We turned you on to “Open Road” by RIVE last week now it’s time to delve a little deeper and get to know Christy from RIVE and their music a bit better.

What attracted you to the styles you practice?
We are inspired by many genres and artists but love guitars and are obsessed with melody.

How long have you been making music? Have you been performing or sharing it with the public all that time?
Forever at home and in different forms. Arli and I only created the RIVE Project in 2015 and Open Road is our first official public offering.

Who or what influences your writing and performance?
Eachother, our surroundings and our musical heroes.

It seems all creative people go through rough patches or writer’s block of some sort. What motivates you to keep going?
That special feeling you get when you breakthrough after toiling and the small hope that your work will mean something to somebody else.

Were you trying to accomplish something different or specific with this project – creatively or otherwise?
This project is very different – it really demonstrates the collision and combination of mine and Arli’s different styles and inspirations. Arli is known predominantly as an ambient and eastern player so this is his first foray into “pop”. Our specific goal was to create a unique brand of modern guitar music driven by melody, big drum loops and digital bass. We want the music to be accessible but to represent us. Hopefully we’ve gone some way to achieving that…

What was the last song you listened to?
Real Love Baby by Father John Misty

Do you prefer a certain medium for listening – vinyl, CDs, mp3, reel-to-reel, Pono,(lol sort of)?
I love vinyl but my collection is at home in NZ so I’m mostly settling for compressed spotify files at the moment.

If you had to choose one place to host your music, would you prefer Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, or … ?
We believe in direct connections with people so would ideally host everything online ourselves but at this early stage we are trying to reach new listeners by whatever means and platforms possible.

Do you ever feel as if your tunes are lost in a sea of music? What are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract new listeners?
Of course – we like to call it a never-ending buffet of music… Why would anyone choose ours when the cheese is so dominant? I think the key is to make it taste different so its impact can last and slowly reach more people.

Are you playing on live stages, clubs, bars, the local town picnic, festivals?
We are playing our EP Release Show in Shoreditch, London on 3 October at the Sebright Arms, plus a couple of other UK club supports then we’ll be planning for 2017 (our band members are currently in different countries).
Where is the best place to connect with you online and/or discover more of your music?
Currently our facebook page – you can catch more of us there and link out to all of our music on different platforms www.facebook.com/riveofficial

Lightning Round
Sailing yacht, catamaran, bass boat, or kayak?
Kayak (it requires the least cash and gets you closest to the water)
Place on Earth you must visit some day
Nashville
James Bond or Jason Borne?
James Bond
Favorite beer or beverage of pleasure?
Any brew from Brothers Beer in my hometown of Auckland
Left with a choice of one instrument, which would you keep?
My voice
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Cheers for reading/ listening.