IN THEIR OWN WORDS . . . .
Written by Marcus Affeldt (of Rich Tradition)

The process of writing and becoming involved with music has been a long passionate process for our band, Rich Tradition. With all of our five members tracing the beginning of their musical endeavors back to the middle school years, we have experienced growing interest in the involvement of music ever since myself (Marcus), and Jose became introduced early on in guitar class. We continuously challenged one another to see who was best. Oddly enough, we never actually ended up competing but more or less just traded riffs and playing cover songs. Steve played bass in an earlier band with Jose. Chris was the highly respected lead guitarist in +the schools Jazz band. Brian was always an amazing drummer that we knew of but it wasn’t until later, that the thought of forming a band together actually came about. Early in High School Rich Tradition actually started taking form. Jose and I continued trading riffs in guitar class for countless hours on end. We finally decided it was time to form a band. It started off as Jose, Steve, and myself. We would write numerous elementary riffs but we really needed a drummer to bring it all together. After weeks of looking with no luck, we decided to do it ourselves. We bought a drum machine and programmed any beat or transition that we felt appropriate. I still remember our first so called “practice” when we gathered in Steve’s garage one cold winter night. We probably played the same programmed song 15 or 20 odd times. We continued to write songs and to improve as musicians. Finally, we discovered that the two missing components to our band were sitting directly in front of us for several years. Chris was an avid fan of our band from the beginning. After only a few attempts at playing and writing with Chris, we agreed unanimously that he was in. Chris brought an entire new element to the band and changed the sound of Rich Tradition forever. Brian completed the lineup one night by accident. He came to watch another drummer audition for us. Brian sat on the couch and watched; he knew he could do a better job. After the other drummer left, Brian sat on the kit and preceded to perform everything we asked him to flawlessly. Everyone knew from 30 seconds of Brian’s playing that he was the missing link of Rich Tradition. The band was now complete.

There has always been something about our band that I feel can’t be recreated by any other. It might be because our influences vary so greatly from individual to individual, or it might be because we’ve all grown to realize that our friendship that we share with each other is just as important as playing in our band. We have shared so many times together. These times range from good times to times of severe disappointment. Just as with any band, we have already experienced our fair share of lies, broken promises, and industry shortcomings to make us realize what a hard industry the music business really is. I guess it is the dream of finally getting a break, or doing something that brings us true happiness in our lives that will always keep us going. All year long, four nights a week, we share the sweat, frustration, and love that our band brings us together, as one. Rich Tradition has not even come close to reaching our goalsA. We hope to push the limits of what we can do musically, which will only take time. Despite playing together for quite some time, we have just begun.

We have been a band for over a year now, and none of us can see any end in sight. No matter how many arguments take place, or conflicts arise, I know that we were meant to leave some kind of impact on music.

Whether our music takes us places we’ve never imagined, or no farther than our rehearsal studio, we promise everyone that we will give it everything we have and won’t ever give up on the scene or our true love for music.