HI, MY NAME IS RYAN - Merry go round: A live tribute to Wild Man Fischer - BRAND NEW CASSETTE TAPE

“The stripped down and to the point delivery of Wild Man Fischer’s music was a perfect cover set for Ryan to perform. I would have made it to the show regardless, but I remember feeling abnormally worried about how the night would play out. An annual tradition, the multi-night Halloween show at Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, brings out a wide variety of people who are there to see their friends cover Misfits and Ramones, not an acapella performance of Wild Man Fischer songs. How this set would go over would be anyone’s guess, but taking place later in the evening when the most potentially reckless members of the crowd would be at their most drunk was not a variable that sat well with me. If Ryan was going to get a bottle thrown at them, or worse, this was the night and as much as I was ready to enjoy the set, I was also on stand-by waiting for the worst. In the end, the room volume on this recording probably is an accurate representation of how much attention was being paid by most people there, yet also is an excellent capture of Ryan at their best: doing the thing that they want to do in the moment regardless of the context, giving it 100% when the crowd might be at 10%, and fighting against the urge to laugh while delivering this ridiculously absurd yet also fragile “music”. While Wild Man Fischer is an artist we both enjoy (check our record collections), it’s undeniable that the material is NOT for everyone, NOT for most people, and while the same would go for Ryan’s set on this night – the few of us who knew what to expect (in addition to handful that did not), walked away smiling and laughing. And while the tape proves Merry Go Round was performed 4 times, I can assure there was a general sense that it was likely more like 10. Incredible.“ – James Fella (Soft Shoulder/Gilgongo Records)