Rich Hope

Insanely Energetic Blues-Rock with Jaggeresque swagger & Southern Twang

The long awaited second album from one of Vancouver’s most dynamic performers is finally here. Backed by his Evil Doers, Adrian Mack (Drums) and Ryen Froggatt (Bass) Rich Hope’s sophomore album serves up chicken fried fuzzed out blues and a tear in your beer to wash it down with. Foot stompin’ free-for-alls and country laments meet right where Bob Dylan, Mississippi Fred MacDowell, R.L. Burnside and Hank Williams sit down together to eat BBQ and drink whiskey. From the garage rattling My Love Is A Bullet to the bittersweet Love Or Death, and the timeless travelling tales of Boxcar, this is music to stand up and shout right before you sit down and cry about it.

After Rich’s first solo release “Good to Go” in 1998, the much sought after guitar player joined John Ford and became one of their principle songwriters. John Ford released their self-titled debut in 1999 and what followed was a five year rock n roll journey filled with hard core coast to coast touring, big time management contracts, a major label debut for the band’s second album “Bullets for Dreamers” in 2003 and opening slot tours with some of Canada’s biggest bands such as The Tragically Hip, 54-40 and Big Sugar.

Fast forward to November 2005 and Rich has emerged from this odyssey with his own way to rock. He has captured the live energy he brings to every stage he graces and has harnessed that buzz and crackle into nine tracks of some of the finest electric country blues to come out of western Canada in the last two decades.

PRESS:

“Shake The Joint Around” is the most direct introduction to an album to come since ZZ Top tore through “Thunderbird” on Fandango. The comparison is a fair one, too. Toss in a bit of Johnny Winter, Humble Pie and Mick, Keef and the lot and you’ve got this no-frills trio’s touchstones. But there’s so much more. A searing guitarist with a ragged snarl, Hope can croon high-lonesome, too (“Love or Death”, Boxcar”). Wherever his beautifully crafted tales take him, the band beats with a pulse as steady as a piledriver, rolling forward like a lone freight across an endless prairie.
Rating A | Stuart Derdeyn | The Vancouver Province

Vancouver’s Rich Hope and his Evil Doers fuse R.L. Burnside with Hank Williams to create a satisfying album of ass-kickin’ blues rock that rips with Jaggeresque swagger and southern twang.
4 Stars | Bruce Leperre | The Winnipeg Free Press

I’m fighting this disease and it’s with me everyday. But it ain’t f-ing killed me yet, so I know I’m gaining strength” These are compelling lyrics on a curiously awesome album from Rich Hope. I’ve kind of lost track of Hope in the last few years, previously excited about his potential and promise. Well, guess what? He makes good here. Hope essentially name-drops everything worth writing about – essentially, with one addition: hope. And there’s enough of that here, too.”
4.5 Stars | Fish Griwkowsky | The Edmonton Sun