Biography

Dan Rico is a highly unusual but approachable musical artist of many stripes and colors. Now 39 years old, Rico began playing guitar at the age of 12. Since he's performed in dozens of bands, released 7 vinyls and produced a dozen records. Rico co-ran DIY music label MAXIMUM PELT and DIY music venue WALLYS WORLD in Chicago. He's graced the stage numerous times at South by Southwest Music festival and toured nationally in the US as well as internationally in France and Italy.
Hailing from Chicago, the son of a Mexican-American Elvis-obsessed father and flower-child mother, he made a name for himself playing in and producing myriad rock and punk bands over the years, including EGO. In 2015 EGO released a 13 album concept project entitled “The Search for Ophiuchus” based on the signs of the zodiac. That year Rico also released his first solo album, “Endless Love,” and was picked by Shit in Can Records, a boutique french label. In 2018 Rico moved to New York City and earnestly began blending more electronic elements into his power-pop rock songs. A zealous and explosive performer on stage, and a wily but ingenious craftsman in the studio, Dan Rico continues to subvert expectation, experiment, and entertain. Dan also plays cowrites and performs in musical puppet band Maximum Love Timeline, surf rock band High Waisted and plays guitar in psychedelic dance band Ista.

BULL MOON

BULL MOON is the title of Rico's upcoming fifth album. With a fondness for the boybands of his youth, but spurning the ultra-polish of glitzy billboard slop, Dan Rico has conducted a sensual sonic ooze to pour into your ears and tickle the crevices of your brain. Littered with nuanced warbles of time-defying delay, insistent vintage drum machines, campfire acoustic guitars, and majestic fuzzy electric ear worms- and not to mention silvery vocals that split the difference between Prince and Marc Bolan- “Bull Moon” is a danceable meditation on the passage of time and the struggle to be present in a digital society. It at once feels nostalgic, familiar, and rebelliously futuristic.
Pre-save the first single below!

PRESS

"A grainy, glammy mix of pop and rock’s past, present, and future. "-Impose Magazine

Rico’s new sound builds on his garage- and punk-rock past with hints of doo-wop, soul, funk, and roots rock. His songs will just as easily take you for a spin on the dance floor as they will cradle an arm around you on the couch.-Post Trash

"The record channels an early DIY punk esthetic through that 1970s mash-up of 1950s nostalgia, breathy emotive R&B male vocals (that Prince would use to great effect in the 1980s), and crunchy rock and roll guitars. Having said that, what marks the record is the coherency of its sound, even as it showcases multiple styles in songwriting and production."-Pop Rock Record

"Boldly blending influences from a myriad of music crusaders- Sly and the Family Stone to Sonic Youth- Rico’s songs manage to be both fresh and gritty; elegant and jarring. If the Backstreet Boys took ecstasy and spent a month in a basement writing poetry and playing dice, they might land somewhere close to Dan Rico’s new record"- Skope

"Mr. Rico continues his streak of releasing top notch rock n roll. His songs have a power pop twist, a dusting of glam rock, and all done with that feeling of intimacy of a singer/songwriter performance. Dan Rico is one of the brightest gems I’ve discovered this year and listening to this EP will make you think the same." -Audio Ammunition

Music

Dan Rico has released four studio albums, "Endless Love," "Dreamy," "Slow Real," and "Self Actually;" four EPS: "Nobody Knows," "Flesh and Bone," "Basement P0P," and "Fictiones;" and a dozen or so singles.