CD RELEASE PARTY JUNE 11 05.11.09 Rachel Leyco Band's new self-titled CD will be available in June! The long anticipated follow up to 2004's Something Human features ten unreleased songs. Please join us on June 11 at Henrico Theater as we celebrate the new CD. Stay tuned for song samples and further details. CELLAR DATE CHANGE 01.27.09 RLB will play The Cellar this weekend, but the date has moved from Friday to Saturday, Jan 31. NEW DATES 10.14.08 Here's a couple new dates that have been on the website for a while, but you may not have seen because you've been too busy trying to bail out the economy. Take a break from the hard work and come see us play our instruments! The first is a full-band acoustic show this Wednesday. A very different dynamic than the electric band, this features Rachel on acoustic guitar, Scott on electric bass, and John on djembe. Details. Next, for the 21-and-older crowd, we have a wine tasting and music festival at UR. We'll be plugged in and swinging drumsticks for this show. Details. There's a great list of wines: - Francois Montand Blanc de Blanc - Washington Hills Gewurtztraminer - Anakena Sauvignon Blanc - Ropiteau Pinot Noir - Milton Park Shiraz - Racoon Ridge Rocky's Sweet Red We hope to see you soon. VOTE FOR RLB 07.28.08 Virginia Commonwealth University's 40th birthday party needs a band! Your vote could help Rachel Leyco Band be a part of the festivities. Vote today! ROCK WITH REASON JUNE 13 05.20.08 Rock With Reason! Help fight pancreatic cancer on Friday, June 13, at the Canal Club. RLB will be live with Amy Henderson and Marna Bales. Details. Download the flyer. NEW SPONSOR PASSCHAL 04.16.08 RLB is pleased to announce a new sponsorship from Passchal Premium Bags & Accessories. Passchal makes their unique products using recycled tractor tire inner tubes. The band will help promote Passchal products, and Passchal will help promote RLB music through their website and promo material. Rachel and John modeled for a photo shoot displaying a couple designs. The shot below will be used on promotional postcards. Click the image for a large version. Be sure to check out Passchal! BACK LIVE ON FEB 1 01.04.08 Join us at The Cellar at the University of Richmond on Friday, Feb 1, for RLB's first live show in over 4 months! Scott Harris will be back with us on the bass guitar and it will be excellent. Details on the tour dates page. RACE DAY FILMS 11.05.07 Race Day Films produces documentary DVDs of triathlon and other race courses. They are using RLB music in their trailers and final films. We gave them access to some preliminary mixes of songs from the upcoming CD. "So It's Everything" can be heard on the trailer for The Nation's Triathlon at racedayfilms.net. Look for more info on these projects in the coming months. BASS PLAYER SEARCH 10.01.07 RLB is now auditioning bass players. Please help us spread the word so we can find the best possible match. The ideal candidate should have a professional attitude and be able to make a serious time commitment to the band. Background vocals are a big plus. Send us an email to info[at]rlband.com or call John, 804.330.5858, and we'll give you all the details. SCOTT'S LAST SHOW 09.27.07 RLB is sad to announce that bassist Scott Harris will be parting from the band. As our fans know, RLB has been better than ever recently due in no small part to Scott's phenomenal playing and entertaining stage presence. Scott joined us in the Summer of 2004 and will step down this Fall to spend more time with family and his ever-growing guitar repair business. Expect to see minimal tour dates over the next several months as we search for a new bassist. Please join us this Saturday at Sine' Irish Pub in Richmond to hear our last scheduled show with Scott. T-SHIRT SALE 08.29.07 RLB's popular "School Bus" T-shirt is now on sale! The price was slashed! 100% cotton Tee for $5.00 -- Wow. Grab this deal at our store. NEW VIDEO 08.02.07 Check out our new live video for "Hello," a brand new song. The vid was shot on Brown's Island in June and is available for download and on Youtube. NEW JUNE 16 SHOW 06.07.07 This just in! RLB will play a short set to open for Pat McGee Band at the James River Adventure Games, Saturday June 16 on Brown's Island. Details. A spectacular fireworks display will follow the concert at 9:15. See you there. JUNE UPDATE 06.05.07 Thanks to everyone for coming out to Sine' on Friday. What a fun night! Fights and hecklers are not the typical fare at our shows, so we too enjoyed the novelty of it all. The place was at capacity all night, with very little turnover, as the manager reported to us later. We take full responsibility for people not wanting to leave, because, man, we were on fire -- hitting all the harmonies, locking in to the beat, and thriving off the energy of the crowd. We just posted some more dates, including additional Sine' shows, so mark your calendars and be sure not to miss the next one on July 6. Have you noticed the lack of studio updates recently? Me too. The project has been on hold for way too long now, and we’ll be making every effort to finish the CD by the end of July, and maybe even have it out in September. How's that sound? OPENING FRIDAY CHEERS 04.18.07 Mark your calendars! RLB will open this season of Friday Cheers on May 11 with Carbon Leaf. This will likely be the biggest Cheers of the year, so get there early and help us welcome the summer. All ages, free, 6pm on Brown's Island. SINE' GIG 01.26.07 We booked our first date at Sine' Irish Pub. Cool, right? I mean everyone talks about it as being a great place to go. Add the RLB Band live show to that and you have a guaranteed winner, my friend! Not that Sine' is any better than the other venues we play (we love them all equally -- even the crappy ones, HA!) It's just nice to have a new place to play. See you in March, Shin-ay! LIVE THIS FRIDAY 12.20.06 Christmas came early to RLB! We just booked a show for this Friday (December 22) at Alley Katz in Richmond opening for Agents of Good Roots. Holy cow! Please help spread the word and come out so we can rock your faces off just in time for the holidays. See the tour page for times and details. TIME OFF 12.15.06 Hello friends and fans! We're stretching our downtime beyond November, as you can see. We'll start mixing the new CD very soon, and we're actively planning our winter/spring tour calendar. Where will it take us? You'll have to wait and see! Keep us posted on what YOU'RE up to by adding a comment to our myspace page. Season's Greetings! RACHEL PLAYED ROME 11.13.06 From their honeymoon in Rome, Italy, Rachel and Daniel send this report: ...We went to an eatery that had a live music "basement". The downstairs used to be underground streets, but was later converted to basements. We sat for two hours waiting for the band to start. They were an Italian cover band that played lots of famous typical dance tunes. It was funny to hear Italians singing American songs. After the club manager learned of Rachel's talents, he invited her up on stage to play a song. During the band's intermission, Rachel got up there and played "In Translation." She was incredibly nervous, but played and sang beautifully as always. Since the guitarist didn't have a capo, her song bank was limited. The packed crowd loved her!! CONCERT REVIEW 09.06.06 Read a great review from the The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Commonwealth University's student newspaper. It's also here on our press page. TOUR PICS 08.07.06 It took me a while, but I finally posted some pictures from RLB's huge (six day) northeast tour. See all the fun we had?! They're on the photo page, below this year's Friday Cheers pics. ACOUSTIC SHOW SATURDAY 07.27.06 Could it be an acoustic show on Saturday in Short Pump? Why, YES, it could! We don't play many acoustic dates any more, so make an effort to see us rock out unplugged style. And eat pizza. Details on the tour page. NEW T-SHIRT 07.06.06 The new and already famous "Bus" t-shirt is now available! Get yours at the RLB store. NEW PICS 07.05.06 Friday Cheers pictures posted today! You can see how much fun we had. Photos! BEST WEEKEND 07.03.06 We had a tremendous weekend! Friday Cheers was possibly our best show ever. The audience was huge and energetic, and we had a great time. Saturday at Marker 20 was a great follow-up -- another big, fun crowd. Check out the band member bios (linked from the band page) for updated pics. The live shots are from Cheers, and the candid shots are from our trip to New York a couple weeks ago. I’ll post more Cheers pics soon! Happy Independence Day. RLB AND EDWIN MCCAIN 06.26.06 Rachel Leyco Band opens for Ewin McCain 6pm this Friday at Cheers on Brown's Island. We'll be giving away CDs and T-shirts, some come show your support! This from the Friday Cheers website: Just another Friday on the island with a platinum seller supporting a new release. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if Friday Cheers has ever had a platinum seller supporting a brand new record before... You're not going to want to miss this one. AND sadly--it's the last Cheers of the season. If you like having free music in the summer, bring yourself to the island and cast your ballots in favor by enjoying a Miller Lite and / or a falafel. Friday is your election day. Edwin McCain, singer of Rob Thomas' first dance at his wedding, commentator on "I love the 90s," possessor of a voice of incredible range, writer of ubiquitous pop anthems such as "I'll be" brings his tight touring band to Richmond on Friday. Rachel Leyco Band, a perennial Friday Cheers favorite, will be in support. See you there. ITUNES 06.26.06 We're finally on iTunes! Now you can download your favorite Something Human tracks for use on your iPod. It's really iCool, I suggest you iTry it. Use this link! FRIDAY CHEERS 06.21.06 Tour was excellent! We played some great venues and met lots of fun people. We also saw Dave Letterman and Paris Hilton. How can you top that? Be sure to catch RLB next week at Friday Cheers when we open for Edwin McCain (he's famous) at the concert series season finale on Brown’s Island. Can you believe the last Friday Cheers of the year is on June 30? Well, it's true, so you need to come out to the show. See you there! PLAYING IN BOSTON 05.12.06 We just booked our first Boston area show! On June 13 we'll bring our rock show to Harpers Ferry in Allston, just outside of Boston. Help us spread the word! We want to pack the house and show those New Englanders that is was worth the wait. See you up Nawth wicked soon! HARD AT WORK 04.27.06 We've begun work on our latest studio adventure code named "Bravo Seven Zulu." Ok, there is no code name, but seriously we have started recording a new full-length CD, the follow up to Something Human. Read all about our progress and ongoing misadventures in the Studio Journal. We're keeping our May tour calendar a little light in order to leave time to record, but fear not, because we'll be back with a vengeance and our first EVER northeast tour in June! VAN. EDWIN. STUDIO. 04.12.06 First of all, we bought a van. Plenty of room for all the gear, the band, and our crew (that's Daniel). Goodbye minivan, hello Ford Club Wagon! We will open for Edwin McCain at Friday Cheers on June 30th. The concert series is moving back to Brown's Island after a season on the mainland. These shows have always been free, but - truth be told - city budget restrictions could jeopardize that for future years. "How can I help," you're wondering? Well, visit Friday Cheers on myspace and add them to your friends. Show your support and come out to the concerts! We have started pre-production for our next studio project that will become a full-length album. Once the good stuff starts happening we will keep you up to date with our studio page on the features section of this site. We are working again with our talented producer and friend Grant Rutledge. We have a lot of great material, so we're very eager to start creating. LIVE VIDEO 04.12.06 Check out video of RLB from the episode of The Music Seen we recorded last May. There's an interview with the band and four live songs. Enjoy! NEW FREE MP3S 01.19.06 I just posted a bunch of new MP3s on the music page! You can download RLB's Christmas songs that we released only to radio this past season, including My Favorite Things which has made its way onto our regular, non-holiday setlist. Also, I put live versions of three unreleased originals, recorded at Friday Cheers 2004. Jacket Pocket connects to Leaving on a Jet Plane. As if that weren't enough -- there are now three complete tracks from Something Human to go along with the 60-second samples of every song from the CD. We'll be adding more full-length tracks, so keep checking back. It's all free for you, because we care. Now go get it! RL'S DAY JOB 01.18.06 The Richmond Times Dispatch interviewed Rachel Leyco for a story on artists' day jobs. It is no longer available online. SPRING DATES 01.11.06 RLB is making a huge push to book a heavy spring semester calendar. We'll be taking the show on the road to colleges and clubs up and down the coast. If you're good, maybe we'll even see you in your hometown! Dates will be posted soon. NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOW 12.22.05 Announcing RLB's 2005 New Year's Eve Spectacular at the Bleu Bistro, a brand new restaurant in Richmond's West End. We haven't played a December 31 show since 2001. I could hardly believe it myself! So here's your chance to say au revoire to oh-five and welcome oh-six with style. You know how you usually have to a pay a bunch of money just to get into a place for New Year's? Not this time, bucko. The entertainment is free! No tickets. Just a spankin' new restaurant serving great food and drinks, and some seriously good rock music. We're very excited about this new venue, and hope you'll spend a festive night with us. Located on Quioccasin in the old Jewish Mother/O'Brien's location. More details on the tour page. FAMILY GUY CELEB AT SHOW 12.21.05 Last night's show was insane, yet again. Don't tell the ire-fay arshal-may, but this place was wall to wall revelers. Sardines were overheard saying it looked a little crowded. If you haven't been to Bogart's on a Tuesday, try it. What can I say other than it's an experience. We had a surprise celebrity guest provide some entertainment. Richmond native Mike Henry is a voice actor and writer for the hugely successful animated show Family Guy. Quite possibly the best comedy show on TV. Mike gave a quick hello to the crowd as his characters Cleveland, Herbert the aging pedophile, and the Greased Up Deaf Guy. If right now you're thinking, "The what?" you should go watch the DVD. If you're thinking, "Oh, that would have been great! I can't believe I missed it," you're right, and neither can we. Where were you? Merry season-of-winter-events-religious-and-otherwise to you all. Join us January 30 at the Tobacco Company where our guest will be Charles Fleischer, voice of Roger Rabbit. NEW BIO - NO WAY! 12.20.05 Oh, but it's true. The old bio on the band page - you know, the one that referenced President-Elect Jimmy Carter? - has finally been replaced with a new, flashy, spectacle of a bio. It's a prototype. Very rare and expensive. See for yourself. Do you think our website will get more hits if I mention ipod, Paris Hilton, 50 Cent, poker, Richard Pryor, Christmas, Jennifer Aniston? I heard Lindsay Lohan was going to join the NFL, but decided to play Xbox 360 with Dr. Phil and Britney Spears instead. Pam Anderson. RLB CHRISTMAS SONGS 12.14.05 We recorded a few Christmas songs. Some of them are actually more seasonal songs, but we're not afraid to say Christmas, and the term "winter songs" sounds stupid. Ok, back on track. Blue Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, My Favorite Things, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Sorry, you can't buy them. But you can request them on Richmond's number one radio station, Lite 98. They play Christmas songs all day long, and the morning guy - email Bill Bevins - is spinning us. NOVEMBER WILL ROCK 11.10.05 Hello friends and -- dare I say -- fans. John here. Things are going well for the RLB Band. Something clicked recently and seemed to improve our live show. We've been introducing a lot of great new songs and just having a lot more fun on stage. Come out and see what I mean. And what better time to see us than during our November tour of Richmond?! We are playing everywhere from the West End to Downtown. Life on the road is tough, even if it's just a 15-minute commute to the Bottom. The most recent addition to the calendar is a date at Alley Katz with our friends Copper Sails the day after Thanksgiving. We haven't played A-Katz in two-and-a-half years! Crazy, I know. I'll be flying back from Boston just before the show, so if I can make it 500 miles, what's your excuse? We really hope to see you over the next few weeks. Encourage your friends to go too. It's been scientifically proven that a rock show improves as attendance increases. So if all five of the people who read this were to come out to the same show, we'd be doing pretty great! We appreciate your support more than you know. WEATHER CANS HILTON GIG 10.14.05 Sorry, everybody. We just got a call canceling the Virginia Beach Hilton show for tonight. It's misting and it's supposed to stop well before show time. So don't ask us. We're sad because we were all looking forward to this show for various reasons -- debuting some new songs, playing on a new (old) bass, general desire to rock out tonight, etc. :( Cheer up. NATIONAL ANTHEM 08.31.05 Come out to the Diamond this Friday evening when RLB sings The Star-Spangled Banner. A cappella. Long delayed echo. Don't try this at home, we are practically professionals. Tickets are cheap, so throw the kids in the back of the truck and head to the ballpark! You can even stay for the game if you want. The Richmond Braves battle the Charlotte Knights. YOU HAVE A HELICOPTER? 08.11.05 Friday Cheers was excellent this year. The band was feeling good and it showed. The crowd was excellent. They were grooving along from the very first beat straight through to the end of the set, at which point they screamed for an encore. Sadly, when you're playing a festival, when your time is up, it's up, so we had to let the following band play our encore. The new location at Tredegar, across the street from Brown's Island, is very cool. Our helicopter can land right behind the stage -- how convenient! Join us this week at two new venues (for us), in Virginia Beach on Friday and Newport News on Monday. LEKO, JOOBEIZ, & OTEAL 08.04.05 Come to Friday Cheers this week to see RLB open for Oteil and the Peacemakers. That'll be at Historic Tredegar, across the street from Brown's Island. Six o'clock. First 4 people* get a free Ferrari. (*to arrive by hovercraft) ATLANTA PICS 07.01.05 Check out the photos from our June 10 show at Andrews Upstairs in Atlanta. It's a great venue with high end lighting, sound, and a top-notch staff. Sound Man Matt was extremely accommodating. Rock we did. Thanks to Jason Courant for the shots. DATES: NEW & CHANGED 06.29.05 We just booked two shows for this week, and changed the date of another. We like to keep you on your toes. RLB will be back at The Tobacco Company on Thursday night. We were last there November, 2001. Remember? Then we changed our Friday night at Marker 20 to Saturday night. And since we'll be up until 3AM, we thought it would be a good idea to go and play at 10AM on Brown's Island for the Nissan XTerra Race. Which, by the way, is humans racing, not SUVs. Should still be cool. GREETINGS FROM THE ROAD 06.09.05 We're in Atlanta today after a great show last night at CJ's Landing. After just one night in this city we are already big fans. The vibe from last night's audience was great. This place rocks, and we have every reason to think we'll be back quite often. The show was one of those last-minute dates that fell into place and ended up being really cool. (Hey, we're in town, can we play on your stage?) We're driving a couple hours west to Birmingham, Alabama, for a light acoustic show tonight, then back to Atlanta to wrap up our little tour on Friday at a venue that is reportedly very cool. Friday's show will be our seventh straight day with a gig. You'd almost think we were a real band. Audiences in Tennessee were a little on the small side, but in typical fashion, the people who heard us were pleasantly surprised by our sound. It's great when you can convince bartenders, wait staff, and sound guys that you rock. These folks are constantly subjected to bands, so to leave with their approval is a nice accomplishment.    NEWS ARCHIVE