In the early ‘80s, Loose Lips brought a fresh new sound to the Chicago music scene. The Chicago city clubs were inundated with new wave while the suburban clubs were straight ahead rock & roll. “We were squeaky clean power pop,” describes guitarist Richie Mayer. “We were hung up on pop.”
And that’s just what the quartet of Jeff King (guitar), Richie Mayer (guitar), Danny Welch (bass) and Gary Ritchie (drums) gave the public with their debut EP Hung Up On Pop (Outta Tunes). (Note: Long out of print, the EP has recently been re-issued on CD. Mastered from the original tapes, the band has released the CD with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Pets Lifeline organization www.petslifeline.org. You can order the CD from Bandcamp https://richiemayer.bandcamp.com/album/hung-up-on-pop.)
King and Welch had known each other from working in a local music store together. Mayer had originally cut his teeth with a group called the Phantazians while at Northwestern University. Following that, King and Mayer had already been playing together in the Chewawa Allstars. At the time Ritchie was in between bands working a local delivery job. Mayer was horse-trading guitars to get by.
Gary Ritchie had dreams of being a professional baseball player while growing up in Ohio. But his brother needed a drummer. That was 1967. And a drummer he became with the Paramods and he spent two years getting his feet wet with a number of local bands. But the draft got in the way and he served in Viet Nam. Upon his return he settled in Chicago and joined a nine-piece horn-rock band, Heritage, then a year with a blues-rock band, Sluggo, and some time with Malchick. At the time, Pezband was exploding on the scene and he was turned on to their power pop sound.
King, Mayer and Welch had rented an empty storefront, using it as a rehearsal studio. Ritchie was running an ad in the local Illinois Entertainer musicpaper looking for a band.
“Gary was a perfect fit,” says King.
Loose Lips made their debut in February of 1980 at Chicago Filmmakers studio (with Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick sitting in for their take on “Taxman”).
In describing their sound, local music critic Chris Hill wrote, “Their particular brand of rock owes music to the current revival of interest in classic mid-‘60s pop. Loose Lips has absorbed some of the important lessons of that era. Most importantly, how to structure all the elements of a rock song for maximum effect. Their guitar breaks are never longer than they have to be, and as a result they pack a lot of added force,” with their compositions demonstrating “a strong emphasis on melody.”
As Tuts was one of the most “happening” clubs on the city circuit, it was there that they debuted their EP Hung Up On Pop in June. The record got strong support from local radio stations.
In 1981, they filmed a 15-song concert at Triton College in suburban River Grove. Here’s some memories of Loose Lips live with “Who’s Crying Now?” https://youtu.be/nbXansKMWZA and “Somebody’s Got My Someone” https://youtu.be/wFG2kDbyPk0.
Hung Up On Pop sold some 2,000 copies. But the band struggled. They were mired in the city club scene and never broke out into the suburbs, where their power pop sound would have been more acceptable.
In 1982, King and Ritchie left Loose Lips. It was an amicable parting. While the Loose Lips foursome went their separate ways, they have remained good friends over the years, joining each other from time to time on solo projects.
Mayer and Welch continued on and Loose Lips added drummer David Thornton and keyboardist Peter Spiro. Looking for a new direction and sound, the band recorded four songs for an EP tentatively titled Oblivion Kisses. The new Loose Lips debuted in October of 1984 and spent the next year honing their craft. This lead to a showcase for Epic Records at the West End club. That show resulted in a management contract and a development deal with Epic. In early 1986 the band headed to Toronto, Canada, to record with famed producer David Bendeth, resulting in new songs and high hopes for the future of the band. But then the label got mired in controversy with a major purge of the company’s principals and the Loose Lips demos remained on the shelf.
Oblivion Kisses never got released. Want to hear it? Mayer has uploaded the tracks for those to hear on Soundcloud – “Lonely”
https://soundcloud.com/richie-mayer/lonely?in=richie-mayer/sets/loose-lips-1983-oblivion-kisses “Same Old Package”
“Sherri” https://soundcloud.com/richie-mayer/sherri?in=richie-mayer/sets/loose-lips-1983-oblivion-kisses
“Time Slips Away”
The band struggled on for a brief period but the disappointment in the failure of the record deal added to the live music scene going through a change with clubs closing and they finally gave in and broke up.
Mayer and Welch gave it another shot forming the dark pop-genre Push Push with drummer David Suycott and multi-instrumentalist Marcus Padgett. That project lasted into 1989 when Mayer got an invitation from producer David Bendeth, who he had worked with on the aborted Loose Lips project, who was now head of A&R for RCA/BMG Records in Canada. Bendeth looked for Mayer to write songs for other artists.
“I moved to Toronto in 1989 and in an eight-month period wrote all the songs, with input from David Bendeth, that would become the album Call My Name. Then RCA/BMG president Bob Jamieson heard the songs and gave David and I the go ahead to find an artist for the material and make an album. We auditioned quite a few female artists for the project and found Lavena Fox and Saskia Garrel, who would become ‘Love And Sas.’ David and I played the instruments as well as recording and producing the debut album Call My Name.” The album would go on to receive two Juno Awards (the Canadian version of a Grammy) in 1991 and 1992 for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. “During the writing of the album I was signed to a songwriting/production deal with BMG Publishing in Canada, had songs placed in film and on TV, and worked with other artists, though soon after I had to move back to Chicago for family reasons.”
After Loose Lips, King went on to do stints with Dreams Come True, the Joint Chiefs, Arts Thieves and Model Prisoners; and recording with Ellis Clark’s Social Act and the Big Parade. He served as a mastering engineer at Paramount Recording Studios and opened his own Peckerwood Recording Studios. A few years ago, King moved to Texas with Peckerwood Studios Souther now based near Austin and plays bass in local band the Tone Junkies.
Ritchie went on to spend some time with Mike Jordan and the Rockamatics, and a brief fling with the Strange Riccardo, reuniting with Donna Kirkendall who was a bandmate in Malchick. Then he quietly slipped into retirement. But didn’t quit making music. He was working on a project of Beatle tunes when old friend Jeff King called. Discussing the project, King said, “I want in.” And in 2000 Beat the Meatles was released.
Ritchie eventually moved to Texas himself, and now 20 years after his first solo release, Ritchie has served up his sixth album, Head On a Swivel. It’s actually his sixth release since connecting and working again with Jeff King in 2000. For Ritchie this project, “Started in January of 2019. I was getting a bit restless and felt like it was time to record some new music,” says Ritchie. Heading back into his music room, “A half an hour later I had the makings of a new and cool tune (“Head on a Swivel”). I thought, ‘Maybe I do have something here.’ So I looked through my old notes, old demos, scraps of paper with ideas on them and got to work. I notified my musical partner Jeff King that I was ready to record and we got to it.” The project has strong hints of the original Loose Lips sound, including “Maybe I’ll Be Tonight,” which was originally a Loose Lips song that Ritchie felt needed an updating and tightening. The project utilizes simpler song structures, cool vocals, catchy harmonies and a ‘radio ready’ composition style. Check it out on Bandcamp https://garyritchie.bandcamp.com/album/head-on-a-swivel.
When Mayer turned 50 he headed west to California where he was an architect designing homes. He built his own home studio, and started playing again. “I had things to say,” he comments. “Introspective stuff and stuff of life.” That has resulted in a new project, The Inn of Temporary Happiness, for which he called on assistance from King to play on, as well as production assistance from original Hung Up On Pop producer Michael Freeman. The project offers a more mature songwriting and more complex production in the evolution of Mayer’s musical path. You can check out The Inn of Temporary Happiness on Bandcamp https://richiemayer.bandcamp.com/…/the-inn-of-temporary….
The Loose Lips gang not only works on their own projects, but as Richie Mayer posted he produced a project by by Dave Sebastian titled “Angels on the Ceiling” – https://davesebastian.bandcamp.com/…/angels-on-the… that finds Mayer on guitar and Jeff King on bass.
Welch’s career took him away from being a full-time musician as an electrical engineer who worked with Intel, among others, and is now retired enjoying life traveling, surfing and strumming.
LOOSE LIPS DISCOGRAPHY
1980 Hung Up On Pop (Outta Tunes)
GARY RITCHIE DISCOGRAPHY
2000 Beat the Meatles
2001 Pop! Radio
2011 Hum, Sing…Repeat!
2013 Drake, Near the Alley
2016 Pop’ti’mis’tic
2020 Head On a Swivel
RICHIE MAYER DISCOGRAPHY
2021 The Inn of Temporary Happiness