10 Things We Learned From Riker’s Episode of Curt Mega’s Podcast

Riker talks music, movies, and a new R5 album.

Curt Mega is an actor, director, writer, and he hosts an awesome podcast called “Story Matters” – check out all of the episodes here. A few weeks ago he had Riker Lynch on the show to discuss music, trying new things, and R5. 

Here’s what we learned from their conversation:

1. Ross, Rocky, and Ellington were working on album #3 while the podcast was being recorded. They have a studio in their guest house. “R5 and I have been working on album #3. We have a bunch of songs ready and we had our A&R over to listen. I have a demo on my phone of what I think is going to be the first single. We’re in the middle of the tail end, of the writing and then we will record vocals. Literally the boys are next door. We’re in my house in California and next door we had the studio in the guest house and they’re over there right now.” 

2.  He was kind of involved in the Sony hack. “Sony got hacked. Did you get that letter when they got hacked? Because we did the Glee album,” Curt remembers. Riker responds, “I remember getting the email and then you got to sign up for the free theft like, ID protection.” 

3. He thinks social media is a great tool, but it’s also dangerous. 

“Social media has taken over for some reason. It drives me crazy. When it first kind of started, it was this really neat tool to interact with people around the world and thats what I took it as and now it’s not about interacting with people, they just want to show what they’re doing,” Riker explains. “Attention spans are so short because of it. It is still a great tool. The fact that we’re going to Brazil next week for the third time is largely because of social media.”

4. He made bulletproof coffee for Curt. You guys know Riker is obsessed with his bulletproof coffee. Curt mentioned at the beginning, “I’m actually drinking the bulletproof coffee you made for me.” 

5. Rocky is scoring part of the movie Riker is starring in, Colossal Youth. “Actually Rocky is scoring part of Colossal Youth. So he has done that, he sort of watches a scene and interprets the story and emotion and he’s feeling it and he’s in that moment and he sort of plays what he feels.”

6.  He wants to listen to music like a fan, not like a musician. “Because I’m a musician, I hear every little piece of thing thats going on. I’ve sort of been working, especially this past year to turn that off and listen how everyone else in the world listens to it. Because everyone that is a non-musician, not that this is a bad thing or a good thing, but they’re going to hear a song just as the song,” Riker explains. He continues, “It all comes as one thing. Everything is happening at the same time. Whereas I’ll hear a song and I’ll hear the bass line, I’ll hear the guitar parts, I hear everything individually.” He wants to hear the song the way you guys, the fans, do. “It’s something I’ve been working on with music, to turn off that part of my brain and hear it as a consumer.”

7. He thinks R5 concerts are unique every time. “With us, we make them two separate events, really. The album is an experience in itself, but it’s thought out and pre-done and meticulous, but then the live show is spontaneous and in the moment. Each show has a different moment or experience that happens.”

8. His favorite movies to watch over and over are the Pirates of the Carribean series. “I love every single one of those. I love every aspect to it.” 

9. But his favorite story of all time is the plot from the movie About Time. “If I had to pick my favorite story though, I think the movie About Time, has the best story. I think it’s so brilliant. It’s Rachel McAdams.”

10. He wants to make rock n’ roll but also cater to what his fans want and what their favorite songs are. “I’m kind of fortunate in that way where I kind of just do what I want to do. I definitely take into perspective what our fans respond to and what they like and their favorite songs. At the end of the day we want to make our fans have another favorite album so we’re constantly thinking about what they want. At the same time, there are five people in the band and five different opinions. I just really want to make straight up rock n’ roll record but its kind of like we’re in 2016 and thats not really a thing at the moment. I think it’ll come back but the record I would want to make would be like Led Zeppelin 2.” 

If you want to listen to the whole podcast yourself, we linked it below. Thanks to Riker and Curt for an awesome episode.