Robert Vaughn & The Shadows
Back in the mid 90's I bought a compilation album which featured a number of groups and musicians that I was familiar with. There were other, unfamiliar artists as well. Among them was a band from San Diego called Robert Vaughn and the Shadows. I could not believe that such a talented group had not become internationally famous! They released their first album on Island Records, gained a slot on "American Bandstand" and had a single called "Justice" that started to get a lot of airplay. But, seemingly not enough. In the big push to get a certain band called U2 established in the USA, Island dropped a number of great groups...including these guys...
Years later I had the opportunity to get to know Randy Layton of Alternative Records (who put out the original compilation) and he has been kind enough to provide me with a lot more of the band's material, including the album "Songs From The Riverhouse" that he produced to help the band gain another major record company deal.
But it all just sort of went nowhere.....a follow up album, an unreleased record, a song used in a major motion picture.....and that was it.
Or was it? Where are they now?
CHANGE OF PROVIDER FOR THIS SITE:
The change has been successfully completed and the site is back up again. However the associated site (sonnyrichter.com) is still being transferred.
The Latest Updates
Randy Layton
Without Randy there would be no site for RV & The Shadows. There may never have been any more albums released after "Love And War". Randy worked with RV to create the "Songs From The Riverhouse" album that helped gain another major record deal for the band. There's more on this elsewhere on the site. Randy has been the driving force behind the CD release of "Love & War" and the vinyl release of "Riverhouse".
On 28th June he lost his battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. I chatted with him on the phone as he was preparing to enter Hospice. We all knew this was coming but that doesn't make it easier.
"Some day we will be together, in the House of my friends...."
Songs From The Riverhouse
The classic "second" album from Robert Vaughn and the Shadows, released by Alternative Records back in 1991 is being re-released!
Freshly remastered for its vinyl debut, this handsome 2LP set on red vinyl includes bonus tracks. The campaign has now closed and met the funding goal! There will also be a full length CD release of the "White Trash Supper Club" given free to those who ordered the vinyl. This will probably be the last "new" RV & The Shadows release....
These may be made available on Bandcamp as a download in the future but this is not a certainty at this stage. See the link below to the Indiegogo campaign for what you missed out on (unless you were one of the 164 who backed the project)...
Songs From The Riverhouse Sampler
RV - Riverhouse 2024 Remaster Sampler
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JUST ADDED: Click on the Audio Player to hear some samples of what you can expect on the new release. They are just in MP3 format, so won't be as good as the final release (now funded).
Jack Sonni - RIP
"The other guitarist" for Dire Straits, dead at 68. However, he also played guitar for Robert Vaughn during the Riverhouse era. Jack and RV are seen in the photo on the right. As well as a musician and marketing executive, Sonni was writer-in-residence and house manager at the Noepe Center for Literary Arts on Martha's Vineyard until its closing in 2017. He had also returned to playing music on a regular basis with his band, The Leisure Class. He appeared regularly with other former members of Dire Straits in the DSL, Dire Straits Legacy project.
Robert Vaughn: "Jack was a soul brother of mine. Jack was a humble man. I am forever grateful to have spent some special time with him. Jack was going through a time asking what you can do when nothing can reach the success of selling 25 million copies and being on one of the biggest tours ever..." (Part of Rob's response to the news of Jack's passing).
"Love & War" - the Cover Girl
Her name is Michelle Olande and her story about how she ended up posing for the cover of "Love And War" is now available for us to read.
Hopefully we will have a few more pictures of her to include but that first draft is available to read HERE:
Video
Thanks to Randy Layton, who made a lot of the video featured on this site available for us to view on YouTube. There are some classic clips and videos still out there....anyone want to share? Here's one from FB with Leo, Anthony and Gregg on the stage together recently...click the picture!
"Locals 1" Psychedelic Surf Collage Movie
There has been a bit of interest in this movie, shot largely by RV and featuring music from the band. It's a rare beast but I have managed to find out some more information about it - take a look HERE.
New review of the CD release
Brian Quincy Newcomb reviews the release on his "The Firenote" online music magazine. Here is the link to the review:
Jack Ruston talks about working with Robert Vaughn
If the name Jack Ruston seems familiar, it should be.
Jack Ruston is a producer, recording engineer and mixer. His career began in L.A. playing guitar in Robert Vaughn’s award-winning band Dead River Angels. That experience provided the opportunity to record in some of the world’s finest studios, and preferring that to the life of a touring musician, he became obsessed with recording bands rather than playing in them. This background allows him to approach production and engineering from a musicians perspective. He brings his skills as a player to many of his projects.
Jack’s clients include Judas Priest, Reuben, Walking On Cars, Void, McBusted, James Morrison, Dieselle May, Foxes and Birdy. He was a 2017 Music Producers Guild, Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year nominee.
He also writes and produces original music as part of Man Kill Machine.
Steve Kocherhans album from his "Mango Reality" project is now up on Discogs
Steve's full profile is featured on the "Where Are They Now" section of the site. This album was recorded not long before his tragic death. Steve played Sax and Keys from the "New Presidents" through to the Love And War era "Shadows" and can be seen on the American Bandstand performance. Thanks to Randy Layton, we can now hear some of this album and learn more about him on a short video - here is the Discogs link:
FUNDRAISING GIG FOR STEVE DALUZ
Friend of the band Steve Daluz recently had a diabetic-related medical event that almost took his life...and took his sight. On November 5th there was a fundraising dinner and concert for him in San Diego. Many great performers, including members of RV & The Shadows as well as Jason Scheff (formerly of the band Chicago), The Queridos and others. The "Rock For Steve" poster is included below.
THIS WAS A FANTASTIC EVENT AND I HOPE TO SHARE SOME OF THE PERFORMANCE VIDEOS FOR YOU ALL HERE (up now).
AT ONE POINT WE HAD 4 MEMBERS OF RV & THE SHADOWS ON STAGE!
My computer is not playing nice right now but FINALLY I have a video from the "Rock For Steve" concert. Two guys you might have heard of are Leo Correia on guitar and vocals and Gregg LaRocco on drums.
Rock For Steve
ALTERNATIVE RECORDS presents the expanded version of the Robert Vaughn & The Shadows album "Love And War".
This release is a limited edition double CD set. CD1 has the original album Remastered (from the original tapes) along with an "alternative" version of the album. CD2 has alternate mixes, rare unreleased tracks and more. This is your chance to get to hear this great album at it's sonic best! This set will have a limited run of less than 500 copies. Those who pledged in the campaign got theirs first. PHYSICAL COPIES ARE NOW SOLD OUT
Look for updated Band Story and new profiles coming soon. (Steve's profile has now been updated). RV has made contact with me recently, so I hope to feature a lot more on him soon. He has had it tough over the past few years and is pretty much retired from the music business. His last recorded work was on Leo and Anthony's "Reflex" album, released a few years back. See the link to this elsewhere on this site.
Above is the Campaign Video for the CD release.
Robert Vaughn & The Shadows
This is a fan site and although I have had input by members of the band, everything here represents my own personal opinions and interests. I would welcome corrections, updates, images and stories to add here. Please use the Contact Form below. It's now working - I took pity on you and removed the CAPCHA security. Spam me and it's back...