R5 challenges any “family-band” stereotypes as they tour worldwide for the second time. Riker Lynch, Ross Lynch, Rocky Lynch, Rydel Lynch, and Ellington Ratliff compose R5, a pop rock band full of siblings plus one family friend. The amount of talent among these five best friends is unbelieveable. Each member, in addition to vocal and instrumental talent, is also a dancer and actor. Maybe you recognize Riker as a Warbler from Glee. Maybe you’ve seen Ross on Disney’s Teen Beach Movie or Austin & Ally. Or maybe you’ve seen the entire band dancing on ABC’s So You Think You Can Dance? with dance group “The Rage Crew.” However, besides their talent for on-camera shows, their musical talent really shines through songwriting and live performances.
R5 began back in 2009, two years after the Lynch family moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in performing arts. The brothers and sister played guitar, bass, and keyboard but an essential part of the band was missing– a drummer. They turned to their friend Ellington Ratliff to complete the line-up. Ready Set Rock was the band’s first self-released EP in early 2010. After signing will Hollywood Records in 2012, R5 release their EP, Loud, in February and their debut full-length album, Louder, in September of 2013. An essential part of R5 is their live performances. Each member of R5 truly has a passion for performing onstage and anyone in the audience can see the band’s love for music radiating off the stage. They originally began playing fairs and at multiple Six Flags then started playing headlining tours. Some of the tours R5 has been include: the West Coast Tour, East Coast Tour, Loud Tour, Dancing Out My Pants Tour, Sometime Last Night Tour, world tours, and more. In 2015, R5’s second full length album, Sometime Last Night, was released. R5 was set to release their already completed second album mostly composed by outside writers but instead started a new album from scratch inside their own garage. The band wanted to stick to their own songwriting roots and produce something from their own musical vision. Riker describes this album as more mature, and it debuted at number 6 in the US. With a huge, dedicated fan base paired with raw talent, R5 will only continue moving up.