Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s) Comedy
Lounge
Years active 2000 - present
Label(s) Coverage Records
Website http://www.richardcheese.com
Members
Richard Cheese (Mark Jonathan Davis)
Bobby Ricotta (Noel Melanio)
Frank Feta (Brian Fishler)
Former members
Jeff Novack
Charles Byler
David Adler
Christopher Monaco
Louis Allen

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine is a cover band and comedy act based in Los Angeles, California, playing popular rap, rock, metal, and pop songs in a swanky lounge music and classical style. The band's name is a parody of the rap rock band Rage Against the Machine.

Since 2000, the band has played concerts around the United States and Europe, and has made numerous television appearances, including performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Fox News Channel, CNN, and as the house band on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly and MTV's Say What? Karaoke series.

The band is currently in the midst of their 2008/2009 worldwide "Lounge The Vote/Farewell Tour", after the conclusion of which they have announced they will no longer tour. The band's official website stated that the reason for this is that Richard Cheese has some "vocal chord problems" and has been advised to suspend singing before the condition worsens.

Contents

[edit] Style

The band specializes in playing lounge-style covers of recent popular rock, metal, rap and hip hop songs, sung in a calm jazz voice, contrasting an elegant jazz treatment of the music with often profane and ribald lyrics to create a humorous dissonance.

[edit] Members

The present line-up of the band consists of:

and a rotating roster of bass players.

The names are all pseudonyms, and new band members either adopt the pseudonym of the player they replace, or new names are developed. The only constant band member is Cheese himself, who is really a Los Angeles-based comedian and entrepreneur named Mark Jonathan Davis. When the drummer Buddy Gouda (Charles Byler) left the band in 2004, he was replaced by Brian Fishler and the stage name was changed to Frank Feta. The role of pianist and musical director Bobby Ricotta is currently played by Noel Melanio, but was previously played by David Adler. The role of bass player Gordon Brie was played by Louis Allen, and was previously portrayed by Christopher Monaco. The band currently has no permanent bass player. The band has also hired numerous session musicians, including horn players Eric Jorgensen, Terry Landry, and Lee Thornburg, and theremin player Pamelia Kurstin.

Cheese's pseudonym is a slang reference to smegma, as Richard can be shortened to Dick, making his name "dick cheese". Davis has stated that this sophomoric pun has unfortunately stigmatized the band as "too controversial" for many mainstream opportunities.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Television

[edit] Radio

[edit] Film

Director Zack Snyder also wrote an article about Richard Cheese for mtv.com. The article is at richardcheese.com in the "Library" section.

[edit] Podcasts

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

[edit] Unreleased songs

[edit] See also

[edit] External links