.DUES ARE PAID.An appropriate title of the debut CD of a man who has spent the majority of his life committing himself to the art of making music. Born and raised in a small town in Northern Minnesota, his father a mining superintendent, his mother a housewife, Ryan grew up the youngest of five children (3 sisters and 1 brother) with an age gap of 10 years between him and his youngest sibling. Starting with his oldest sister, music was a strong influence on everyone in his family, eventually filtering down through all of the children to him. From birth Ryan was surrounded by the sounds of music his family listened to. By the tender age of 2, he was carrying around his first cassette tape recorder and microphone, recording everything around him that he heard, often trying to interview family members, or hiding it in unsuspected places while the family was unaware. Sharing a bedroom with his brother, he would often play records for Ryan, who already was singing along in key and memorizing the lyrics to his favorite artists which he played. Their bedroom was painted with posters of his brothers favorite artists of the era, KISS, Alice Cooper, and Rush, which Ryan copied and put up in his crib. Being his main influence, his brother Scott started playing bass guitar in his early teens. Fascinated by watching his brother, Ryan would make guitars out of tennis rackets, crank the volume on the family record player playing KISS, and jump around the house pretending to be one of the rock legends. You could often find Ryan outside in his brothers car, listening to 8-track tapes, taking in the sounds they had to offer. At age 10, Ryan's brother introduced him to his first guitar, a 1973 Fender Stratocaster. He learned his first guitar chord, a simple finger pattern on a guitar called a bar chord, which he figured out looking at a picture in a magazine of female rock guitarist Joan Jett. He then learned his first song on the guitar off of radio, a song by The Romantics entitled "Talking In Your Sleep". In his teens, guitar playing took off for him by catching on to such players and bands, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai, are just a few of the many he emulated. Although school work was important, Ryan could be found in his parents basement, learning all styles from Pop to Metal, and recording and playing around with his brother's music equipment. A talented student in high school band, choir, the arts, and sports, Ryan eventually left sports behind in 9th grade to dedicate more time to playing guitar and singing, sometimes 6-8 hours a day. Starting off playing in high school with different friends in different bands into his 20's, he eventually worked his way into a band playing rock, classic rock and blues with his older brother and at times helping him with his newly forming sound and production company. Playing weekends and working sound jobs started becoming a regular thing, honing his guitar chops in bars on weekends, and taking in various technologies and experiences working production for local to national acts. Through friends, connections, and a short demo recorded in his brother's living room with a drum machine, Scott and Ryan landed a job playing shows in Salt Lake City and getting a spot at the Sturgis motorcycle rally for a newly owned bar called "The Broken Spoke". Purchased by Jay Allen of Bisbee, AZ, "The Rolando Brothers" as they were then called would continue working "The Spoke" for the next 5 years, eventually taking over the production job after their first year there. The time frame would prove to be a new and productive chapter for both, meeting some of their heros through production jobs, playing bigger and better shows, but also living the grind of the road in small doses, paving the path of the heart and soul of where Ryan's music and work ethic comes from. "The Rolando Brothers" alliance would eventually part after 5 years with both seeking different interests in music, Scott in one direction with production, and Ryan continuing on playing with different bands locally, nationally and with "The Spoke" for 9 more years until the present, playing everything from blues to todays best hard rock, making him a well known music veteran of Sturgis, SD. Jay Allen, Ryan’s longtime friend and owner of "The Broken Spoke Saloon” recently had this to say on his experience working with Ryan, watching his development as an artist:
Being the owner of the Worlds largest biker bar has given me the luxury to play a lot of acts at my 5 locations across the country. When your number one goal is to connect with the customer, Ryan Rolando never fails to get an incredible crowd response from one year to the next. It’s been a real pleasure watching him evolve as a musician. It’s never good enough for Ryan and yet my 4,000 to 10,000 person audiences are consistently wowed by him.
Jay Allen “Broken Spoke Saloons”
Ryan started out on the stage, playing covers, throughout his experience creating a large pool of influences that would show to him to be an invaluable tool for creating his own style of music. Ryan continues to play both nationally and locally, and has become a "national act" for Jay Allen and the crowds at "The Broken Spoke" in 5 different locations, headlining his own shows, creating a large following. Recording would ultimately become a necessity. Unwilling to take compromise and pay someone to record his ideas, it was always his vision to be able to record in his own facility. For the last 10 years, Ryan put his efforts into building his own recording studio, using what he learned in his years in production, starting with a small recorder, to a now, state-of-the-art, recording set up. He has been involved in many different, diverse projects, from commercials for TV and radio, web design, graphics, audio/visual, to working with national acts, local acts and freinds, to his first solo CD effort.
DUES ARE PAID is exactly what it says, and Ryan has definitely “paid his dues” for his music. Produced by Ryan with his love, and inspiration, Playboy Playmate Hope Marie Carlton, and recorded with friend and mentor Bob Oakman of Bob Oakman Productions in Nashville, TN, DUES ARE PAID is a small reflection of Ryan's immense talent as a musician, singer, producer, writer and co-writer. From the first track, you’ll feel the electicity. The Nickelback inspired production of "So Called Friend" shows Ryan's talents in top form in the guitar laden attack, giving the listener a sonic slap in the face, or as the song states in lyric “ a punch upside my head". A melding of Ryan's influences is shown throughout, from the pop inspirations of "The Way" and the ballad "Star", to the hard rock and precision of "Celebrity" and "The Chill Factor", DUES ARE PAID has plenty to offer the listener. Collaborations between Bob and Ryan became "Brick House", "Reasons", "Vallery" featuring a guest appearance of the amazing Ron Thal from Guns And Roses (aka Bumblefoot) on lead guitar, and "The Way", all showing the creative talents and friendship between Ryan and Bob. A final track, the Eminem inspired "Already Dead" shows a different side, diving into a hip hop, rap and rock mix, showcasing the rap/vocal talents of his nephew Darrin Pender (aka Random Concepts). Recorded in both Ryan's studio and Bob's, it was a technological effort, sending tracks back and fourth between studios via the internet for production, mixing, mastering and editing. DUES ARE PAID is an awesome collection for a first effort, providing the listener with a musical range from pop, blues, rock, and metal, molding Ryan's music into his own electric creative style. Straight forward, to the point, and honest in your face hard rock with an edge is what DUES ARE PAID is all about, showing only a small fraction of the awesome talent, and what is yet to come for this amazing up and coming artist, a man who spends his life dedicating himself to the art of making music. Watch for him and his latest CD in summer/fall 2007 and a new CD in the winter of 2007 - 2008.
