Musician
| Ric Albano was born and raised in Hazleton, Pa. and became a dedicated listener of
music thoughout childhood, morphing from country/western to pop to classic rock. In 1984, he purchased his first instrument,
an odd hybrid of electric piano and harpsichord and about a year later he joined his first rock band, named Running Wild.
Together they wrote a handful of original songs that they played at their first gig about a week before high school graduation
in 1986. About a week after graduation, the band promptly broke up. Ric got interested in songwriting and recording. He slowly began to acquire musical instruments – electric and acoustic guitars, bass, drums, and percussive instruments, harmonica – all of which he slowly taught to himself. Using a Fostex 4-track recorder, he developed a makeshift home studio and would ultimately write and record nearly 300 songs under the pseudonym RAREx between 1987 and 1996. Influenced by prog-rock acts, these songs were experimental, adventurous, and eclectic. Some were quite interesting, some less than inspiring, but due to the semi-professional recording quality, none of these songs have ever been released publicly, although a few would be direct influences for some Animal Society songs many years later. In 1989, Ric he received former training in Audio Engineering and briefly worked and recorded in a professional studio in Ohio. Later he would work sound for several Pennsylvania bands, including The Badlees during the period immediately preceding their national breakthrough. Ric was also a performing member in series of short-run bands with names such as Misery Loves Company and The Steel Breeze and also briefly performed as a solo acoustic act under the name Snake Simpson. Starting in 1997, Ric took a long hiatus from writing and recording original music to focus on domestic life and working towards a college degree. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and relocating to suburban Harrisburg, Pa, Ric returned to writing and recording with a concept project called Imaginary Lines. He built a new digital home studio to record a demo and chose Saturation Acres Recording Studio, owned by Bret Alexander and Paul Smith of The Badlees, for the high-end professional recordings. In 2005, Ric recorded and released Imaginary Lines I with Alexander on guitars and another Badlee and longtime friend, Ron Simasek on drums. This was followed up with a second release, Imaginary Lines II in 2007. The project was completed in 2009 with a "super-sized" 33-song compilation of everything from the first two albums plus new and unused material. Future band mate, Erik Trabert provided guitars for several songs on this final phase while Simasek remained the primary drummer and Janet Rains of M80 added vocal support. The result, Imaginary Lines 33 was released internationally on September 9, 2009. Beyond Imaginary Lines, Ric also worked on other musical projects, such as Americana on Acid and Searching for the Perfect Sunday, both incomplete but yielding some interesting songs. Ric's current band, Animal Society was formed in 2008 with drummer Matt Roy and guitarist Erik Trabert. In the band, Ric performs bass and vocals and has produced the band's debut album, Any Atomic Lies, which will be released on the Cygnus Wave label this Fall, 2010. |
