"It seems the rock and roll gods are displeased with us. So they sent us Rich Hope's Live At The ANZA Club that we may be redeemed. Some would call Rich's original compositions 'roots' music but these live performances are the full green branches laden with blues, country, punk rock and soul. The audience devoured the fruit that night. Hearing this record makes us wish we were there."
- Gordie Johnson, Big Sugar

"I have always been at my best live, and we wanted to capture what this version of the band is doing,"" Rich explains. "Since we didn't have the luxury of extended touring and recording every show, we decided on finding the best venue and taking two nights to capture lightning in a bottle. The ANZA is a venue where I played some of my first shows in a neighbourhood where I lived for many years, so I feel a personal connection to the club."

Devoted fans will recognize 'It Come Alive' from Rich's previous 2018 studio album I'm All Yours, and 'The Ballad Of Black Eyed Suzy' and 'Can't Get No Lovin' from the 2013 EP of the same name. As well, Rich's 2009 classic 'Whip It On Ya' makes a most welcome appearance before things climax with a cover of The Long Ryders' 'Looking For Lewis And Clark.' There's also '3 Minute Song,'' which dates back to Rich's criminally underappreciated turn-of-the-century band John Ford, and later recorded by Big Sugar as a bonus track for their 2003 greatest hits collection Hit & Run.

Live At The ANZA Club is in some ways Rich Hope's own career retrospective, but it's also a new beginning. He formed his first band, the Taxicrabs'the name bestowed upon them by Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers'in his hometown Edmonton, Alberta, before moving to Vancouver in the late Nineties where he recorded a solo album and soon after joined John Ford. Retaining drummer Adrian Mack, he returned to a solo career, which found him sharing stages with everyone from The Flamin' Groovies and The Black Crowes to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Charles Bradley, Social Distortion and Rev. Horton Heat.

However, reflecting back on that time, Rich remains surprisingly humble. "I'm just the same guy playing music that I have always been," he says. "I don't know if I have undergone any real musical evolution. I have always loved playing live and putting on a show with my friends. So I guess that doing this live album is where I am in the evolutionary process. My main goal was to capture something like Jerry Lee Lewis's Live At The Star Club'loose, reckless and joyful."

Rich was born and raised in Edmonton Alberta Canada where his first band was the Taxicrabs, who were named by the none other than the late, great Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers. Relocating to Vancouver, he released his first full-length album "Good To Go"

in 1998. Soon afterward, he joined the band John Ford, recording two albums and touring extensively with them. Eventually, he left the group, taking drummer Adrian Mack with him to perform as a two-piece garage act. Over the next six years, he’d be the opening act of choice for a long list of distinguished rabble rousers including The Flamin’ Groovies, Black Crowes, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Charles Bradley, The Sadies, Social Distortion, Reverend Horton Heat, and Big Sugar among others.

Throughout his long, notorious career Rich Hope has been exploding on stages big and small, from downtown booze cans in Madrid to Vancouver’s Rogers Arena. Now it’s all on record for your home listening pleasure.

The future certainly looks bright for the retro-lovin’ Hope. With one foot in the past and another in the present, Hope will electrify you with his style, swagger and swing. He will, as he so bluntly puts it, “whip it on ya.” And you will love him for it.”
- Francois Marchand – Vancouver Sun

“… (a) raucous blast of over-driven juke joint boogie  that wastes little time getting the party started.”
- The Georgia Straight

“A modern-day Juke Boy Bonner.”
- John Goodman, North Shore News

“…this lean, mean, slide-pickin’ machine could play most Fat Possum pussies under the table.”
- Sarah Rowland, The Georgia Straight

“Top Pick of the Day goes to Rich Hope for his incredible raw energy, talent and ability to connect to the audience. Rich’s stage presence and intense performance were a sight to behold.”
- Brian Marchant - Wild at Art Festival, Squamish, BC