Richard Cheese
Since 2000, the band has played concerts around the U.S.A. and Europe (including
London and Portugal), and has made numerous television appearances, including
performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Fox News Channel, CNN, and as the house band
on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly and MTV's Say What? Karaoke series.
The band specializes in playing lounge-style covers of recent popular rock and
rap tunes, including those with offensive lyrical content. What sets them apart
from an average cover band is the fact that they sing it in a calm/80s style
jazz voice.
The best example is possibly their swanky cover of Disturbed's Down with the
Sickness, which appeared in 2004's Dawn of the Dead which is supposed to be
sung fast, with a deep and screamo voice, instead Richard Cheese sings it happily,
in turn making a parody of it. The group has been giving the Vegas treatment
to popular songs since 2000.
The line-up of the band consists of: Richard Cheese: vocals
Gordon Brie: double bass
Buddy Gouda/Frank Feta: drums
Bobby Ricotta: keyboards
The names are all pseudonyms, and new band members adopt the pseudonym of the
player they replace. The only constant band member is Cheese himself, who is
really a Los Angeles-based comedian and entrepreneur named Mark Jonathan Davis.
When the drummer Buddy Gouda (Charles Byler) left the band in 2004, he was replaced
by Brian Fishler who changed the stagename for the drummer to Frank Feta. The
role of pianist and musical director Bobby Ricotta is currently played by Noel
Melanio, but was previously played by David Adler. The role of bass player Gordon
Brie is played by Louis Allen, and was previously portrayed by Christopher Monaco.
Cheese's pseudonym is a slang reference to smegma, as Richard can be shortened
to Dick, making his name "dick cheese".
Cheese himself regrets that this nickname gets any attention.
site: http://www.iloverichardcheese.com/