Issue No. 2 Of Rock N Roll Fashionista Magazine
RJ Archer & The Painful Memories
On the evening of April 18, 1775, American revolutionary Paul Revere was given the task of riding to Lexington, Massachusetts, with news that the British soldiers stationed in Boston were about to march into the countryside northwest of the town. “The British are coming! The British are coming!”
250 years later and history is repeating with RJ Archer & The Painful Memories and their latest album, The Cost Of Loving Crisis, a sonic attack harnessing the swagger of grunge with the full force of the British blues revival behind it.
Hailing 55 miles north of London from Cambridge, England, known for its 816 year old university, Pink Floyd’s visionary mad genius Syd Barrett, contemporary psychedelic wordsmith rocker Robyn Hitchcock and now theses four lads Richard Archer (guitar/vocals), Ben Kingsbury (guitar/backing vocals), Roger James (bass/backing vocals) and Marc Ritchie (The drums).
“The Cost of Loving Crisis” is the third album from RJ Archer & the Painful Memories and will be available on New Release Friday, January 31st, 2025 to download, stream and listen on Apple, Spotify, Bandcamp and all the usual haunts
Since their last album, the band has reconfigured with Marc Ritchie joining on drums and Ben Kingsbury moving from behind the kit to play second guitar. Bass player Roger James says of the reshuffle:
“This is the most powerful we have ever sounded and Marc has brought some fresh energy into the band, which we wanted to capture on record as quickly as possible.”
The album was recorded over two single day sessions in May and August 2024 at Half Tom Studios in Cambridge, and produced by Naomi Randall, who also provided the albums distinctive artwork.
Ben says of the experience:
“Naomi has been amazing to work with in the studio. We wanted a combination of live band performances with overdubs and some songs with individually tracked arrangements built around a guitar and vocal take. Naomi facilitated both approaches but pushed us to go again when needed until we got the mood just right for each song. We have a unique feel to each song on the album which really distinguishes it from our previous two albums. We’re very proud of this one”.
For the first time, the band have used guest musicians. Tom Colborn lends slide playing to three tracks on the album, seasoning “Got to Leave” and “Neon Safari” with creeping Delta-blues licks and bringing floaty Hawaiian feels on “A Heart in Winter”.
Guitarist and singer Richard Archer says of Tom’s input:
“Tom is a genius player and an excellent mate so he was very fun to work with on this record. Naomi guided him to play a take one way and then try it another way second time around and that really got us all thinking with spontaneity. This resulted in some pretty interesting songs like “A Heart in Winter” which would be played a lot more straightforward live”.
The resultant album is 10 tracks of hard rock seamlessly mixed with blues, country and soul influences and the closest to matching the energy and raw power of their live show.
R.J. Archer & the Painful Memories formed in 2019 when Richard Archer received a competition prize for some time in a recording studio. For the project he recruited long term musician friends Roger James, Ben Kingsbury and Marc Ritchie to help him out. Encouraged by the results, they decided to carry on as a band full time.
Two albums down the road (‘Hot Mess’ in 2021 and ‘Horseplay!’ in 2023) and critical comparisons have been drawn everywhere from punk pioneering 70s rockers MC5 of Detroit, Michigan to Grand Funk Railroad from Flint, Michigan to legendary British pub rockers Dr. Feelgood.
With critically acclaimed sets at the Cambridge Salty Dog Festival and Buckfest, plus support slots with bands Slady and Gypsys Kiss they’ve earned themselves a reputation as a killer live act not to be missed.
Recent singles “Get It Together” and “Out of Line” have garnered a great deal of enthusiastic airplay on British rock radio stations Total Rock, Rock Radio UK and ERB.
Their new album, “The Cost of Loving Crisis” is due for release January 31, 2025, on all major platforms.
