: It sounded pretty good, but I couldn't sell it. I
[3:33] Speaker 2: could not sell it for about two years. Eventually, somebody
[3:37] Speaker 2: in the clubs picked it up, and it blew up
[3:39] Speaker 2: big time. And I got a deal for it, and
[3:41] Speaker 2: lo and behold, I've got a project. I was thinking,
[3:44] Speaker 2: what am I going to call this band? The sort
[3:46] Speaker 2: of heavy water? No, no, no, no. Somebody said, what
[3:49] Speaker 2: are your initials? I said, R-A-H. He said, that's it.
[3:52] Speaker 2: You got it. The raw band. And it stuck.
[3:55] Speaker 1: Wow, that's such a great story. I love you weren't
[3:57] Speaker 1: chasing pop trends. So take us back for a second.
[4:00] Speaker 1: Who or what influenced your sound?
[4:03] Speaker 2: Well, really jazz. I was a complete jazz head when
[4:06] Speaker 2: I did music college and then came out. But jazz
[4:09] Speaker 2: was all that was my life. Bill Evans, Miles Davis,
[4:12] Speaker 2: John Coltrane, all the great guys that everybody knew about.
[4:15] Speaker 2: That was me, just jazz. And I was a jazz guitarist.
[4:18] Speaker 2: I was called good on the jazz guitar at the time.
[4:21] Speaker 2: I met a friend called Peter Asher, who you probably
[4:24] Speaker 2: know about Peter Asher, whose sister was going out with
[4:26] Speaker 2: Paul McCartney. And that's how I got to meet Paul
[4:29] Speaker 2: McCartney and round up Peter's house one day with a play.
[4:32] Speaker 2: Paul wanted, he discovered a new Welsh singer, a girl
[4:36] Speaker 2: Welsh singer, folk singer, and wanted to make a record
[4:39] Speaker 2: with her. But he said, I don't want to use
[4:41] Speaker 2: the usual arranger guys because, you know, you want to
[4:44] Speaker 2: use somebody a bit less field. And Peter said, well,
[4:46] Speaker 2: why don't you try Richard? Because he'd been to college,
[4:49] Speaker 2: got some knowledge, and he's a jazz musician, so you're
[4:51] Speaker 2: coming in with something different, which is what happened. And
[4:54] Speaker 2: lo and behold, my first arranging job, which went to
[4:56] Speaker 2: number one, which opened a lot of doors for arranging.
[4:59] Speaker 1: Wow, that's amazing. and then Clouds Across the Moon happens,
[5:03] Speaker 1: and it just takes off worldwide. Was there a moment
[5:06] Speaker 1: in the studio or hearing it back where you thought, OK,
[5:10] Speaker 1: this one's different, this is special?
[5:12] Speaker 2: Well, when I wrote it, it was because I'd been
[5:15] Speaker 2: coming backwards and forwards to Los Angeles doing arranging for
[5:18] Speaker 2: American artists, actually. And I remember we didn't have cell
[5:22] Speaker 2: phones or internet or any of that stuff. So to
[5:24] Speaker 2: call back home, I used to have to go by
[5:26] Speaker 2: the old-fashioned telephone line. When you wanted to make an
[5:29] Speaker 2: international call, you'd pick up the phone and the guy
[5:32] Speaker 2: would say, hello, this is the international operator here.
[5:35] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[5:35] Speaker 2: That stuck in my head. And when I came home,
[5:38] Speaker 2: I had a track written, not with that theme, just
[5:41] Speaker 2: with a different lyric. I was thinking about this international operator.
[5:45] Speaker 2: And I thought, what if we set it in the
[5:46] Speaker 2: future and call him the intergalactic operator? So that became
[5:50] Speaker 2: a space song. Okay. And it got picked up because
[5:53] Speaker 2: it was a space song. If I hadn't changed the lyric,
[5:56] Speaker 2: I don't know whether it would have been a hit, actually.
[5:58] Speaker 2: But because it was a spacey thing, and it was
[5:59] Speaker 2: about the time of space was all in the news,
[6:03] Speaker 2: new space exploration, it took off. And away she went.
[6:08] Speaker 1: It seemed like a lot of your songs had a
[6:10] Speaker 1: good story base to them and they were very inspirational.
[6:14] Speaker 1: It was almost like listening to the soundtrack of a movie.
[6:17] Speaker 1: How important was the storytelling to you in writing all
[6:20] Speaker 1: your songs?
[6:21] Speaker 2: Well, I suppose because I wasn't really a lyric writer,
[6:25] Speaker 2: I was a musician, guitarist, jazz player. I'd never written
[6:28] Speaker 2: pop songs before, as I said. So it was really
[6:32] Speaker 2: an effort for me to write a pop song. So
[6:34] Speaker 2: the first one I did, really, was not Clouds Across
[6:37] Speaker 2: the Moon. It was one called Perfume Garden. Okay. Now,
[6:40] Speaker 2: that was when I'd written a jazz-type backing. And I thought, well,
[6:45] Speaker 2: I don't know anybody who writes lyrics, strangely enough, even
[6:48] Speaker 2: though I was in the music business. I didn't actually
[6:50] Speaker 2: know anybody. personally a lyric writer. So one day in
[6:53] Speaker 2: the bath, I went with my pencil and paper and
[6:55] Speaker 2: I think, well, I'll try and write one myself. I thought, well,
[6:59] Speaker 2: that sounds like Come With Me. And that was the
[7:01] Speaker 2: first lyric I ever wrote, Come With Me. And I
[7:04] Speaker 2: took it on from there, trying to make a story
[7:06] Speaker 2: of it, really. And that's basically the way I've always
[7:08] Speaker 2: tried to write lyrics, to try and have a story
[7:11] Speaker 2: attached to it. And that's how it goes.
[7:14] Speaker 1: So here we are 40 or 50 years later, and
[7:17] Speaker 1: your music is finding a whole new audience through streaming
[7:21] Speaker 1: and all these modern platforms. What does that mean to you,
[7:25] Speaker 1: to see a new generation discovering what you created all
[7:30] Speaker 1: those years ago?
[7:31] Speaker 2: Yes, indeed. In fact, I don't know whether you're aware
[7:35] Speaker 2: of it, but about two or three years ago, an
[7:37] Speaker 2: old tune called Messages from the Stars, which was written
[7:40] Speaker 2: in 1983, in Los Angeles, of all places. And it
[7:45] Speaker 2: blew up big time, went viral on Spotify, on TikTok,
[7:50] Speaker 2: all the platforms, and still is, still bowling along there,
[7:53] Speaker 2: which is amazing. It's sort of reignited interest in the
[7:57] Speaker 2: back catalog, of which we've got quite a large one.
[7:59] Speaker 2: I think I've spent 50 odd years in the business.
[8:02] Speaker 1: With everything you've done and everything coming back around, Do
[8:06] Speaker 1: you find more people are reaching out to find out
[8:09] Speaker 1: how you did all this? How does that feel?
[8:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. It feels strange because, as I say,
[8:15] Speaker 2: starting off as a backroom boy, arrangers are, of course,
[8:18] Speaker 2: the backroom boys. They never get to see the front
[8:20] Speaker 2: of the stage. And then making records in my bedroom,
[8:24] Speaker 2: as I said, I was a bedroom band. I didn't
[8:26] Speaker 2: really get to meet people outside because it wasn't a band,
[8:29] Speaker 2: even though it's called The Raw Band. Right. It was me, really,
[8:33] Speaker 2: playing all the instruments, and then if I needed strings
[8:36] Speaker 2: or brass, taking them to a studio. So still, I
[8:38] Speaker 2: wasn't really in the public eye. I was just a name,
[8:41] Speaker 2: which was great. I got a lot of lovely compliments
[8:44] Speaker 2: on YouTube and things like that, which was great, but
[8:46] Speaker 2: I never actually met a lot of people. I keep
[8:49] Speaker 2: quoting this, but I'd never actually been to a music
[8:52] Speaker 2: business party in 50 years. Never. People say, you're lucky, mate,
[8:58] Speaker 2: you didn't go. So that's how me and the public
[9:03] Speaker 2: never really met.
[9:04] Speaker 1: You said something earlier that really stood out. You weren't
[9:08] Speaker 1: part of the clique. And honestly, I think that's what
[9:11] Speaker 1: made you special. You weren't chasing other people's sound. You
[9:14] Speaker 1: were building your own based on what moved you and
[9:18] Speaker 1: your influences.
[9:19] Speaker 2: Exactly so, actually. You're dead on, because I was still
[9:23] Speaker 2: a jazz head even back in the day, and still am, actually.
[9:26] Speaker 2: But I'm wild about string orchestras from my college days.
[9:30] Speaker 2: That's where that started. And that was really the influences
[9:33] Speaker 2: in my music, probably. And so I didn't listen to
[9:38] Speaker 2: a lot of pop music at the time. In fact,
[9:40] Speaker 2: I probably didn't know what was in the chart. I
[9:42] Speaker 2: just sort of went my own course and out came
[9:45] Speaker 2: the music the way it did, you know, not influenced
[9:48] Speaker 2: by a lot of other contemporaries.
[9:50] Speaker 1: Many different people have said that you were not afraid
[9:53] Speaker 1: to try new and different things with your music. When
[9:56] Speaker 1: you went in the studio and when you worked with
[9:58] Speaker 1: a gear that was prevalent at that time, what was
[10:01] Speaker 1: one of your favorite pieces of gear to work with
[10:04] Speaker 1: that helped give you the sound that you became well
[10:06] Speaker 1: known for?
[10:07] Speaker 2: Well, I don't know whether you know or many people
[10:10] Speaker 2: know that The Crunch, which was the first record I
[10:13] Speaker 2: mentioned when I started to kick it into my bedroom
[10:15] Speaker 2: and made it all myself, It sounds... Everybody said, which
[10:18] Speaker 2: synthesizers did you use? I said, I haven't got a
[10:20] Speaker 2: synthesizer at that time. I didn't have a synthesizer. It
[10:23] Speaker 2: was just about the time they were coming in. Yes.
[10:26] Speaker 2: When that was a hit, I got a call from Roland,
[10:29] Speaker 2: the company Roland, synthesizer company, and they said, we'd like
[10:32] Speaker 2: to give you a synthesizer. It was an SH-5 synthesizer,
[10:37] Speaker 2: which I still have today and still sounds great. And
[10:39] Speaker 2: that was my very first synth. So I hadn't actually...
[10:42] Speaker 2: got into electronic music until after I had the first hit,
[10:46] Speaker 2: which wasn't a synth record, although it sounds it.
[10:50] Speaker 1: So people are starting to find you again. And of course,
[10:53] Speaker 1: along with that, they're listening to your music. What do
[10:57] Speaker 1: you hope that they get out of your music? And
[11:00] Speaker 1: which songs would you like to have them listen to first?
[11:04] Speaker 2: Oh, that's a difficult one. I've heard the quote many,
[11:07] Speaker 2: many times. It's like your babies, aren't they? Very hard
[11:10] Speaker 2: to choose. which one you would put first.
[11:12] Speaker 1: Yes, very true.
[11:14] Speaker 2: But I've got my favorite orchestral type ones. I've got
[11:17] Speaker 2: my favorite dance one. If you want to pin me
[11:20] Speaker 2: down to the best song I wrote, probably, in my opinion,
[11:24] Speaker 2: not in anybody else's, in my opinion, is one I've
[11:26] Speaker 2: called Across the Bay. I like the lyric. I like
[11:29] Speaker 2: the performance. That was my ex-wife that did the singing
[11:32] Speaker 2: in the early days. And I love the string arrangement
[11:35] Speaker 2: of it. So I could say that probably is my
[11:37] Speaker 2: favorite piece of work. Not necessarily my favorite baby, as
[11:40] Speaker 2: it were.
[11:40] Speaker 1: So are you still working in the studio? And if
[11:43] Speaker 1: you are, what are you working on?
[11:45] Speaker 2: We've got a new album out right now as we speak. Yeah,
[11:48] Speaker 2: it's released. It was released a couple of weeks ago.
[11:51] Speaker 2: I'm doing very well. I'm really pleased to say what
[11:54] Speaker 2: it is. It's a compilation of some of the old
[11:56] Speaker 2: tracks from across the years, remixed, remade. We're all with
[12:00] Speaker 2: the same, the original vocals. I've kept all the vocals. And...
[12:04] Speaker 2: rebuilt the tracks, and we've got two or three new tracks,
[12:07] Speaker 2: brand new. And it's doing very well, and I have
[12:09] Speaker 2: to say it's called Life After Love Songs.
[12:12] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Now, let's get into your remixing. I
[12:16] Speaker 1: know back then you were doing things your own way
[12:19] Speaker 1: to get that exact sound you wanted, and it clearly
[12:22] Speaker 1: worked because people connected with it. Are you using different
[12:25] Speaker 1: studio gear to remix? What's your approach to this?
[12:29] Speaker 2: I'm still back in dark ages with my equipment. It's
[12:32] Speaker 2: still a lot of 80s, 70s, 90s equipment. Nice. Still
[12:36] Speaker 2: sounds great today. So a lot of it's broken down.
[12:38] Speaker 2: So the ones that are broken are not used anymore.
[12:40] Speaker 2: So it reduces my choice of instrument considerably. But that's
[12:44] Speaker 2: good because when I come down in the morning, I think,
[12:46] Speaker 2: which drum machine shall I use today? Oh, there's only
[12:49] Speaker 2: one that's working. That's the one we'll use today. And
[12:52] Speaker 2: so my sound has sort of shrunk a bit. No way,
[12:56] Speaker 2: it makes more demands on you. You've got to be
[12:57] Speaker 2: more creative to use those sounds.
[12:59] Speaker 1: Sure.
[13:00] Speaker 2: And get something more out of them than you perhaps
[13:02] Speaker 2: did before. I love it. It's just lovely to go on.
[13:05] Speaker 2: But technically, my son, who is a brilliant musician, and
[13:08] Speaker 2: incidentally now, takes the raw band out on the road
[13:12] Speaker 2: doing gigs, the raw band live. They've got brilliant musicians
[13:15] Speaker 2: in it. Anyway, he comes around to my studio and says, Dad,
[13:19] Speaker 2: that old gear there, you should get some new stuff.
[13:22] Speaker 2: I said, no, I don't want to. I like the
[13:24] Speaker 2: sound I make with this, and I'll stick with it
[13:26] Speaker 2: until I'm gone.
[13:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a big analog guy myself. I remember working
[13:30] Speaker 1: with 2-inch tape and doing it the old school way.
[13:33] Speaker 1: It seems like a lot of people are trying to
[13:36] Speaker 1: recreate digitally what we created back then with analog. There's
[13:41] Speaker 1: just something about the old gear, the warm sound, the
[13:44] Speaker 1: depth of it. It's just hard to replicate. It's just
[13:47] Speaker 1: a great quality sound that we can get with that gear.
[13:50] Speaker 2: I think so. And also, I think listening to Asian ears,
[13:56] Speaker 2: I do, as I said, I don't normally listen to
[13:57] Speaker 2: pop music, but when I do listen to the radio
[13:59] Speaker 2: in the car or whenever, I find they all sound very,
[14:02] Speaker 2: very similar. all the tracks are very similar to each
[14:05] Speaker 2: other because they're probably using the same gear. But it does,
[14:09] Speaker 2: whereas back in our day, I mean, back in the day,
[14:12] Speaker 2: and in the studio that I used to take my
[14:14] Speaker 2: stuff sometimes to be mixed to, the engineers were so creative.
[14:18] Speaker 2: You know, we thought, how can we make this sound better?
[14:20] Speaker 2: And we didn't have the electronic sampling stuff that we've
[14:23] Speaker 2: got now. So we'd have to, you know, we'd have
[14:25] Speaker 2: to put two tape machines together with a big long
[14:28] Speaker 2: loop of tape around it or something like that. Things
[14:32] Speaker 2: like that. I think we were more creative, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type work,
[14:38] Speaker 2: you know?
[14:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I remember those days. There's just something about
[14:43] Speaker 1: the tone you get from the two-inch tape versus digital,
[14:47] Speaker 1: that slight hiss in the background. It has that ambience
[14:51] Speaker 1: that gives it that timeless sound.
[14:54] Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's amazing, isn't it? You'll find that you
[14:56] Speaker 2: can now get a sample of hiss put on your tape.
[15:00] Speaker 1: Yes.
[15:01] Speaker 2: Make it because it's so digital there's no background noise
[15:03] Speaker 2: at all and now put your system back on which
[15:06] Speaker 2: is kind of crazy.
[15:08] Speaker 1: Yeah with analog machines and tape that was just the
[15:11] Speaker 1: way we did it that sound came naturally now a
[15:15] Speaker 1: lot of people didn't grow up with that so they're
[15:17] Speaker 1: using these plugins to try and recreate what we were
[15:20] Speaker 1: getting in real time.
[15:21] Speaker 2: Yes yes i mean the ai stuff now that's on
[15:24] Speaker 2: facebook get to do your multi-strings, your multi-choirs, all that stuff.
[15:29] Speaker 2: A little bit worrying, but I don't think they'll ever
[15:32] Speaker 2: compete with the actual real sound of strings and choirs
[15:35] Speaker 2: and guitars. Yes, I 100% agree.
[15:37] Speaker 1: Now, What was your favorite decade for music?
[15:43] Speaker 2: Oh, well, again, going back to the jazz days, I
[15:46] Speaker 2: started life very late in music because I ran away
[15:49] Speaker 2: to sea when I left school and went to the
[15:52] Speaker 2: Merchant Navy. But that, in fact, produced my musical career
[15:55] Speaker 2: because one of the trips when I was a cadet,
[15:57] Speaker 2: the guy before me, I'd have been about 16 or
[16:00] Speaker 2: 17 years old, going on these old tramp ships. He
[16:03] Speaker 2: left his guitar behind, and I hadn't played a note
[16:05] Speaker 2: of music until then. So I went ashore and bought
[16:08] Speaker 2: a copy of How to Play the Guitar. And on
[16:10] Speaker 2: that long trip, I got quite good listening to Voice
[16:13] Speaker 2: of America on shortwave. Yes. I used to listen to
[16:17] Speaker 2: Willis Conover's Jazz Hour. And that was a great show.
[16:21] Speaker 2: And I could get all the jazz and try and
[16:22] Speaker 2: emulate it on the guitar on those long nights at sea.
[16:25] Speaker 2: And that's how I actually started in the business. So really,
[16:28] Speaker 2: I've got various favorites. That Merchant Navy Learning the Guitar
[16:32] Speaker 2: time was an amazing time for me as a teenager.
[16:35] Speaker 2: And then going to college was great. I did that
[16:38] Speaker 2: in my early 20s and learned all about orchestration, classical music, etc.,
[16:43] Speaker 2: Still playing jazz. And I think I still kept my
[16:46] Speaker 2: love for jazz all these years. And playing in Ronnie
[16:48] Speaker 2: Scott's occasionally and things like that was a great thrill.
[16:51] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[16:52] Speaker 2: Still see, go to Ronnie Scott's now. You've probably heard
[16:55] Speaker 2: of it, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Yeah. Anyway, so I
[16:59] Speaker 2: wouldn't say I've got one favorite era. I think each
[17:02] Speaker 2: era has its own flavor and delights.
[17:05] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Now, you mentioned you went into your own
[17:10] Speaker 1: bedroom and created the band So what's your favorite instrument
[17:14] Speaker 1: to play?
[17:15] Speaker 2: Well, funnily enough, just before I came in to do
[17:17] Speaker 2: this interview, I was in the studio and I picked
[17:19] Speaker 2: up my guitar. I've just finished a track, which is
[17:22] Speaker 2: on this album. And I thought, oh, I didn't play
[17:24] Speaker 2: the guitar on this track. I must play it because
[17:27] Speaker 2: I don't play so much jazz now. And you soon
[17:29] Speaker 2: lose your chops. The old fingers get stiff. And I
[17:32] Speaker 2: suddenly thought, oh, my gosh, I must practice more because
[17:35] Speaker 2: I've got a bit lazy in the old age and
[17:37] Speaker 2: don't practice as much as I should. But I love
[17:39] Speaker 2: the guitar. That is my first... It was the first
[17:42] Speaker 2: instrument and probably will be my last. But I still
[17:44] Speaker 2: have to play the keyboard, obviously, and the synthesizers and such.
[17:48] Speaker 2: So I think the guitar probably is it. I'm a
[17:50] Speaker 2: naughty boy. I'm not practicing hard enough.
[17:53] Speaker 1: You mentioned before you started the raw band that you
[17:56] Speaker 1: was a producer and arranger. What's one of the more
[17:59] Speaker 1: interesting pieces of work you produced or arranged?
[18:03] Speaker 2: Well, there are two. As I said before, I love
[18:06] Speaker 2: string arranging, probably about any other kind of arranging. It's
[18:09] Speaker 2: my favorite.
[18:09] Speaker 1: Sure.
[18:10] Speaker 2: And I've done two arrangements that I'm really proud of,
[18:12] Speaker 2: I have to say. And one is a guy called
[18:15] Speaker 2: Clifford T. Ward, who was a brilliant young songwriter. He
[18:18] Speaker 2: died very young, unfortunately. But I did his early arrangements.
[18:21] Speaker 2: And I wrote an arrangement for him and a guy
[18:24] Speaker 2: called Cliff Richard also with the same arrangement called Up
[18:27] Speaker 2: in the World. And it was purely them with the
[18:29] Speaker 2: voice and strings. And that was wonderful for me because
[18:32] Speaker 2: no other instruments, just the string orchestra. And that was one.
[18:35] Speaker 2: And then another one I did with a girl called
[18:37] Speaker 2: Toya Wilcox called Sympathy. The track's called Sympathy. And that, again,
[18:41] Speaker 2: was just me and her. A big string orchestra. Lovely.
[18:45] Speaker 2: And Toya. Those are my two favorite arrangements, I think.
[18:48] Speaker 2: I've done a lot of other ones I'm happy with,
[18:50] Speaker 2: but those are the strength of that one for me.
[18:53] Speaker 1: You've worked with so many iconic artists. The Beatles, the
[18:56] Speaker 1: Bee Gees, James Taylor... So many. When you look back
[19:00] Speaker 1: at those collaborations, what do you think they connected with
[19:04] Speaker 1: when you brought your ideas to the table?
[19:07] Speaker 2: Well, sometimes you'd go to the studio and it'd be wonderful.
[19:10] Speaker 2: But I remember going in with Art Garfunkel once to
[19:12] Speaker 2: do some reactions. The Breakaway album. There's an album called
[19:16] Speaker 2: Breakaway Me. Yeah. And I did string arrangements on that.
[19:19] Speaker 2: And Art was great. I mean, he said, hey, Richard,
[19:22] Speaker 2: I love all this string arranging, right? But why do
[19:25] Speaker 2: you have to move the strings around a lot? He said,
[19:28] Speaker 2: why don't you just hold one note? I said, well,
[19:31] Speaker 2: it wouldn't be much point. It'd be big here if
[19:33] Speaker 2: I just put it on one note. That was a
[19:35] Speaker 2: funny comment I got. Another famous story, actually, is I
[19:39] Speaker 2: did the big orchestra for Long and Winding Road. And
[19:41] Speaker 2: Paul McCartney didn't know He and I worked together a
[19:45] Speaker 2: lot back in those days. It was 1970, I think.
[19:49] Speaker 2: And he and I had already... done stuff together, you know,
[19:51] Speaker 2: so he knew me. But he didn't know that I'd
[19:54] Speaker 2: been asked by Phil Spector to do a big arrangement
[19:57] Speaker 2: on Long and Winding Road because the tape that I
[19:59] Speaker 2: got was just him and a pianist.
[20:01] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[20:01] Speaker 2: That's how he wanted it to be. Nobody told him
[20:04] Speaker 2: that we were going to put a big arrangement on it.
[20:06] Speaker 2: And I loved it because, you know, when I met Phil,
[20:09] Speaker 2: he said, I want you to do a big orchestra,
[20:11] Speaker 2: big orchestra on this one. I said, what do you mean?
[20:14] Speaker 2: Sort of eight violins, four cellos? That's my sort of
[20:17] Speaker 2: standard big orchestra for recording. No, no, I want 22
[20:21] Speaker 2: violins and I want about three harps and Anyway, so
[20:24] Speaker 2: I did put this up. I had a ball, actually,
[20:26] Speaker 2: but it was a massive orchestra in EMI's Abbey Road studios.
[20:30] Speaker 2: And we took it. It sounded great to me. It
[20:32] Speaker 2: sounded great to everybody in the studio. Yeah. But Paul
[20:34] Speaker 2: hadn't heard it. He didn't even know we were doing it.
[20:37] Speaker 2: And when he did, he went bananas. He wrote a
[20:39] Speaker 2: letter to Alan Klein, never, ever touch my music again.
[20:43] Speaker 2: He forgave me in the end because we went on
[20:45] Speaker 2: and worked together after that, later. But that was one
[20:48] Speaker 2: big arrangement that I really loved. Yeah. He really didn't.
[20:51] Speaker 1: Ha, ha, ha. Now, in any situation when you're working
[20:55] Speaker 1: in the studio, you've got everything worked out. Have you
[20:58] Speaker 1: got any interesting stories of places you've produced, arranged, or
[21:05] Speaker 1: worked with session players where things were a little bit
[21:09] Speaker 1: more different than normal?
[21:10] Speaker 2: Well, I did a lot in EMI Abbey Road. Number two,
[21:15] Speaker 2: the one that goes downstairs. A lot of my big
[21:17] Speaker 2: arrangements were done down there. There's one little studio, a
[21:21] Speaker 2: sunny little place, in a place called Clapham, which is
[21:23] Speaker 2: in a suburb of London. It was actually, the studio
[21:27] Speaker 2: was over a bingo hall, where they have a bingo caller.
[21:30] Speaker 2: Sometimes you had to stop a tape because your sound
[21:32] Speaker 2: came up through the floor. And they had a plastic
[21:35] Speaker 2: palm tree in there. Oh, it was really classy. So
[21:38] Speaker 2: I did an arrangement there for a band called Jigsaw,
[21:41] Speaker 2: which wasn't a huge band, but it was a really
[21:43] Speaker 2: great brass section. And they really played so well, and
[21:46] Speaker 2: the sound engineer really captured it. Brilliant. A funny little studio,
[21:50] Speaker 2: nothing like Abbey Road, just a little hole in the wall,
[21:53] Speaker 2: more or less. But that one had the greatest brass
[21:56] Speaker 2: section I think I've ever had.
[21:58] Speaker 1: Now, you've influenced so many people, so many artists. You
[22:02] Speaker 1: created your own style. When people look back at your career...
[22:07] Speaker 1: What would you like them to take away from it?
[22:09] Speaker 2: From the whole career? Oh, gosh. Well, just the whole career, really.
[22:14] Speaker 2: It's been so varied. I think that's probably the one
[22:17] Speaker 2: thing that I am amazed, even to this day. You know,
[22:20] Speaker 2: here we are in 2026, and I've been going on, well,
[22:24] Speaker 2: I counted it up, 54 years in this business.
[22:27] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[22:28] Speaker 2: So I've seen no, you know... acoustic recording, early electronics,
[22:33] Speaker 2: more sophisticated electronics, now AI. I've seen all the changes
[22:37] Speaker 2: over the years. So each one has a flavor of
[22:40] Speaker 2: its own. But I do hanker for the old days
[22:43] Speaker 2: when Particularly when I was doing a string orchestra session,
[22:47] Speaker 2: I would go into a studio and knowing there's nothing
[22:50] Speaker 2: but strings in there. And these guys came in and
[22:52] Speaker 2: most of them, most of the string players, the professional
[22:55] Speaker 2: string boys and girls, they're older people because they'd been
[22:58] Speaker 2: in the major orchestras probably. They'd come into the studio.
[23:02] Speaker 2: I'd have got all my music set up on the
[23:03] Speaker 2: music stands and waiting for them to come in. And
[23:06] Speaker 2: they'd come in and they'd say, hi, Richard, how you doing?
[23:09] Speaker 2: And then they'd sit down and start talking to each other. Hey, guy,
[23:12] Speaker 2: how is the family? How's John? Lovely to see you.
[23:15] Speaker 2: And I'd be waiting to conduct, to bring the orchestra in.
[23:19] Speaker 2: And I'd go one, two, three, four. And they'd immediately
[23:23] Speaker 2: just play. And the sound would make you cry. It'd
[23:27] Speaker 2: make you cry. And it was that, that exciting realisation
[23:32] Speaker 2: of what you spent the last couple of weeks writing
[23:34] Speaker 2: a piece. Because in those days, we didn't have Sibelius
[23:37] Speaker 2: or any Pro Tools or any notation. We had to
[23:40] Speaker 2: do pencil on paper. And it literally was writing notes
[23:44] Speaker 2: on paper, little dots on paper. They used to say,
[23:47] Speaker 2: those guys will play anything you write on that paper.
[23:50] Speaker 2: And they would. And if there was any mistakes, it
[23:52] Speaker 2: would have been my mistake, not theirs, because they never
[23:54] Speaker 2: made mistakes. They just played like heaven. It was like heaven.
[23:58] Speaker 1: Have you ever been in a situation where everything was
[24:01] Speaker 1: just going really fine? It was all planned. It was
[24:05] Speaker 1: all worked out. And then all of a sudden, someone
[24:08] Speaker 1: makes a mistake. It wasn't written this way, but the
[24:12] Speaker 1: rest of the group follows them and keeps playing. And
[24:16] Speaker 1: it turned out so good, you couldn't change it. Did
[24:19] Speaker 1: that ever happen to you?
[24:20] Speaker 2: Yeah, quite often. Quite often you make a mistake and
[24:23] Speaker 2: you think, oh, that's better than I wrote myself. Yeah,
[24:26] Speaker 2: you do. You do get funny moments like that occasionally.
[24:29] Speaker 2: But no, I was just always amazed. I think my
[24:33] Speaker 2: heroes of the music business are the session musicians. They
[24:36] Speaker 2: are so great. And they will play anything perfectly, first time.
[24:40] Speaker 2: I wish I could do it. I'm a terrible player, really.
[24:42] Speaker 2: My son's like that. He's a trombonist. He takes out
[24:45] Speaker 2: the live raw band. But he can play anything. He
[24:48] Speaker 2: can sit in a symphony orchestra and play the trombone part.
[24:51] Speaker 2: I couldn't be there. No way.
[24:53] Speaker 1: Now your son is out there carrying the raw band forward.
[24:56] Speaker 1: bringing it to new audiences, and people are discovering it
[25:00] Speaker 1: all over again. That has to be a special feeling
[25:03] Speaker 1: for you. What's it like seeing something you created live
[25:07] Speaker 1: through him?
[25:08] Speaker 2: Oh, I love it. The first two or three gigs
[25:11] Speaker 2: he did in the jazz cafe in places in London,
[25:14] Speaker 2: I sat in and I don't know whether you know,
[25:16] Speaker 2: but most of the music perhaps I write for the
[25:19] Speaker 2: Royal Band usually start with an electronic intro. Electronic in
[25:23] Speaker 2: my terms means synthesizer, not necessarily anything incredibly technical. But
[25:27] Speaker 2: it's usually a synthesized thing. So I sat in for
[25:30] Speaker 2: a few of the gigs and just did the samples
[25:32] Speaker 2: at the beginning and then sat back and watched these
[25:34] Speaker 2: guys play. They had three gold singers and they were brilliant.
[25:37] Speaker 2: The only thing was it's quite big for a touring band.
[25:40] Speaker 2: It was a nine-piece band. But the sound is amazing.
[25:43] Speaker 2: They really do sound like the raw band, and it's
[25:46] Speaker 2: such a thrill to hear this music. And you think,
[25:48] Speaker 2: they're the girls singing those words that I wrote. My
[25:51] Speaker 2: goodness me. It's a thrill. It really is.
[25:54] Speaker 1: In closing, you've had such a lifetime of working with
[25:57] Speaker 1: so many incredible artists. You've built a legacy with the
[26:01] Speaker 1: raw band. In the future, when people discover your music again...
[26:05] Speaker 1: What do you hope they feel and take away when
[26:08] Speaker 1: they hear it?
[26:08] Speaker 2: Well, that's a difficult one. I just hope that I
[26:11] Speaker 2: can bring some pleasure to them if they like the tunes.
[26:14] Speaker 2: You know, if they don't like the tunes, well, fair enough.
[26:17] Speaker 2: The music that I did spend all those years on
[26:19] Speaker 2: still am going to keep going, even though I might
[26:22] Speaker 2: be 1999 or whatever it might be. It's just a
[26:24] Speaker 2: thrill to make music and people actually, some of them say,
[26:28] Speaker 2: I really like that. That is the thrill of it.
[26:30] Speaker 2: People like it.
[26:32] Speaker 1: Yes, music is powerful. It can take you back to
[26:34] Speaker 1: good times, hard times. It's universal language that connects all
[26:39] Speaker 1: of us. When you sit back and think about all
[26:41] Speaker 1: you've created and how people are still enjoying it these
[26:45] Speaker 1: years later, that should give you a sense of pride
[26:48] Speaker 1: and fulfillment.
[26:49] Speaker 2: Yes, exactly so. And very much so. And it's quite
[26:53] Speaker 2: often the way I find the last record you made
[26:55] Speaker 2: is your favorite. But this album that we've got out now,
[26:58] Speaker 2: the Life Without Love After Love, is my favorite, obviously, now.
[27:03] Speaker 2: But I did play it through. Actually, I played it
[27:05] Speaker 2: before we sat down to do this interview. And I thought, actually,
[27:08] Speaker 2: I heard people like this because my heart and soul's
[27:10] Speaker 2: in there. It really is. Yeah.
[27:12] Speaker 1: And I just think that's so good. Now, how do
[27:14] Speaker 1: people find you? Do you have a website so they
[27:17] Speaker 1: can follow what you're doing?
[27:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got the Royal Band website, but it's on
[27:20] Speaker 2: all the platforms, Spotify, YouTube, the major digital platforms. And
[27:25] Speaker 2: I'm hoping, because it's not so fashionable now, but it's
[27:29] Speaker 2: getting better, isn't it, the vinyl situation? Now we've got
[27:32] Speaker 2: three or four albums out at the moment, you know,
[27:34] Speaker 2: old albums, they've been re-putting out on vinyl. And we've
[27:37] Speaker 2: got a lovely artwork for this album, and I'm hoping
[27:40] Speaker 2: to persuade them to do a run on vinyl, because
[27:43] Speaker 2: I'd like one myself. Yeah, I'm hoping it'll come out
[27:46] Speaker 2: on vinyl soon.
[27:47] Speaker 1: Yes, vinyl is definitely making a comeback.
[27:50] Speaker 2: It is.
[27:51] Speaker 1: Yes, and it's nice because we get to see that
[27:53] Speaker 1: people are rediscovering that vinyl has that warm sound when
[27:58] Speaker 1: that needle is placed on that vinyl record.
[28:01] Speaker 2: Yes, that crackling is. It's got it. But you could
[28:04] Speaker 2: get a sample of that now and put it versus
[28:06] Speaker 2: your tracks.
[28:08] Speaker 1: I know, but it's not the same as when we
[28:10] Speaker 1: made it, though.
[28:11] Speaker 2: It's not the same. No, of course not.
[28:12] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[28:13] Speaker 2: It's the feel of the record and the little clunk
[28:16] Speaker 2: when the stylus goes onto the track and the music
[28:19] Speaker 2: comes out. Magic.
[28:20] Speaker 1: Absolutely, it sure is. Well, this has been a pleasure.
[28:24] Speaker 1: I've really enjoyed this and very happy you could join
[28:27] Speaker 1: us today.
[28:28] Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me. It's been interesting
[28:30] Speaker 2: to meet you.
[28:31] Speaker 1: Yes, same here. It's been really, really nice. Thanks again.
[28:45] Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed the show.
[28:50] Speaker 1: This has been a Tony Mantor production. For more information,
[28:54] Speaker 1: contact media at platomusic.com.

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