A Conversation with Ryan Rumsey of Rival Signs

“Don’t Die with Your Music Inside You.”

Growing up in a rural, small town can be a minefield for personal growth. Being surrounded by people that look just like you, that worship just like you, that believe everything you’ve always been led to believe, can lead to a life of stasis. What may seem like an easy, well-worn path through it all, could be a walkway leading solely to a dead end.

The more challenging yet rewarding path is riddled with questions.

Who are you if you just believe everything you’ve been told to believe? Doing the things you’ve always seen done? Living where you’ve always lived? How can you change if your surroundings never do? How can you live a life that’s truly your own if all the above is true?

With his solo project Rival Signs, singer/songwriter Ryan Rumsey isn’t afraid to ask the harder questions, often taking an insightful yet critical look at the place that he came from; even if that means challenging himself, his peers, and his old ways of thinking in the process.

Recently, I was able to catch up with Ryan to discuss the early beginnings of Rival Signs, recording in his home studio, and the complicated feelings of living in the same area where you grew up.

Our conversation follows.

What do you do for a day job? How does that find its way into your music, if at all? Do you daydream or think about whatever song you’re working on while you’re working 9-5?

I currently work in shipping for an environmental recovery company after spending the previous 7 years driving a semi. When I was driving, I had a lot of time to be in my head and have creative ideas but not much time at home to execute them.

Now I spend all day communicating with people so less time to daydream but overall, more time to hone my craft. I’m constantly bouncing my unfinished tracks out and walking around with an AirPod in trying to write/come up with production ideas.

The last thing I remember you releasing before this recent batch of songs was the excellent Summer School EP that you and Kasey Rogers put out in 2012. Were you still making music from 2012-2021 that you just didn’t release? What made you want to put out music again?

First of all, thank you! All those songs were about a relationship ending and I’ve never been able to write so many songs so fast. Kasey and I were in a band with our super talented friend Brenton Stanley called The Perfectos around that time. Brenton had a home studio where we recorded the SS EP. I started dating my (now)wife around that same time and I really shifted my focus to that relationship; eventually moving in together, traveling, getting married and buying a house. I was always playing music during that time, just not writing or performing anything original.

We closed on our house in the start of 2020 and of course that coincides with Covid starting.

Obviously, it’s a touchy subject, but the world shutting down and a government check allowed me the time and money to get a good computer and get creative again.

Your first song back was the single “My Last Transmission” in April 2022. Was it intimidating to put out music again after that time off? What was your biggest obstacle to overcome?

I spend too much time on the internet so I’m not sure where I heard the quote, “don’t die with your music inside you.” This quote has stuck with me ever since.

I had been learning Logic Pro for probably a year but never finishing anything, and that random internet quote really inspired me to push through and release something. It’s always hard to say a song is done when you hear every imperfection, but at a certain point it was time to click submit and start writing the next song.

What is your studio set up like? Do you have any interest in recording other musicians or bands?

My setup is on the smaller side, but it gets the job done. I have a Mac Mini, some decent monitors and headphones, a midi keyboard, electric drum set, and a few guitars and microphones.

I record everything “in the box”, so I’m not miking up any amps or drums in the room. Plugins are so great now. I know there are recording snobs who would turn their nose up to the way I make my music these days. I’m just glad I’m able to use modern technology to get these ideas out!

I don’t have any interest in recording for other bands at this point. The last thing I want to do is turn this fun hobby into work.

How long do you work on a given song? What’s your process to go from original idea to finished song?

When writing for Rival Signs, I’ve had the most luck finding some drum loops I like and sort of formulating a verse and chorus to write over. In the past I would never start a song with drums, but I had band members to bounce ideas off of, which made it easier to get inspired.

If I was more confident in my production skills, I’d get songs out way quicker. Unfortunately, between every song I’ve released there has been a “finished song” that I could never sonically get right and ultimately decided not to release.

That’s a long way of saying it takes me too long.

artwork for “This Town” by Evan Endicott

My favorite song of yours is “This Town.” I love it because it’s insightful while also being kind of funny and (true to how I remember you) very sarcastic, I’m talking about lyrics like, “A different color skin, a new religion / theirs are all pretend, while mine’s the real one.” How did that song come together? Was there an inciting situation that motivated you to write it or something you were hoping to get across with those lyrics?

“This Town” is me saying things I’ve wanted to say in a song for a long time but have always been afraid to. I remember talking to you about your song “East Oak in Bad Decline” and how I totally related to the theme of the song.

Throw a rock in Southern Illinois and you’ll hit a guy that covers everything he owns in American flags and is terrified of everything that isn’t what he would call normal. Someone who has the world figured out, but they’ve never been anywhere or seen anything. Their religion is the right one and it just so happens that it’s the one their parents brought them up to believe.

So, no, not just one incident ha-ha.

To go along with the above question, I find “This Town” very relatable as this critical take on southern Illinois, but also, I still live here, in the small town I’ve lived in pretty much my whole life, and like the supposed target of your song, I guess I do feel safe here too. I’ve had adversarial feelings on southern Illinois most my life too, but as I’ve gotten older, I have grown to appreciate and even find pride in a lot of things about where we’re from. Like when I have friends visit, I have no problem finding a great place to eat, an awesome place to hike, a cool bar to grab a drink at, a place to see a show, etc. I feel a lot of pride for the music & art scene that we have here too. Do you feel a sense of pride in being from southern Illinois?

It’s complicated. I agree that there are cool places to go, and I’ve met so many amazing people here mostly through the music scene. The reality is I’m at times, introverted, so I spend a lot of time at home so I’m not experiencing much that So ILL has to offer these days.

I’ve fantasized about moving to a bigger city, but I’d probably just end up inside doing the same things I do here and paying four times the price. I like the quiet of the rural area and I like to travel so I think my wife and I have struck a pretty good balance.

I really love the single art for each of the three songs you’ve put out so far. Who created the single artwork? Was it a collaboration between you and them?

The artwork for, “My Last Transmission” and “This Town” were made by my super talented friend Evan Endicott. Evan has always such a wide range of talents and he cooked these up for me quick. I hate to admit it but the artwork for “Deflection” is AI generated.

artwork for “My Last Transmission” by Evan Endicott

Do you play all the instruments on the Rival Signs recordings? Do you have plans to get a band together to play out more? Do you miss being in a band?

I’ve played everything except the lap steel guitar in “My Last Transmission”. My friend Brenton Stanley, who I played with in The Perfectos, helped me a lot in the beginning with production and songwriting tips. He had just built a new lap steel guitar and wanted to try it out. It changed everything about that song and really pulled it all together. I also have a new friend James Styron who mastered my last two tracks and did some backing vocals on Deflection.

I’ve made jokes that James and I will be in a digital band in a few years because I really love working with him. I have no real plans to be in a band again, but I always miss the camaraderie of being at a show with my best friends.

What were your first experiences with live music and the southern Illinois music scene in general? What lessons did you learn from playing in bands like This Autumn Night and Clocktower Showdown at a young age that you still carry with you today?

It all comes from meeting Kasey Rogers at church camp when we were young. We became friends and he was my connection to basically everyone I’m close to now including my wife who I met at a band practice in his parents’ basement. I joined his band with Evan Endicott, Daniel Wilson and Jake Dismang, who are all still my closest friends.

Forgetting Paris played a show in Carmi at The Carriage House and Josh Clifton asked us, Red Tape Squad, to come play the first show at Hoshi’s. Without going down a super detailed chain of events, this is how we started to meet everyone in the local music scene.

I’m not sure what lessons I learned playing in bands, but I’m so glad I found my way into music because I’m afraid I may have ended up being the character I’m singing about in “This Town” if not.

Speaking of your old band days, what’s been the worst show you’ve ever played in your life? Is there anything that drives you crazy or particularly annoys you when you play a show?

It’s really annoying when you play a battle of the bands and a sound guy suggests putting your amps under the stage facing only one mic for all your bands amps. Then you play better than anyone but the band who wins is the band full of kids that go to the church the battle of the bands took place in. Next Question!

If you could go back to those days, would you do anything differently?

I look back on those days very fondly and wouldn’t change much. I think maybe just spending more time getting to know everyone better at shows. I had a habit of mostly hanging with the guys I was in a band with and not really getting to know everyone else as well as I’d like.

Do you have plans to release an EP or is there another single on the way? What’s next?

I’m always working on the next song. Releasing a single at a time motivates me to keep going so I think if I held songs back for an EP I would never finish it.

My plan is just to keep practicing and not dying with my music in me.

Bonus Questions / Top Fives

Who/What are your All Time…

Top 5 Favorite Bands/Solo Artists?

Thrice

Cage The Elephant

Lovedrug

Saves The Day

Weezer

Top 5 Favorite Albums?

Jonezetta—Cruel to be Young

Thrice—Vheissu

Underoath—Define the Great Line

Lovedrug—Pretend You’re Alive

Blink 182—Blink 182

Top 5 Favorite Video Games?

The Last Of Us

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Halo 3

Death Stranding

Hollow Knight

Top 5 Favorite TV Shows of All Time?

Better Call Saul

LOST

True Detective (Season 1)

I Think You Should Leave

Survivor

Favorite Season of Survivor?

We really need to get together for a survivor conversation! Still making my way through all the seasons. So far, I’d say Hero’s Vs Villains.

What’s the Last Thing That Made You Really Mad?

Hard to say because that’s kind of my base line emotion. I’ve really been working on it the last few months though.

What’s the Last Thing That Made You Laugh?

Quoting “I Think You Should Leave” sketches with my friends Kasey, Lynch and John.

Thanks Ryan!

You can hear Rival Signs’ latest singles, “Deflection,” “This Town,” and “My Last Transmission” on Spotify, AppleMusic, or wherever you stream music.