On March 6, jam quartet Formula 5 announced that after sevenyears on the road, they were taking an indefinite hiatus.
“Playing music for all of you has been, and is, the mostsoulfully rewarding experience we could have ever imagined,” they wrote. “Neverin our wildest dreams would we have pictured all this. We thank you, truly, forall the love we have received.”
Formed in Upstate NY - specifically, the Albany/Lake Georgearea - in 2012, Formula 5 had grown out of the same region that birthedestablished jam acts like moe. as well as newer outfits like Aqueous.Interestingly, in the past year or so, F5 had been making strides in theircareer: opening for the Disco Biscuits at Albany’s Palace Theatre, debuting newmusic and announcing their third annual Rock TheDock festival.
Yet, according to keyboardist Matt Richards, the grind ofthe road became too much.
“You’re away from home so often,” he explains. “You’re awayfrom your family, your loved ones. You’re away from another source of income.And after a couple years, that definitely takes a toll on you.”
Calling his Albany home, Richards dives deeper into whyFormula 5 are taking a break and confirms that the split is nothing butamicable.
“I would grab beers with all of them,” he laughs. “I lovethem, and they all feel the same way.”
Can you give anabridged version of Formula 5 formed?
So, Greg Marek, our drummer met our original bassist BillShada in line getting tickets for Phish at Times Union Center in 2009. So, theystart playing music together, and they brought Mike McDonald onboard as theoriginal keyboardist, and soon they brought Joe Davis on as guitarist. Overtime, it led to both Mike and Bill leaving - starting families and pursuingother life goals - and brought me andJames Woods, our current bassist, onto the team.
That was 2016. I’m the newest member of the band, and westarted playing shows just us four in January 2016. But in June or July of 2015was when I first started playing with them behind the scenes, studying thesongs, studying the music.
How and when did theconversations about taking a touring hiatus start?
These conversations started coming up around late November.We just got back from Colorado, and then we just performed at the PalaceTheatre opening up for the Disco Biscuits. The conversation came up becausewe’ve been doing it for a couple years now, and just felt that we accomplisheda lot more than we ever thought we would. It was a great feeling, but it kindof felt that we needed a break and we deserve to take some time off, and pursueother goals for now both within music and personal life goals.
Speaking of thePalace, some people were surprised that you were taking a hiatus because youhad debuted new music at that gig, and just released that show as a liverecord. Did you know about the hiatus when you played the Palace?
No, that came up after.
Do you guys see thisas a permanent thing?
That is something that we don’t really know yet. We’re justtrying to play it by ear, trying to get things aligned in our own lives first.Although the Palace Theatre was a phenomenal thing for us and in ways biggerthan we ever imagined we would get, and we were really grateful for it, thereare ten struggles for every success that there is in a band. I definitelyrespect everyone that’s doing it because it’s a special thing but it’s veryvery difficult at points.
Was this somethingthat everyone in the band was open and ready for?
It was kind of a split decision, but the people that wantedto keep going respected the reasons for why the others didn’t want to keepgoing. So, there wasn’t any arguing. It was just sort of understood at themoment it got brought up.
Formula 5’s Rock theDock Festival is the final date on your calendar. Do you have any big plans forthat one?
Yeah, we are definitely going to put a lot of work into thatperformance. It’s going to be very heartfelt because half of us are from LakeGeorge, half of us are from Albany, and that festival is right on the pier ofLake George. So many of our friends and fans and family are going to be there,and we’re definitely going to try make that the highlight show in our musicalcareer.
Have people reachedout in the light of the announcement?
I know a lot of people have reached out to me specificallyseeing how I was doing, just saying how much they appreciate the music, andit’s really nice to hear that. It definitely made it feel all worth it.Sometimes you’re just caught up in trying to get through the struggles of beinga touring musician. And then somebody talks to you about how they felt aboutyour music, and it just makes it feel all worth it and feel very special.
When you look back withyour time with Formula 5, what do you think were the highlights for you?
For me, definitely the Palace was one of them because thatis a venue that I’ve been going to my entire life. So, finally after years andyears of me playing music, after ten years of using my synthesizer and meopening it in my parents’ home when I was in high school, it was just a surrealfeeling to bring it to the Palace. Never thought that day would come. Anotherone is when we went out to Colorado for the fourth time and we sold out ourshow there. That was a great feeling—like, here I am 1800 miles away from home,never thought I would get this many people to listen to my music out here.
And there’s some specific jams too that I see as highlights.At Rock the Dock last year, we played our song “Nu-Gen,” and we hadn’t playedit in a year or so, and jamming it just felt like we had reached a new musicalidea in that jam. That always stuck out to me.
Is there anything youwant to say to fans or people who are just getting turned on to your music?
I would say for everyone in the music scene if your friendsor anybody is working on their craft doing something they love and care about,that you should support it now whether it’s going well or not going wellbecause you never really know what can happen. There’s so much that gets thrownat you in life, and even if things seem to be going well for an artist, youshould just support them now because you never know when their craft is goingto stop.
What are the futureplans for you guys?
That is something that we are trying to still figure out. Iguess for the most part it would be to go back and reconnect with the people inour lives. We feel like over the past couple years we’ve been deprived of that.We’ve been away for so long.
I’m excited for it. I loved being in the band, and I’mdefinitely going to miss it. But I’m also excited for the kind of freedom withwhat I can make, what I can do in my life, where I can travel to. It is anexciting time despite being a little sad and heartbreaking in a way.
Bittersweet for sure.But just to reiterate, there is a possibility that you guys get back together?The door is open?
Oh yeah, the door is totally open.
