Ricky Fitzpatrick

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For any artist, there’s a fine line between freedom and control, heaven and hell, order and chaos. Creativity seems to breed somewhere in between what we want and what we need; what we love and what we hate. Right when we least expect it, just when we think we’re farthest from it, it sneaks in, slips up and slaps us in the head. And voila!, something beautiful happens. The rest of the world calls it “art” or “a song”. But for the artist, it’s as divine and satisfying as pure salvation. A part of us is manifest and we stare at it, created in our image, and for a moment, we get a glimpse of what it must be like to be a god. A fleeting, although bodacious glimpse. The studio gives us the environment to control our creations, as minutely as we want; to experiment; to explore; to get unrealistic and stretch ourselves; to microscopically dissect the simplest of arrangements to our heart’s content. It isn’t so much a place, but the studio is another instrument that we play or employ. Then the live show. It puts our asses on the line and serves as a stomping ground and classroom for the rawest of musical expression, improvisation, success and utter failure, and many times, creativity that we might have otherwise, never touched. The room, the crowd, the fan reaction (or lack thereof)…they all become instruments as well, that we play, we use, we respond to and the result is something that can never be replicated outside of pure spontaneity. Amazingly, despite the odds of human error and fear of the unknown that go with any live performance, that’s the very take that sometimes yields the most exciting versions. Because a “bad take” is just another way of looking at a different way of performing. Good and bad are an illusion…all there is, is the result. The Same Only Different is one collection of those very types of evenings, when the stage and the audience and the fear and the magic, all come together to form one hell of a night. For many, these are the same songs that you’ve grown comfortable (or restless) with. And that’s cool. But I believe the live versions do something new that is…well…different. Some old favorites, some brand new songs too. But all coming together, some slick, some raw, some wandering in the middle. All ending in a result that is unique to this night. I hope you enjoy this now, as much as I did performing it. Peace… Ricky