Rients Vox Interview (Part 1)

PETER: Hi and welcome to another episode of the Vox Couch today! I am very proud to be interviewing Rients, one of our teachers who’s been with us for three years. How are you doing today Rients?

RIENTS: Great, excellent!

PETER: Great to have you here mate, let’s get straight into it. Tell us a little bit about your artistic self, just a brief run through of what has brought you to this point in your life artistically?

RIENTS: Okay, well I started at 14. I joined the school band, and then I’ve joined other bands…

PETER: How old are you now, can you give that away?

RIENTS: 37 years today,

PETER: Oh well preserved!

RIENTS: What I was going to say, I have been in bands since I was 16 years of age, and playing lots of different types of bands and I am a multi-instrumentalist so I play bass, drums, guitar and I dabble in a little bit of sound production demos and any preproduction we do. So yeah, I also sing (chuckle).

PETER: And Rients has a little recording studio as well too, so I want to plug that out for you Rients.

Artistically, I know you’ve been very busy over the last couple of years with your band Renelophus and you have some line up changes, what is the pipe works for Renelophus?

RIENTS: Okay so we are going to continue doing our own and gigs that we have been setting up otherwise we’re writing together now where as at the start, it was just me, mostly just me writing all the parts and now we’re going to come together and collaborate so that’s really exciting. We’re kind of like a party band, mish mash sort of styles, so yeah I we are going to keep doing that, we’ve produced a couple of videos actually in the last year so go and check it out on Facebook and on YouTube. Also we’ve got professional recording coming up this year. An EP. We are going to mainly pour all our effort in to that.
 
PETER: That’s fantastic! So we’ve got some candid personal questions here…

If you won $20 million, what would you do and how would this change your life?

RIENTS: Yeah big time. I’ll build a castle actually with an underground studio. The roof would be a glass bottom pool. I would be underneath there, looking up and yeah I would get a pimped ot studio of course, otherwise buying properties where I like setting up sharing houses maybe and I’d like to be probably going to kangaroo farming.

PETER: So, you wouldn’t just fully retire?

RIENTS: Nah, no way! I’ll be making music heaps.

PETER: Fantastic and you’d still be teaching singing lessons online as well too.

RIENTS: Oh yeah! That’d be more expensive though (chuckle).

PETER: Mate, if you have one year to live, what would you do?

RIENTS: If I had one year to live, I would work my butt off. Do my best to supply money for my family, honestly.

PETER: Fantastic, and if you have one week to live?

RIENTS: If I had one week to live I would… actually I am a registered nurse so I work in aged care as well so I’ve thought a lot about that sot of thing and a big thing is cleaning up stuff for my family. I don’t want to leave much stuff for my family like personal belongings and business stuff, that sort of stuff so I’ll work to do that and also have a big gig, a big huge kick butt gig.

PETER: Wow excellent fantastic. Your favorite singer Rients and why?

RIENTS: Probably, Michael Jackson. Just consistently a huge thing through my earlier life. The first Artist I really got into as a kid. Also watching the Jackson Five brings tears to my eyes which is amazing and not just because he’s so young but because he is so good.

PETER: Your favorite song Rients?

RIENTS: Okay, I think I will have to say the song I’ve played the most probably and I reckon, that’d be Regulate by Warren G ft. Nate Dogg. It’s just the G Funk, it’s smooth and Nate Dogg has definitely got such a smooth voice… he’s awesome.

PETER: Wow! Fantastic. Favorite album that you would take away in a desert island. If you have one album to take, what would it be and why?

RIENTS: I would have to say Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chilli Peppers, it is so diverse. You know I love funk, I love rap, I love punk I love rock and it’s all in there, there’s ballads in there and I am very much into bass driven music and the song writing by John Frusciante, I just love that so I think that was a great album.

PETER: Your favorite song that you enjoy singing the most, Rients?

RIENTS: I would have to say Raspberry Putin, a Renelophus song.

PETER: Great plug Rients!

RIENTS: Well I just loved it. You know the harmony is great. I’ve been singing it lately with Ebony King who’s got such a beautiful smooth voice

PETER: Is there any video made for this song?

RIENTS: That’s the one I am planning to do it this year so where going to do that one next.

PETER: Fantastic! The most memorable show or performance that you have witnessed? Maybe even change the way you look at music?

RIENTS: It was Regurgitator, in prpobably 99’.  It was the Tuplang. Mostly that stuff. 

PETER: Oh Wow, so early Regurgitator?

RIENTS: Yeah it was a really good show, and they’re amazing and then my friend Ben and I snuck backstage and got to meet ben and Quan. At that time I was like  17 or 18 and it was just so good to be where, we belong actually to back stage. On stage we’re actually… and ben shows us a little of bass effects and I was like blown away.

PETER: Alright! Let’s get into some things about your teaching here. Your favorite aspect about teaching singing for Vox Singing Academy?

RIENTS: Okay, it will definitely have to be when someone’s working on a technique and if they’re having trouble with that and then it kicks in and they do it well and it makes me just really happy and I get really excited.

PETER: So helping people achieve their vocal goals basically?

RIENTS: Yes.

PETER: Your strongest point as a singing teacher?

RIENTS: I think the strongest point as a singing teacher, It would have to be diagnosing the problem. So working out exactly what they need, I am good at finding out straightaway and fixing that problem and then doing that with tact and honesty at the same time. So I think I tend to make people very comfortable and yet tell them what they need to hear. To deliver it smoothly with love.

PETER: The most rewarding aspect about teaching singing?

RIENTS: You know I actually get a buzz when student says that they’re improving, they notice the improvement. That makes me feel good.

PETER: That’s one of my points as well too, just seeing  improvements week by week.

Alright, just something a little bit more relaxed now Rients. Your favorite food or meal?

RIENTS: Tacos, which is funny because Ryan’s is nachos. Tacos has always been my fave, it’s messy and crunchy…

PETER: Yeah, what sort of tacos Rients?

RIENTS: Hard shell, pulled pork.

PETER: Yeah I like Mexican as well too! I’ve lived in States for quite a while and I’ve been to Mexico, numerous times and the Mexican in Australia is… I am going to come out and say this, is awful.

RIENTS: Controversial.

PETER: I have been to lots of Mexican restaurants, it is not awful. Its average compared to like the traditional Mexican is in Mexico.

RIENTS: I am not going there, I might get too fat… way too fat.

PETER: You don’t, because it’s a bit like… you know we have western Mexican over here if you know what I mean. Don’t have these huge meals and they also have salad as well too, on the side.

Look, if anyone can recommend the best Mexican in Australia, I am willing to try wherever it is but I think it’s just the lack of Mexicans in Australia, that’s the problem and that is my diagnosis.

Let’s move on!

(END of Part 1)