Q&A with Riker Lynch of R5 – Talks New Single, “Heart Made Up On You,” Tour Life and More!

Before R5 entered the studio to record their Hollywood Records debut album no one told them what to do. No one needed to. The band knew exactly what they wanted: to make an album perfect for playing in the car. And by that they meant summer nights, with the top down, cruising down the highway and cranking the music up. Not loud, but LOUDER ! Which, coincidentally is the band’s album.

In its 11 tracks, their album, Louder establishes R5 as the foremost up-and-coming young pop/rock band today. “We wanted to put out a fun album,” says Rydel Lynch (keyboards/vocals) who, with her brothers Riker (bass/vocals), Ross (lead vocals/guitar) and Rocky (guitar/vocals), and best friend Ratliff (drums) make up R5.

The R5 story actually begins almost a decade ago in Littleton, Colorado., the Denver suburb the Lynch siblings grew up in.Thanks to a steady diet of Elvis, Beatles and Rolling Stones served up by their parents, and a healthy dose of sibling rivalry, the Lynchs started taking music seriously.The family moved to Los Angeles in 2007 to get their careers going in acting, dance, music and commercials. But forming a band of their own took precedence.

Riker and Ross each found success on television. Riker became Jeff, one of the member of the Warblers, the a cappella group featured in Glee, while Ross stared in his own series, Austin & Ally. That led to Ross’ lead role in the 2013 Disney Channel original movie Teen Beach Movie.

For much of the last two years, the band honed its performing chops, headlining and selling-out shows across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. As much fun as they’re having, the band members know how fortunate they are to be able do what they love and share that with the world.

“There are so many crazy things happening every day,” says Riker. “Not everybody had a nice upbringing like we did. But if someone is feeling down, and then they listen to our music and come to our shows, hopefully for that one night they can forget their problems and feel like nothing else matters. Let’s just enjoy one another and just have an awesome time together.”

All Access Music writer, Nicole DeRosa got a chance to ask bassist, Riker Lynch a few questions between studio sessions. Check out their Q&A here:

Hi Riker!  So where does this interview find you today? What’s on the agenda today besides this interview?

Hi! I am at a studio in Los Angeles rehearsing for our upcoming R5: LIVE ON TOUR tour. Rydel and Ratliff are working on “Things Are Looking Up.” There’s a lot of percussion elements in that song, so we’re having Rydel play some of it. Later we’ll all go through the whole set together.

How did you guys all meet and know you wanted to start a band together?

Basically Rydel, Rocky, Ross, and I grew up performing all the time at home in Colorado. We’d put on shows in the basement for our family. And then when we moved out to California, that’s when Rocky decided to really teach himself to play guitar. He showed me some videos of Fall Out Boy and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. So Rocky showed me the basics and Ross followed suit. We met Ratliff at a performing arts studio in LA. After knowing him for a bit we found out he played drums, so he came over to jam with us. Rydel had taken some piano lessons back in Colorado so we begged her to join the band. Everyone already called us R5 so we figured with we’d just keep it and Ellington ‘Ratliff’ fit in perfectly.

Using one word, how would you describe each of your band mates?

 Ambitious.

What was the inspiration for your latest super catchy single, “Heart Made Up On You”? What does that song mean to you?

It’s pretty much taken from real life experiences. I’ve definitely been in a relationship where part of me knows this girl is not good at all for me but my heart is totally in. It’s a weird thing but I think a lot of people have been in situations like that. I think it’s a really relatable song.

Speaking of, the video for “Heart Made Up On You,” looked like so much fun to film. Do the band have input with the treatment for the video? Any memorable stories to share from the set?

We actually had a lot to do with the treatment and the whole video in general. For this one we worked close with our director, Thom Glunt, to really get the treatment right. The song is a bit darker than our other songs, so we wanted the video to reflect that. It was really fun to film but it was crazy hot! We were in Taft, CA, for two days shooting outside in the middle of summer. It was sweaty.

 I had a chance to see you guys perform as the opening act at KIIS FM’s Wango Tango festival this past summer, where you performed alongside other famous artists such as “Maroon Maroon 5, Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Paramore, OneRepublic, Christina Aguilera, and more. What was that experience like for you guys?

Ah cool! Thanks for watching! 😀 That was one of the best days of my life so far. I’ve always wanted to go to Wango Tango so just that alone was great. And then we got to play on this massive stage and then got to watch some of my favorite bands play on that same stage. It was absolutely amazing – an epic day to say the least.

 Speaking of the tour, what are some things you have to have on the road with you?

I always have movies with me. I love movies so whenever we go on tour I gotta bring my favorites like: That Thing You Do, all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and Wedding Crashers!

If you had the opportunity to work with any act/artist from the past, present or future, who would it be and why? If you could spend the day with them, where would you go…and what would you do?

I think I’d want to work with Pharrell Williams. I would love to write a song with him and just see how he does it. He’s insanely good at writing and producing so to have him work with us on an R5 song would be so cool.

What was the first song you fell in love with growing up and why?

It was either “Human Touch” by Bruce Springsteen or “All Shook Up” by Elvis. Those were the songs that I would always tell my mom and dad to put on the CD player. “Human Touch” may be my favorite song of all time.

Who are some of the new artists who inspire you? Who is in your current playlist?

I love this band from the UK called The Struts – definitely on my current playlist. And New Beat Fund, really great band and definitely something new for the music scene. They’re about to release their first album. I also absolutely love the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack! It’s full of awesome oldies, so good!

What’s on tap next for R5?

Our single “Heart Made Up On You” is at radio now and we are getting ready to go back on tour in North America, starting September 3rd in Orlando! I’m very excited because it will be the first time playing the new songs from our new EP.

To keep up with the latest from R5, visit their website here