Rich here to relate a more personal note than usual because I have known Lance Morgan (aka Monsters Under the Bed) since the mid-'80s when he first responded to an ad I'd placed in Seattle's leading rock 'n' roll newspaper, looking for a singer/guitarist for my new band. In Lance, not only did I discover someone whose voice blended perfectly with mine, but I also discovered a prolific singer/songwriter who seemingly wrote more songs in a week than I could in several years. To this day, Lance continues writing and recording at a dizzying pace.
In the early '90s, a few years after our band had run its course, Lance decided to record an album under the fictitious band name Monsters Under the Bed, and he invited me to participate. The album, "Neighborhood of Reality," was full of Lance's introspective lyrics and approachable melodies and harmonies and hooks where you might not expect them. As we approached the end of that recording project, I challenged Lance to write a song with different kinds of chord progressions than he normally used, and he came up with the amusing and catchy "When I Die," a song where he imagines a time when he can "stop writing introspective songs." It was also released as a single, and it's my favorite song from the album.
