Rigbi

The guys grew up in rural, Northern New Jersey and attended a small Catholic Elementary School. In 6th grade, Randy Sabo got a guitar, and it wasn’t long before he, Rick Rogers, and Jon Irizarry decided to start a band. They shared a love for “Californication” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and spent the next year learning to play their songs along with other pop-punk bands of the time. Soon after forming their group, they started to write their own songs and played their first show at the school’s annual summer carnival. Jon Irizarry says, “Our first song was called ‘Fried Chicken’ and was about eating fried chicken— lyrical genius!”  

As the five friends parted ways for college, they would get together on the weekends they were home, during holiday breaks, and between semesters and continue to make music, again in varying musical combinations. With a small camcorder, they filmed movie-style trailers for shows and mini-documentaries. They quickly found how well people responded to a visual aspect, even when it wasn’t music.  

It wasn’t until after graduation that they all played together in one band. In the Winter of 2011, Brian Cornish, Sabo, and Irizarry got together to record what was meant to be a one-time EP with a one-off show. To help play it live, Pat Maloney and Rogers joined in to help prepare for the show. About halfway through that first rehearsal, they found themselves straying from the recordings and writing entirely new material. By the end of the rehearsal, they scrapped what they had planned and wrote Rigbi’s first song. They quickly fell into a regular writing schedule, and by the summer of 2012, they wrote, recorded, and released a 14 song album and played several shows. 

In 2014 they released their next album, Visionary, which received praise from Buzzfeed and made the Top 25 on over 30 CMJ Radio Stations. Along with the release of Visionary, they started to put together Rigbi videos. They reached out to other musician friends and put together fun cover songs on the side. Their first official cover was “Let’s Be Still” by The Head and The Heart.  It got shared on Twitter where The Head and the Heart’s label, Sub Pop, gave them the ol’ thumbs-up, and the band themselves shared it across their social media. 

By 2015, they had started writing their third album, Ways. Soon after those sessions, like ships passing in the night, Rogers had completed med school and moved back to NJ while Cornish moved to Nashville, TN to work as a professional saxophone player where he still resides today.  Irizarry says, “A drummer moving away can be a huge hit for bands as they are the rhythmic backbone. Most bands may have called it quits, but honestly, the thought never occurred to us.  Whenever a change has happened with the band, we’ve always just adjusted to make it work for everyone!” 

This distance between members is how YouTube became the prevalent tool for promoting Rigbi’s music. As they wrapped up the album in 2017, they were fortunate to work with Nataly Dawn of the YouTube-famed band Pomplamoose. She sang the other half of the duet on their song “As The World Unwinds,” and they were invited to San Francisco to shoot a video for it. Starting in 2019, each song they record, whether an original or cover song, is also accompanied by a video released on their Rigbi YouTube channel.

Their upcoming single, “I’m a Mess in Winter,” features a small guitar solo from Dave Depper of Death Cab for Cutie. At the height of the COVID pandemic, Depper posted on Instagram he would play on songs of people who donated to MusicCares (a non-profit that assists musicians in times of need) and match their donations. It was a great cause, and as big fans of the band and being no strangers to long-distance collaboration, Rigbi jumped on the opportunity. 

From bonding over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Michael Jordan at an early age, all the way to being in each other’s weddings, the chemistry in this band is built on way more than a musical connection. It is built on a solid foundation of trust and friendship.  

• Discography
  • 3 albums
    • Rigbi - 2012
    • Visionary - 2014
    • Ways - 2017
  • 12 Singles (Covers)
    • In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel Cover) - 2019
    • There, There (Radiohead Cover) - 2019
    • Passenger Seat (Death Cab for Cutie Cover) - 2019
    • The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Postal Service Cover) - 2019
    • Amsterdam (Gregory Alan Isakov Cover) - 2020
    • Where It’s At (Beck Cover) - 2020
    • Ordinary World (Green Day Cover) - 2020
    • Sloop John B (Beach Boys Cover) - 2020
    • The Night We Met (Lord Huron Cover) - 2020
    • Take On Me (a-ha Cover) - 2021
    • Do It Again (Steely Dan Cover) - 2021
    • Scar Tissue (Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover) - 2021