Rich Fownes has featured in many a Joyzine favourite over the years, from The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster to Bad for Lazarus, Clever Thing and Short People, all of whom have received copious, well-earned praise from within these pages. So we’re delighted that Rich is back with a new band, Not Richard & Her Majesty, and a debut album Success & Fulfilment – it does not disappoint.
On the intentions of the record, Rich says “My manifesto for this whole band was the ugliest and funniest truths laid bare. I challenged myself to write lyrics that I was afraid certain people would hear – to make choruses out of the weird little things you still haven’t brought up in therapy after 6 months.”
It sticks to its task with nine open-hearted, darkly humorous tracks written from the outside of ‘decent’ society, looking in and not being at all impressed with what they see, either on the other side of the window or in their own reflection in the glass. It’s all filtered through a vintage psychedelic pop wooze and peppered with self-deprecating humour throughout. Whether you come to discover that there’s someone else out there who feels the same as you, to explore the darker side of the human psyche or for the vicarious thrill of spending half an hour or so in the company of the weird and sordid characters that inhabit these songs, you’ll come out the other end feeling both sullied and satisfied.
My Twink Death
There’s a crusty brit punk side to my writing that I don’t get to air very much. Richard Hell / Buzzcocks / Gen X / Prison Affair etc. It’s really hard to toe the line when you mix major melodic vocal lines with heavy punk and NOT have it come out like The (fuckin) Offspring. It was such a weird explosive moment that I couldn’t get it sitting on the album and was gonna remove it and save it for another time. Kel Cooke (Mixing / Engineering) suggested putting it first. It was a total ‘oh dannnng’ moment. I forgot for a second to put our weirdest songs, sounds and feelings front row & centre.
Stress Is A Killer
I don’t know if I’ve ever written a song more self explanatory – “I like to make love to damaged people; I’d like to make out if you’re unstable”. I get bored and upset with a lot of modern rock and lyrics. It’s almost as if people are writing to templates and expectations. You hear a heavy riff and lo and behold it’s the most pain-filled introspective song the artist ever had. Go figure. You need to name the pain. Be specific and be scared to share. That song was so confessional about my promiscuity that I knew it would upset people from my life. I wasn’t writing it to hurt them but to establish myself proudly for a change and stop hurting people in future.
Not Nice
This one and ‘Parasite’ were made in tandem and tough to write. I was committed to this radical truth but at the shit end of a wonderful relationship. We weren’t happy but very much in love. At the time all I could see was how love brings out the worst in everyone. It seemed like a moment of clarity always leads to solitude rather than togetherness, and that maybe the path for me was to just be alone; but in a kind and happy way (finally). I guess this song was me making peace with that. Obviously the music had to be as impossibly melodramatic as possible. The idea of being too sincere with such precious sentiment makes me sick in my mouth.
Bad At Summer
As a nice addendum – I’m best friends with the partner I had during the ‘Not Nice’ season. We were on a summer dog walk after all the shit and I got a tree stuck in my hair while a joint was half falling out my mouth. They laughed at me and said “you’re bad at summer, Richard”. I ran home and wrote this guy. I always get an existential dread when I smell the warmth of the plastic in trainers hanging in the air as the heat of summer begins. I get migraines, I don’t get on with getting pissed and the sun fucks me up. Everyone is always at their happiest and most rowdy when I’m just an ill little piece of shit. It’s a dumb alienation-of-the-day and deserved a pop song.
A Song About Being A Parasite
In the aforementioned relationship I felt so guilty about not just ending it. I didn’t want to be alone and they were so beautiful a person it felt like a crazy thing to throw away. So – they got to sit with my discomfort and misery; I was so painfully aware of that… and I feel sad at how much I see it in the world around me. On top of it all they had to listen to me write this woe-is-me and woe-is-us bullshit in the background. I had to make it sound like the most melodically romantic and happy song so as to completely undermine itself. Like – don’t worry, this is definitely all silly – the dumb song, my dumb feelings….this dumb world.
It’s You, Soul Stew
I love playing this live – I was so worried about how we pull off something so over-sincere and steeped in irony, but it plays itself. Somehow the slowest song in the album and the set is one that hips are wigglin to the most. You weirdos. The sentiment is the direct reverse to ‘Parasite’. I was in a really casual affair with someone and the whole world was acting like a tectonic shift was occurring. I wrote it from ‘their’ point of view with a couple of in jokes for bad measure. I wrote the most significant love song with unbelievable yearning. It’s basically a lie with some musical notes underneath- we were not star crossed & no tears were shed – y’all were just bored.
Beautiful
This is about being an ugly piece of shit
Incredible
The first song I wrote under the radical honesty banner. I was like ‘oooooh they’re gonna be so mad when they hear this’. No-one gave a dang so I knew I had to up my game and get more confessional, more embarrassed and more vulnerable. This set me on the path, but that chorus is probably the most emotional thing on the album for me. It’s the first thing I wrote where it felt like I grew up and everything started making sense. I also was finally not writing for anyone else. It sounded like The Kinks or Randy Newman, not any modernity, and wasn’t chasing anything. I guess it’s even coded in the lyrics – “You just want me to be myself, but I can’t think of when that’s ever helped”…never a truer word said. When I wrote that I sort of quit the world and just started this project for me. I wasn’t even planning to gig it, I just wanted to make something I found personal and wonderful finally.
Contemptible
This one is for the best friends, that special little guy that lights up your day and makes you facepalm in equal measure, and probably at the same time. The chorus is specifically about me and Richie from our band. We’ve been messing up shows together for more than 15 years now and damn we’ve seen some shit. I was poking fun at all their dumb shit and conversely god knows what it’s like to have to suffer through my friendship. Sorry. Love you.
Not Richard & Her Majesty: Instagram / Bandcamp
Article by Paul Maps
Photograph by Hamish Sacks
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