Five Fun Facts with Rightfield
Texas natives Jack Blocker and Reed Hoelscher, aka Rightfield, are on the up and up. Their latest offering, "Racing," from their anticipated release 'Rightfield, One (Deluxe)' is a classic indie-rock anthem full of killer guitar solos, dreamlike vocals, and a gleaming synth. Their sound, surprisingly, is the product of them putting their differences in musical taste aside to create something new. Both artists love hip hop, but aside from that, their tastes didn't overlap. Reed is a massive fan of bands like Poison and Skid Row (late 80's hair metal), while Jack's first loves are The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons.
Their music-making process is a reflection of how well they work together as a team. The duo usually develops the idea for a song together up to about 50% of the way. "Then, when we have enough, we go apart," Reed describes. "Jack works on the lyrics, and I work on the instrumentation, then we come back together to make the parts fit and make it one song." Talk about fair and equal teamwork!
That unique dynamic doesn't come as a surprise as they have known each other since kindergarten and remained close friends until eighth grade. They lost touch during high school as Reed left to attend a school in Texas for athletics. Suddenly his dream of a career in sports came to a halt due to an autoimmune sickness. "But looking back, that period changed everything for the better because it taught me that I wanted to be a musician," Reed shared. Luckily for him, music had always been a part of his life as his mother's family side is quite musical.
Meanwhile, Jack was unexpectedly dabbling in music as he randomly found himself playing around with a guitar he had gotten for Christmas as a kid. "It had never come out of the case, all those years," Jack explains. By his senior year of high school, he led the band, ran its multi-set weekly performances for the entire school, and wrote songs.
Fast forward to them magically reuniting freshman year at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville when the old friends learned that they lived in the same dorm. "The way it started, I mean, honestly, it was going into each other's dorm rooms and seeing each other's music equipment and being like, 'You do this? You do this? Okay, cool, let's do something together,'" says Jack.
Rightfield's story is as the saying goes, "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be, no matter how long it takes." The music they create together and why it resonates with almost everyone regardless of their taste in music is no coincidence. Life has a funny way of working out for the better as long as you trust your journey and process. This duo is just getting started, and we suggest you familiarize yourself with them. Here is are our Five Fun Facts with Rightfield:
We shared a bunk bed all through college and wrote our first few songs in that same room.
We played middle school football together - Jack was on the B-Team, and Reed was on the A-Team.
Jack can't be reached if there's a relatively significant game on in any popular sport.
Reed takes days full of food anywhere we go because he's afraid of non-organic food.
Jack's a perimeter shooter, and Reed is slippery on the drive.
- Jack and Reed (Rightfield)
Written by Piera Lolandes