Published: Friday, 11 September 2026 23:45 | Written by NI Rocks |
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Status Quo guitarist Richie Malone is our guest on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 11th September. Richie joined the band in 2016 and became a permanent member after the death of Rick Parfitt that year. His own band, The Richie Malone Band, plays the Empire Music Hall in Belfast on 25th September.
We chatted via Zoom about his time with Status Quo, the Richie Malone Band, the upcoming show, future plans and more.
That interview can be heard on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 11th September. The Show is available from the On Demand Player -
Friday NI Rocks Show No820 – Uploaded 11th Sept 2026
STATUS QUO - Rockin All Over The World (2022 Version)
TYGERS OF PAN TANG - A Shadow on Fire
STORM FORCE - Anti Social Media.
BONFIRE - But We Still Rock
WARRANT - Dirty Jack
DEF LEPPARD - Rock On
STATUS QUO - Caroline (2022 Version)
Interview with RICHIE MALONE Part 1 (11min)
STATUS QUO – Whatever You Want (Live)
Interview with RICHIE MALONE Part 2 (7min)
STATUS QUO – Get Out of My Head
Interview with RICHIE MALONE Part 3 (12min)
STATUS QUO - Don’t Think It Matters
STATUS QUO – Face The Music
THE SOUTHERN RIVER BAND - Stan Qualen
A LITTLE BITTER - Further I Crawl
SABATON - Light in the Black
SKILLET – Rebirthing
KING KRAKEN - Shadows Fall
FIREWIND - The Legend of Achilles
DELAIN – Frozen
JORN – Blacksong
WHITESNAKE - Slow An’ Easy (Live)
THE DAVY K PROJECT - The Loner (Live)
NI ROCKS – Hi Richie, thanks for taking some time to talk to me. A lot of people will know you as a member of Status Quo of course and we’ll chat about that later. But I wanted to focus first of all on the Richie Malone Band. You play the Empire in Belfast on 25th September. What can we expect to hear from the band?
RICHIE - It's great to start an interview with a nice plug like that (laughs). What can we expect? Well, it all began in Belfast for me, you know, with the Quo journey. So, coming back to Belfast. It's been a bit of a tricky one with my band because I can't exactly go on and play a set of Pink Floyd numbers or Iron Maiden. People know I've got Quo at heart. So the set is built around my favourite Quo numbers that I didn't or wasn't allowed to play in the band, mixed with a few that I did get to sing lead vocal on. So it's very much built with emotion, there's a lot of tribute there to Alan Lancaster and a lot of tribute to my father, who passed away. So it's nice in a way to be able to pick tracks that would slot in, that I like playing the hopefully the hardcore as they're called would appreciate, you know. We couldn't get “Marguerita Time” into the set as much as I know Francis would have loved that, but you know, but no, it's quite foot to the floor, you know, we're spending a lot of time on it, we're trying a couple of new things. And of course, I've hand-picked some AC/DC numbers or Deep Purple. You know, again, my influences - that's the best way to explain the set. So it's a good old-fashioned live electric rock and roll band, you know. Four piece.
NI ROCKS – There are four of you in the band as you said. Tell us who you have playing alongside you.
RICHIE - We've got Grant Nicholas on drums. Again, he's been around since the Stone Age. He's a great guy to have. He's been with Brush Shiels, The Godfathers and everybody, so he's our legendary rock drummer. And we've got Paul Wallace on bass and Jay Forbes from my old band RAID! So it was nice to bring them forward and myself and Jay have been playing since we were in nappies you know; we got our first Telecasters together on Christmas Day, so it's nice to involve these guys you know because they're available. There's always an option to go down with different session players and that type of thing but I think with the four of us together we don't have a position where I don't want anyone to dep in. This is the band. I don't like the position of having to dep somebody in. So it's building up a nice connection with the three guys, you know.
NI ROCKS – You mentioned that you’re playing the classic and some of your favourite tunes. Do you have plans for the band to record their own original material at some stage? Or are you happy doing what you’re doing?
RICHIE - Yeah, like I think the plan at the moment is obviously trying to revisit some of the numbers that I wrote for Quo to see what they work live. Also, some of the numbers I wrote years ago that a lot of the Quo fans would never have heard before, my old original stuff. So I've done a nice bit of promo for this Belfast gig and it's getting asked more and more. So the idea will be, I think, naturally after this show, next year we need to start penciling some new tracks because I think that's the next thing that naturally has to happen, you know. So it'd be nice to do something new, something original and then see how it's taken on board, you know?
NI ROCKS - Build the fan base then bring in the new material.
RICHIE - That's the thing. And obviously, I got to be careful. Some of my older stuff was on the borderline of Metallica, meets AC/DC with a bit of Quo and it's not going to be to everyone's liking. But this is the thing, you can't keep everybody happy. But if I'm going to be doing originals, it's of course going to have a Quo theme to it because that's what we like playing, you know?
NI ROCKS – I was looking at the band’s new website – which we talked about earlier - which looks great. I joined the mailing list.
RICHIE – Thank you (laughs)
NI ROCKS - Following the gig in Belfast this month you play in Portlaoise next month. You’ve already played shows across the water and in Spain. Is there a plan to take the band further afield again next year?
RICHIE - Yes, funny you mentioned I just had contact from a good friend of mine today. who lives over in Europe and we're looking at the possibility of taking the band into Europe. As you can imagine, it's not as easy as one thinks. Smaller bands trying to get out across the water into Europe, it's expensive, it's got a lot of red tape but I know there's a lot of fans asking for it out in Europe so I think next year we are looking at the festival side of things and see what can we do. Spain was a good experience this year, it was nice to get over there and do that and it was well received, thank God. So maybe next year we need to cross the water again.
NI ROCKS – When I was on the website I noticed that you were also part of a couple of Status Quo tribute bands - The Quo Story and the Belgian Quo Band. What can you tell us about those bands?
RICHIE - Two great sets of people, very different. The Quo Story, a bunch of guys from Glasgow. I've known them as fans while I've been in Quo. I've got to meet Jay Fitzpatrick. and he runs the Fitzpatrick School of Music over in Glasgow and it's fascinating to see his journey and the energy and the detail they put into that act that I get to play with. So it's down to the white amps, it's the in-ear monitors, it's very professional. It's really fantastic, you know. And the Belgian guys are basically a touring family. It's absolutely fantastic. It's a totally different perspective and again of the benefit of being in Europe with those guys and you go through locations I wouldn't have seen before. So It's a nice, lucky position to be in, to jump into two of those acts, and juggle the three chords around as best as I can. (Laughs) No, but it's good. They're great guys.
NI ROCKS – Which brings us on to Status Quo. You joined the band in 2016 when you were asked to step in for Rick Parfitt. But you’d a long history with the band going back several years. I’ve heard you saying that your first gig was actually, and you mentioned it earlier, Status Quo in Belfast with your late father back in 1999. What was your journey from 13 year old fan to 30 year old guitarist being asked to join the band?
RICHIE - I think we might need a few hours. Yes, it started in Belfast, and I know a lot of people have heard me say it before. Like it was the first time I'd seen Quo, first time I was at a proper concert that I went to, you know, and something about the way the band came out that night. As they used to say, once you go and see Quo, you get converted. But I know you could say that about a lot of bands. If you see them for the first time, that's it. And it was either make or break. And I think, as I call it, the pick of destiny, the bass player, Rhino, through a plectrum out that night and I caught it and he gave me the thumbs up. What choice have I got from that moment on? You're going to go on a journey following the band, you know. So, you know, over the following the next few years was myself and my dad going to see them wherever we could because they weren't touring Ireland too much. So when they did come here, we'd have to do them all. You know, it was the Olympia, Killarney, Belfast, Cork, wherever we could go. But the special trips were the ones where we'd go over to the UK because we'd seen them in Ireland. But then you get to see Quo on their home turf, on a winter tour, as it's called, and a different ball game again. So it went step by step; getting to meet Rick at the stage door. And then Rick seeing me with my hands over the barrier kind of doing a bit of air guitar. He kind of started to notice something was going on down there, whether he thought I was having a fit or I was mimicking his playing, you know. But I was very lucky again that back then there wasn't a whole lot of YouTube stuff going on and Rick wasn't seeing too many young guys my age idolizing them in that way. So it went strength to strength, we'd meet up and he'd bring me into the dressing room, we'd have a chat, he'd ask me how was my band getting on and it just went like that. A nice progression over the years where we went from being a couple of fans, although my dad would have been in the corner in a jelly, he couldn't compose himself. But I found that I felt quite comfortable, being with Rick because he was a humorous guy. He was one-of-a-kind. And it was just nice, it was nice the way it developed, and he was watching me on my journey, if you will, as it was happening. So yeah, it was, it kind of went like that, from 99 onwards. It was every year brought something new, you know?
NI ROCKS – Being asked to step in for Rick must have been a mix of emotions – given the circumstances, with the illness initially and then untimely passing. Great being in the band, but obviously there was a reason that you’re there.
RICHIE - Yeah, it's a good one that because obviously when I got the call, I hadn't seen the band in a couple of years. The last time that I'd seen Quo was they had reformed on the Frantics tour, the original band, got back together and I met Rick backstage. It was in Dublin was the last show, funny enough. And that was the last time I had contact. So fast forward a couple of years and Rhino's giving me a call, you know, and my initial reaction is obviously, I can't believe what's going on here. I'm driving to work and you're kind of seeing a ghost, you know, I kind of composed myself on the phone; but I had kind of packed up music a couple of weeks beforehand. I kind of said, I've done my time with it, was going to sell on the equipment. And Rhino just asked, you know, would you be interested in filling in temporarily for Rick? And I believe I naturally just said, yeah, yeah, no problem. But I don't really know, it's a bit of a blurry. (laughs) But as you can imagine, back then, Rick was still alive. So all of that journey in 2016, everything was new. Everything was the first time being on the tour bus, the first time touring at that level and being with the band. So it was all very magical that first year until bang Christmas Eve. We had finished the winter tour and we were coming home from Liverpool and that's when we found out Rick was ill and in hospital. So it was lovely up until then, although the social media side of things was hard, which is understandable because I've just stood in for a guy that's been there since day one and he's very iconic, For me and my friends and family, they were looking going, wow, this is something like from a movie, But I always kept that Rick was in touch and it was all agreed, it was everyone was happy, it was fine, but I didn't expect the guy to pass away on the day we came home. It was like as if that was it, he signed off, we finished the tour, and it's his time to go. I still can't believe, looking back, that he went then, but it was from that day on, it was very unusual, of course, getting back together with the band, and Rick was no longer with us anymore. That was hard, you know, back on the stage.
NI ROCKS – You’ve played over 250 gigs with Status Quo and featured on – I think - four live albums – and I noticed one is behind you - “The Last Night of the Electrics” from the O2 in London, “Plugged In : Live and Rockin in Reading”, “Down Down & Dignified at the Royal Albert Hall” and “Down Down & Dirty at Wacken”. So, that’s four pretty iconic stages. Is there a show that stands out for you and would it be one of those four?
RICHIE - I tell you what, they're - it's always the hardest, it's like being asked, what's your favourite song? What's your favourite concert? Wacken, as you can imagine, I'm sure a lot of your listeners would know Wacken, or ‘Vacken’ as they pronounce it, it's iconic. You know, it is the holy grail of heavy metal festivals. And then a band like Status Quo comes on the stage and plays “In the Army Now”. It's the most incredible thing you've ever seen. You know, it's on YouTube, but check out the crowd.
NI ROCKS - I've watched a few videos.
RICHIE - Yeah, it's phenomenal. But to try pick one, like I can't watch “Last Night of the Electrics”, I'll be honest. I find it too hard to watch because I'm looking at myself going fast forward a few years I feel how much I developed into the role in the band and that was my first year; I was very much trying not to step out of line or out of place but the result is I look quite rigid on stage you know. Even though I enjoyed it, it was the O2 and but they all had….. like the Royal Albert Hall you know it's the Royal Albert Hall, but it was acoustic. I prefer playing electric, but the whole acoustic setup was phenomenal as well as being part of it. So, they're amazing for different reasons. But for me, having to pick a show that ticked all the boxes, it's got to be the Olympia in Dublin. It was only our second show back after COVID. And you imagine the whole industry had shut down, you know. And my wife and I had three kids at the time, got four now, what's happened? But they were up in the box and my dad had passed away only a few weeks before. So was so much emotion, walking out on the stage and people chanting your name and the kids are there. It's one of those where if you stand out too far, you're going to break down in a heap. And I just managed, I was lucky there was a PA speaker just blocking the family. So if I wanted to see them, I could come around the corner. But the more I seen him, the more it was pulling on the heartstrings, you know. But all the shows, there's rarely been a poor show; they're all great for different reasons and sometimes it's the smallest ones that are the best for me you know. But at Hyde Park being up there too and the BBC when we done we happen to be particularly shit-hot that day. That's another one that's on YouTube. And we just expect everything to go wrong at those types of shows and everything went right that day you know; so it was good. I’m lucky to have played some of these stages, you know.
NI ROCKS – You mentioned the Royal Albert Hall. If you listen to that album; that’s not the sound that people would associate with Status Quo. It’s unusual. How did you feel doing the tracks that way?
RICHIE - Again, I was lucky that they had done the “Aquostic” albums before I joined, so I knew the format, you know. It was a totally different setup, obviously, so when I came into rehearsals, There's a lot more people in the room, and because I would consider myself a rock guitarist, I would idolize Rick and James Hetfield and Malcolm Young. I'm not a fantastic acoustic player, but once I settled in, it was a very enjoyable tour to be on. It really was, and a different dynamic that the songs, because the Status Quo songs, although they're all foot to the floor boogie, they're great melodically. So when you play “Pictures of Matchstick Men” or any of those songs acoustically, they just come to life. Even “Paper Plane”, it comes to life in a different way. So again, it's not something I would have liked the band to finish on doing that. It was nice to do it, be part of it, and then we switch back to electric, you know?
NI ROCKS – You also appear on what seems likely to be the final Status Quo studio album, “Backbone”, that was released in 2019. There are two tracks on the extended version that you wrote – “Get Out of My Head” and “Face The Music”. Francis Rossi was involved in the writing process for most of the tracks so what was the process for getting two of your own tracks onto that album?
RICHIE - I can remember, I think Francis wanted it to be a very much a band effort, you know, before then, you know, all the focus is on Rick and Francis, even though everyone wrote songs, but he wanted the whole band to pull together on this one and see what could we come up with. So, when I was asked, would you go back to Ireland and see what you can come up with? And I thought, if I'm going to do anything, I'm going to have to do something that – ‘what would Rick have done?’ That was what was in my head, get out of my head. And I came up with the riff, although it's not that complicated. I remember sending Francis the rough mix and he rang me and he was cursing at me in a way saying, how the fuck did you come up with that? I wouldn't have done that. And that's the reason he left me alone. He told me if he had a wrote the song with me, he probably would have intervened and said, we've done that before. Or even the title, he said he would have intervened and probably said, I don't like it. But the fact that I went away on my own, got the nucleus of the song together, as did Leon with his song, the drummer. And I brought it back to him. He liked the concept. And then the song came to life in the studio. Obviously, it's still looking back, I still can't believe we got to do it and then we got to play it on the tour. I believe the fans were quite fond of the song as well. But it was my nod to, if we were going to do a song on the album, I want to be foot to the floor, driving rhythm and kind of a nod to Rick that that's what I think Rick would have liked. So that's “Get Out of my Head”, yeah.
NI ROCKS – “Face the Music”, same idea?
RICHIE – “Face the Music” is quite a special song because it was the second, to have one song was amazing, but to have a second song, I had an idea that I wanted to try and do that kind of radio friendly, repetitive, over and over again type of a theme to it. And I listened back to a lot of old Quo hits that were just three, four minute hits - "A Mess of Blues", "Ol Rag Blues" - just nice plod along songs. And I was trying to go along that route and I had the idea that me and Jay Forbes, funny enough, who's in the band with me now, we weren't speaking at the time. So I decided to write a song about him that, you know, I want to see you when I'm back in town. And, you know, it was a story of two guys that have grown up together and a lot of people, I think they misread it as it was a song I wrote about Francis and Rick. But that's the beauty of music, you know what I mean? Me self and Jay are not too different to Francis and Rick growing up. But I'm particularly proud of that song because to sit back in Francis' studio, the fact that it's making it onto the album and then the fact that he took the lead vocal. I know a lot of people said, why didn't I sing it? That's a dream to me because I've wrote the song and now he sings it and I got to sing lead on the other one. So yeah, they're very, very happy with the couple of songs, you know. So it went down well.
NI ROCKS – There was a compilation album released in 2022 that features new studio versions of “Caroline”, “Paper Plane” and “Rockin’ All Over The World”. Did you play on those tracks as well?
RICHIE - Yeah, we basically re-recorded them. So I know, again, it was great fun going back in to re-record them. It was “Caroline”, “Paper Plane” and “Rocin’ All Over the World”. And there was a lot of vocals being done at the time as well. So again, it's a great experience. I know a lot of people wouldn't put it up against the “Hello” version, understandable. The original is the original, and it was nice to just have our own version put out there and documented, if you know what I mean. A lot of time went into it and we used different guitars and went backwards in time to try; and, I didn't use the Telecaster on that, not many people know. So we were using, I think, an old Yamaha guitar. So just trying to replicate what they done on the “Hello” album and “Piledriver”, you know. But again, it was good fun. It was nice to see them being released. Whether anyone likes them or not, I don't know.
NI ROCKS - There's a lot of tracks on the album, but there's lots of kind of different remixes and whatever else, but then obviously the three recordings as well.
RICHIE - Yeah, Particularly good version of “Cut Me Some Slack” on that. It's got a beefed up kind of re-record or remixed version. I think one of my songs went on, I think “Face the Music” went on to it as well. I'm not sure. But again, it's nice, it was a different type of compilation, but it's one for the collectors, it brings a lot of songs together that weren't released together before, so it's another one for the collection, like behind you there, you know?
NI ROCKS – You mentioned R.A.I.D. earlier on. That band presumably went on hold when you joined Status Quo in 2016, although there were a couple of one-off shows in 2024 and 2025. With Jay and Paul both now being in the Richie Malone Band are we unlikely now to see anything further from R.A.I.D.?
RICHIE - Like I suppose the thing with R.A.I.D is - we've got a few originals and Al Smith, who was our original drummer, long standing drummer, he's phenomenal, you know, and I only spoke to him recently. He offered the services again. He's always been there to back me up, be in the band if I needed him. And the reason that we've gone with this route now is I wanted to get away from R.A.I.D to a degree and I wanted to bring Grant Nicholas along as the drummer. And that's where we brought in Paul and Jay. But to get back with R.A.I.D, it's great that it's there if we want. We could go back into the studio if the Richie Malone Band is doing one thing, but I want to go on a slightly heavier route without alienating people. We could go back under the R.A.I.D blanket, if you know what I mean, revisit the old originals and do smaller gigs and that type of thing.
NI ROCKS – You mentioned the originals there. I went hunting for anything from R.A.I.D. and couldn’t find it. And I have seen some posts on the internet saying you were in the studio recording stuff; but was it ever released? Is it out there?
RICHIE - No, so you see, I purposely pulled things offline years ago because it's a strange world we live in, you know, where people, the keyboard warriors would come out in force. The recordings we've done were quite good at the time. but we were much younger, so the quality is not state-of-the-art. But, I think as time goes on, I'm more likely, I probably should, as you’ve mentioned there, I probably should put them out as some kind of bonus or exclusive content for subscribers, because not many people have heard the tracks, and they were good at the time, but we were much younger as a band, so it always, I was always a bit nervous. being in a band like Status Quo, and if people want to hear what I've done before, they go back and go, ah, not the best. It's just me, you know.
NI ROCKS - You gotta love social media keyboard warriors, don't you?
RICHIE - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's what keeps us entertained these days, as I keep telling people, you know. (Laughs)
NI ROCKS - Far too many of them, unfortunately. Everybody has had that to say, whether it be right or wrong.
RICHIE - My way of dealing with them now, if I did get caught out years ago, Once you engage, as I've said a million times over, how can a Liverpool fan tell a Man United fan that Liverpool are better? You know, I cannot convince the keyboard warriors of anything. So the best thing to do is to thank them for actually following the page and thanks for all the entertainment, you know?
NI ROCKS – I’ve actually noticed a couple of your replies, they're actually quite amusing! (laughs)
RICHIE - They're replies that are on my page. So, the last thing I want to do is say, get out of here, so let them hang around. I don't care. It's not causing me any harm, you know.
NI ROCKS – We know obviously that you’re a Status Quo fan and I’ve heard you talking about AC/DC and some of the classic rock bands. Do you follow the current rock scene and are there any bands out there that really impress you?
RICHIE - Oh, one band in particular, Southern River Band. Coming out of Australia, I'm sure you're aware of these guys? So, Cal, the singer, is a massive Status Quo fan, which is fantastic, you know, and I think the first time I seen them was their first show in the UK in Camden, London, a few years ago when we happened to be on tour with Quo in rehearsals. Timing was perfect. And they've got that song, “Stan Qualen”, which is basically I think it was Status Quo - Van Halen the way Cal explains it. So it is a nod to Status Quo you know. But they've blown me away. When they came out with their stuff. I think I've always been into bands that I've been slagged with. Another band is The Darkness; again they released an album and some of the numbers on there are phenomenal you know it's great to see them. And Justin Hawkins - my approach, is like his approach. He just doesn't care, you know. But it's great to see the likes of The Darkness going into an arena tour this year. You know, I think it's phenomenal. It's great to see them back up there. But there are lots of bands out there. I'm always sticking with the classics when I should be reaching out and seeing what's up and coming, you know. But unfortunately over here, there's not a huge amount. You know, you're relying on what's been….. I used to buy the classic rock mag and get the CD. That's where I found Airbourne for the first time. So it's hard. I don't know if you feel the same. I'm finding it hard to find new bands regularly that are blowing my mind, you know?
NI ROCKS - Yeah, because there's a lot of promoters sending me stuff to listen to. It's hard to keep up with. You get an e-mail with stuff attached to it and sometimes you just find something that just hits you straight away.
RICHIE - Yeah, I do tend to find things on Spotify where I have it set to autoplay and something will come up and it'll grab my attention and that's a great way of finding some music as well. But the dangerous thing is, and it always gets my attention, is I find out it's an AI driven piece of music! I'm like ahh shit! Because that's creeping in; it's just creeping into playlists and at first listen it's like it's too good to be true! Yeah it's AI and it's disappointing you know but that's the way it is.
NI ROCKS – We’d mentioned that Status Quo was the first gig that you went to. What was the most recent?
RICHIE - Oh, I'm looking straight behind you there. I'm looking at Papa Het there from Metallica. Metallica, I think, was my most recent gig. In the Aviva in Dublin, we did the whole weekend. And again, only for my wife, we wouldn't have got the tickets; but we saved up a bit of money and we went into the snake pit and it was just a different world. Metallica took over Dublin for the weekend. It was absolutely phenomenal, you know. But I think that's the most recent and I've seen Guns n Roses not too long ago as well. That was surprisingly good, all things considered. Nice long set list and once you get past Axl, you know! I was sitting there with Grant and here's a situation for you. We're sitting and who's beside us, the singer Shane from Westlife.
NI ROCKS - Yeah, I think I saw a photograph on your Facebook.
RICHIE - And then we go on to find out that his first concert he was ever at was Status Quo in Sligo. You know, so it's a funny world. But yeah, I've missed a lot of concerts as well with being on the road. You miss your favourites. So, but I think Metallica was the most recent. God, I bet you I get off this now and realise I was only at someone last week. But yeah, Metallica.
NI ROCKS – We were talking about our vinyl collection before we came on air. Vinyl has obviously made a huge comeback and I was reading this week about CD sales starting to increase again. As a musician I presume you’re all for the physical copies rather than streaming?
RICHIE - Yeah, like I know Spotify for me, I’ll pay for it forever. If they put the price up, I don't mind. I’ll pay for it, you know? The flexibility with Spotify from a work point of view is great because of the playlist, because of the instantaneous. But like where I am here now, there's nothing better than coming in and looking at the CD collection and saying, today I'm going to listen to that. And I treat CD like I treat vinyl. You just put it on and let it play until it stops, and that's sometimes you forget how good albums are when you do it that way. People are so used to skipping and, it's like trying to watch Netflix. You spend an hour trying to pick what to watch, I think it's good to hear CD sales. For me, it's the physical. physical aspect of reading it, reading the notes, you know.
NI ROCKS - The sales have been driven by the millennials, apparently, who are starting to realise that CDs are a good thing. So, I'm that generation where we had vinyl in the80s, then CDs appeared in the late 80s, early 90s, and everybody changed to CD. But thankfully I retained my vinyl; I didn't dispose of it, so I still have the 80 stuff.
RICHIE – Let’s not forget about tapes!
NI ROCKS - No, and I have a few of those too. I've actually bought a few recently too, but I don't play those. I don’t have anything to play them on! But I like to have them in the collection.
RICHIE - That's the thing, collector's items, you know.
NI ROCKS - Yeah. You can pick those up fairly reasonable, whereas vinyl is not so reasonable anymore.
RICHIE - No, the vinyl is expensive. It is expensive and it's nice, sturdy vinyl. But funnily enough, only recently I was going through my dad's vinyl collection and I pulled out a copy of the “Hello” album, the Status Quo “Hello album”. And I think he had about 6 copies of it, you know. But I was blown away by the quality of that record here, alongside a modern vinyl that's being pressed to vinyl. And the Quo one and the Deep Purple ones and those old ones, they stand the test of time. They sound phenomenal, you know. You feel like you're in the room with the guys, it's great.
NI ROCKS – We could probably talk for hours, but that’s all the questions that I have for you, other than to get you to pick a Status Quo track to close with? Which one and why?
RICHIE - Which one and why? I'm not allowed to pick my own one obviously?
NI ROCKS I'll probably play your own anyway, so you can pick another one.
RICHIE - Let's pick another one. Why don't I try to pick one? OK, I think if I had to pick one, one I haven't mentioned before, I'd go with “Don't Think It Matters” off the “Quo” album. That's a great number. It's not often heard, and I think it's a fantastic tune.
NI ROCKS - Would you be playing that one when you're doing the tour?
RICHIE - There's an idea I suppose we could do. We must look at that.(Laughs)
NI ROCKS - We'll play that one. Again thanks for taking the time to talk to me Richie. Much appreciated.
RICHIE - Pleasure to be here. And don't forget Davy K, I think, is playing with us as well in Belfast. Yes, brilliant.
NI ROCKS – Yes, he’s brilliant. I love Davy. He's fantastic. Yeah.
