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Richard Cheese

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Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine
Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine performing live in 2011
Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine performing live in 2011
Background information
OriginLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Years active2000–present
LabelsCoverage Records (current), Surfdog, Oglio
MembersRichard Cheese (Mark Jonathan Davis)
Bobby Ricotta (Noel Melanio)
Frank Feta (Brian Fishler)
Billy Bleu (Ron Belcher)
Past membersDavid Adler
Christopher Monaco
Louis Allen
Todd LeValley
Chuck Byler
Jeff Novack
John Hatton
Skip Ward
Pablo Motta
Steve Jones
Michael Bordelon (current bass sub)
Websiterichardcheese.com

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine (or simply Richard Cheese) is a cover band and comedy act, performing popular songs in a lounge/swing style, reminiscent of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett. Lounge singer Richard Cheese is a character created and portrayed by Los Angeles-based actor/comedian/singer Mark Jonathan Davis.

History

Davis developed the Richard Cheese lounge singer idea in the mid-1990s while working as a producer at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. Davis portrayed a character named "Paul the 55-Year-Old Intern" on the Kevin and Bean morning show, and Paul recorded a single called "Paul on 45", which was a humorous medley of KROQ songs arranged in a swing/big band style.

Davis pitched this idea as an album concept, and the band's debut album Richard Cheese: Lounge Against the Machine ("Featuring 16 Swingin' Covers of Alternative Standards") was released in 2000 by Oglio Records.[1] Since 2000, Davis's Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine band has released twenty albums.

Cheese's second and third albums Tuxicity and I'd Like a Virgin were independently released in 2002 and 2004 by Cheese's own label, Ideatown Entertainment (later renamed to Coverage Records).

From 2004–2006, Surfdog Records released three new Richard Cheese CDs: Aperitif for Destruction, an all-new studio album, Silent Nightclub, a collection of songs tangentially related to the holiday season, and The Sunny Side of the Moon: The Best of Richard Cheese, which included newly re-recorded versions of six Richard Cheese classics plus three all-new covers. Surfdog also re-released the Richard Cheese albums Tuxicity and I'd Like a Virgin on their label in 2006.

Beginning in 2007, Cheese returned to releasing his own albums through his independent Coverage Records label, about one each year: Dick at Nite, Viva La Vodka: Richard Cheese Live, OK Bartender, A Lounge Supreme, Live at the Royal Wedding and its companion behind-the-scenes album The Royal Baby Album, Back in Black Tie, and a Christmas album, Cocktails with Santa.

Cheese also produced an album in 2010 as Johnny Aloha called Lavapalooza, with a band of Hawaiian music musicians performing tiki-style versions of rock and rap songs. The album cover artwork was created by the artist Shag.

In late 2015, Cheese released 3 new CDs: a live album titled Bakin' at the Boulder, a Star Wars tribute called The Lounge Awakens: Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine Live at the Mos Eisley Spaceport Cantina, and a new studio album Supermassive Black Tux.

In 2016, because Richard Cheese sang two songs in the motion picture Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the band released a one-track parody album called Richard Cheese: Live at Wayne Financial Tower in which the band's performance is cut short by Superman's heat vision.

The Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine band released a new studio album on CD titled Licensed to Spill in 2017, and a greatest hits digital compilation titled Lord of the Swings: The Best of Richard Cheese, Volume 2 in 2018. In 2019, the band released Richard Cheese's Big Swingin' Organ, an album of instrumental organ versions of 9 of his songs. Also in 2019, Richard Cheese released a one-track parody album titled Richard Cheese: Live on Titan which satirized the ending of the motion picture Avengers: Infinity War.

A new studio album titled Numbers Of The Beast was released on July 31, 2020.

The Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine band has toured extensively around the United States, and has played shows in England, Portugal, The Bahamas, and Canada.

The band is currently headlining regularly at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas.

Richard Cheese's cover of Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness" was featured in the 2004 Zack Snyder-directed remake of Dawn of the Dead. Snyder also included Richard Cheese songs in his 2016 Warner Bros. film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.[2] Warner Bros. then hired the band to perform and appear as animated LEGO mini-figs in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie, singing the song "Man in the Mirror" and performing an "elevator-music" version of "Everything Is Awesome".

Richard Cheese has made numerous television appearances, including performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° for New Year's Eve, ESPN for a Las Vegas March Madness broadcast, Fox & Friends on Fox News Channel, ITV's The Jonathan Ross Show in England, and as the Vegas house band on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly and MTV's Say What? Karaoke series.

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine songs have been featured on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, NBC's Las Vegas series, and NBC's Passions soap opera.

In April 2017, the band's swing cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" was featured in the opening credits of "Crazy Whitefella Thinking," an episode of HBO's The Leftovers series.

Richard Cheese has also been featured on radio morning shows and syndicated radio programs such as The Dr. Demento Show, KROQ-FM's Kevin and Bean, Jonathon Brandmeier, The Howard Stern Show, Opie and Anthony, The Bob and Sheri Show, The Adam Carolla Show, and Gonzo in the Morning.

Davis is currently writing an autobiography about the band, titled Atlas Lounged: The Music, Movies, and Madness Behind Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine which is expected to be released in 2021.

Band members

The present line-up of the Lounge Against the Machine band consists of:

  • Richard Cheese – vocals
  • Bobby Ricotta – piano, keyboards
  • Frank Feta – drums, percussion
  • Billy Bleu – upright bass, bass

The names are all pseudonyms that refer to types of cheese (ricotta, feta, bleu).[3] The name Richard Cheese itself is a pun on "dick cheese", a slang term; "Lounge Against the Machine" is a reference to Rage Against the Machine.

The role of pianist and musical director Bobby Ricotta is currently played by Noel Melanio; previously the role was played by David Adler. The band's first drummer Buddy Gouda was played by Todd LaValley, and then by Charles Byler. Byler left the band in 2004; he was replaced by Brian Fishler and the drummer's stage name was changed to Frank Feta. The role of bass player Gordon Brie was first portrayed by Christopher Monaco. The current bass player, Billy Bleu, is portrayed by Ron Belcher. Other bassists who have performed with the band include Gus Seyffert, Skip Ward, Jeff Novack, Nathan Peck, Steve Jones, John Hatton, Louie Allen, Pablo Motta, and Michael Bordelon. The band has also worked with numerous Session musicians and performers, including horn players Cleto Escobedo III, Eric Jorgensen, Terry Landry, Lee Thornburg, and Bill Churchville, bassist Will Lee, guitarists Jimmy Vivino and John Pizzarelli, percussionist Joey DeLeon, theremin player Pamelia Kurstin, and singers Fred Schneider, Slipknot's Corey Taylor, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Discography

Studio albums and singles

  • Lounge Against the Machine (2000) (Oglio Records)
  • Tuxicity (2002) (Surfdog Records (originally released by Ideatown/Coverage Records))
  • I'd Like a Virgin (2004) (Surfdog Records (originally released by Ideatown/Coverage Records))
  • Aperitif for Destruction (2005) (Surfdog Records)
  • The Sunny Side of the Moon (2006) (Surfdog Records)
  • Silent Nightclub (2006) (Surfdog Records)
  • Dick at Nite (Your Favorite TV Themes Loungified!) (2007) (Coverage Records)
  • OK Bartender (2010) (Coverage Records)
  • Johnny Aloha: Lavapalooza (2010) (as Richard Cheese presents Johnny Aloha) (Coverage Records)
  • Live at the Royal Wedding (2011) (Coverage Records)
  • A Lounge Supreme (2011) (Coverage Records)
  • Back in Black Tie (2012) (Coverage Records)
  • The Royal Baby Album (2013) (Coverage Records)
  • Cocktails With Santa (2013) (Coverage Records)
  • The Lounge Awakens: Richard Cheese Live at the Mos Eisley Spaceport Cantina (2015) (Coverage Records)
  • Supermassive Black Tux (2015) (Coverage Records)
  • Richard Cheese Live at Wayne Financial Tower (2016) (Coverage Records)
  • Licensed to Spill (2017) (Coverage Records)
  • Richard Cheese's Big Swingin' Organ! (2019) (Coverage Records)
  • Richard Cheese: Live on Titan (2019) (Coverage Records)
  • Numbers Of The Beast (2020) (Coverage Records)

Compilation albums

  • The Sunny Side of the Moon: The Best of Richard Cheese (2006) (Surfdog Records)
  • Hail to the Cheese: Richard Cheese's All-American Greatest Hits (digital only) (2012) (Coverage Records)
  • Down With the Dickness: Richard Cheese's Dirtiest Greatest Hits (digital only) (2012) (Coverage Records)
  • Lord of the Swings: The Best of Richard Cheese, Volume 2 (digital only) (2018) (Coverage Records)

Live albums

Other album appearances

Appearances

Live concerts

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine have played numerous concerts around the United States, as well as in Canada, Portugal, the Bahamas, and England. The band has performed at popular U.S. venues such as The Gramercy Theatre in New York City, Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco, Thalia Hall in Chicago, and many times at House of Blues venues around the United States. The band performed at Jack Black's Festival Supreme in 2015, and at other festivals such as KROQ Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles and Y100's Feztival in Philadelphia. The band's largest audience was at Sonisphere in England in 2011, when they performed for a crowd of 18,000. The band also performed at private events for singer Brian Setzer, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, actress Sara Ramirez, British talk show host Jonathan Ross, the band Muse, director Zack Snyder, and as the house band for the Creative Arts Daytime Emmy Awards in 2004 and 2005.

Cheese still performs live concerts. His most recent live concert performance was in Las Vegas on March 6, 2020.

Film

Television

Radio

Podcasts

  • Coverville (April 5, 2006) Richard Cheese interview
  • Club 301 (November 30, 2006) Richard Cheese interview

Other media

See also

References

  1. ^ Turner, Katherine (March 3, 2016). This is the Sound of Irony: Music, Politics and Popular Culture. Routledge. p. 171. ISBN 9781317010548. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  2. ^ Tilles, Jay (March 24, 2016). "How a Richard Cheese Song Made it into Batman V Superman". Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  3. ^ Stapleton, Susan (February 3, 2015). "Cheese whiz Richard Cheese slices two sets in Las Vegas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 August 2017.

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