Rice

Bio

The band Rice was formed early in the cold winter 1999 by outgoing, outrageous frontman Andrew Vanhorn and his outspoken, outlandish vocalist sidekick Heather Begg. As a complement to his folk-rock stylings, Andrew sought out Digger Mann (who owned a P.A. and knew how to use it) to man the conga drum and Olaf Alders (who owned a bass and was willing to try to use it) to fill out the rhythm section. Plenty of regular (and sometimes dangerous) gigs ensued as drummer Andrew Smith was added to the mix (Andrew endangering the ears of all around him). Since the band started playing weekly and bi-weekly gigs almost from its inception, much of Andrew's new material (and believe me, there was always something new) was learned "on-the-fly". Andrew, standing at the mic, would say, "Here's something new" and the band was expected to follow. Needless to say, this tested the improvisational skills of his cohorts.

Andrew, an improvisational actor himself, did not limit the improv to his bandmates, refusing to shy away from songs to which he could not remember the words. He bravely soldiered on, singing whatever seemed appropriate (or inappropriate) at the time. When the opportunity arose to record some material for a local songsmith by the name of Bruce Hotchkies the band jumped at the chance to improvise on somebody else's work and was just a bit worried at how offended he might be at the outcome. However, Bruce gave the "thumbs-up" after hearing the material performed at Hess Village one evening. The recordings made by Rice are likely accurate reflections of the spirit of Rice: a little off-beat, somewhat loose and most of all -- pure pop!

After a bit of a break, Rice is now back in stellar folk-pop form with a stripped-down line-up. Rice consists of: