Richard Lloyd
Encyclopedia
Richard Lloyd is an American
guitarist
, singer and songwriter
, best known as a founding member of the rock
band Television
.
on The Ed Sullivan Show
and experienced the phenomenon of Beatlemania, his main interest was anthropological
, wondering how four young men would cause mass hysteria worldwide the likes of which could only be matched by world wars. He followed the British Invasion
back to its roots in American Blues and Jazz and listened to as much blues and jazz as he could find.
Lloyd attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City, which is a specialized science school considered to be one of the best public schools in the country. He attended the Be-ins and Love-ins in Central Park
and even attended the Woodstock Festival
and stayed awake for the entire three days, after being driven there by his stepfather. In his early teens he studied drums with William Kessler, who was the ghostwriter for Cozy Cole, one of the famous big-band drummers. But his cousins had also taught him three chords on the guitar, and after playing drums for 3½ years he had an auditory hallucination which told him to play a melody instrument. So he turned to the guitar. His first guitar was a Stratocaster, sold to him by one of his best friends older brothers for $200, which he saved up himself.
named Velvert Turner who knew Jimi Hendrix
. Jimi considered Velvert his "little brother", and took him on as his protégé, inviting him to various clubs and teaching him guitar from Jimi's apartment on W 12th St. As Velvert and Richard Lloyd were best friends, Velvert asked for permission to teach Lloyd what he was learning, and so Lloyd and Velvert began practicing together under the teaching auspice of Hendrix, and frequently attended his shows as well as those of other well-known acts such as Led Zeppelin
, The Who
, The Jeff Beck Group
with Rod Stewart
, The Allman Brothers Band
, Grateful Dead
etc.
At Stuyvesant High School, during the 11th grade, Lloyd decided that he was going to become a well-known guitarist, and so he stopped bringing his textbooks or homework to school, instead bringing an electric guitar in a hardshell case. When his teachers would ask him where his schoolbooks were, he would point to the case. Being asked to open the case, the teachers would proclaim "I don't see any books in there — only an electric guitar", and Lloyd's retort was "That's the book I'm studying." He still managed to pass all of his tests but quit in May 1969, before graduation, because he did not believe in diplomas, and he considered that having a high school diploma would not do him any good in his pursuit of the music business. That summer his parents moved to Montclair, New Jersey and gave him an ultimatum: he could either get a job or repeat the 12th grade in a new high school. He chose the latter, which led to his deep friendship with another guitarist named Al Anderson, who went on to be the only American to play in Bob Marley
's touring band, The Wailers.
, where he lived for two years. It was during this time that he enjoyed his first public performance, sitting in with John Lee Hooker at the Jazz workshop on Boylston Street. By this time Lloyd had already met and knew Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, members of Led Zeppelin, and could be frequently found backstage conversing with his heroes. John Lee Hooker asked him what he did and Lloyd replied that he was a guitarist whereupon John Lee Hooker called him over and whispered into his ear "the secret of the electric guitar" and invited him to sit in with the band. After living in Boston for a period of time, Mr. Lloyd moved back to New York, but desiring to visit other centers of musical culture, he first decided upon hitchhiking across Route 66, but after considering how long it might take, he flew directly to Los Angeles instead. He spent 1971 through 1973 in Los Angeles, practicing the electric guitar without an amplifier and going to record company parties, which at that time were very ostentatious. He lived as a roommate with Richard Cromelin, the music critic for the Los Angeles Times, so again, he had access to the highest level and echelon of rock 'n roll.
In 1973 he heard about the New York Dolls
and the beginning of a brand-new New York scene, so he arranged with a friend who owned a Lotus Europa to take him on as a passenger across the country. As they wound their way through the country at 125 miles an hour, with stops in famous towns like Memphis and New Orleans, he reached New York and heard the unpleasant news that the Mercer Arts Center had "fallen down." He began frequenting shows at the Diplomat Hotel and other spots, and seeing the possibility of a new scene, began contemplating putting a band together. He met a fellow named Terry Ork at Max's Kansas City
, who had a huge loft in Chinatown and needed a roommate, so Lloyd moved in to Ork's Chinatown loft, living in the front room, a small room facing East Broadway. Ork worked for Andy Warhol
making silkscreen prints at night and working at a theatrical poster shop called Cinemabilia during the daytime. Ork very much wanted to manage or create a band such as Warhol had done with The Velvet Underground
. During discussions with Lloyd, Ork mentioned that he knew of another guitarist without a band who was auditioning a couple of songs at Reno Sweeney's audition night. Reno Sweeney's was an off-Broadway style club on W. 13th St that mostly hosted singers like Peter Allen and Bette Midler
.
play three songs. Lloyd leaned over to Ork during the second song and told him that this fellow had something, but was missing something, and what he was missing, Lloyd had. He advised Ork that if Terry could convince Tom, the combination of Lloyd and Miller would have the makings of the band Terry Ork was looking for. This was the beginning of the formation of the band Television
. Miller would eventually changed his last name to Verlaine and Richard Meyers became Richard Hell
and promised to learn the bass
as they went along. With the addition of Billy Ficca
on drums, the quartet was complete. Television rehearsed seven days a week for five or six hours a day during the fall and winter of 1973, and made their first public performance on March 2, 1974, at the Town House Theatre on W. 44th St.
Television were looking for a club where they could develop an audience and play more often as the house band, when Verlaine spotted a guy putting up the awning on a bar on the Bowery which stood under a flophouse for homeless alcoholics. Verlaine and Lloyd went back up and discussed the possibility of playing in this new club, which was to be called CBGB
s. After Television's manager Ork promised CBGBs a large take at the bar, Television was given a gig at the end of March, 1974. CBGBs was run by a man named Hilly Kristal
, who was planning to have country, bluegrass and blues (CBGB) at the club, but when more original rock bands like Blondie
, the Ramones
and the Talking Heads
started to show up after finding out that there was a place to play, Ork became the official booking agent for the club. CBGBs started to get noticed after bands like Television and Talking Heads started to fill the place up, and when a young poetess named Patti Smith
began playing double bills with Television, the club started becoming famous. CBGBs closed its doors in New York in 2007, but not until having earned the distinction of being the most famous rock-and-roll club in rock-and-roll history.
After recording some demos for various record companies, Richard Hell left the band and was replaced by Blondie's bass player at the time, Fred Smith
. Fred Smith's solid bass playing allowed for a more transcendent and profound music from the two guitarists and drummer, resulting in their being signed to Elektra Records
in 1977.
Television recorded two albums for Elektra, Marquee Moon
and Adventure. As a debut release in 1977, Marquee Moon remains on lists of greatest guitar albums in rock-and-roll history, and has never been out of print.
After recording Adventure in 1978, and finding success elusive in the United States, Television disbanded after a successful series of dates at New York's Bottom Line
. The various members went their separate ways, although all of them continued in the music industry.
called Alchemy
. During his solo career, as a guitarist and session musician
he has worked with various artists in the music industry, including Matthew Sweet
, John Doe
(of the band X), and Stephan Eicher
. In 1990 Lloyd recorded a cover version of the Roky Erikson/13th Floor Elevators
song "Fire Engine", which was included on the various artists tribute album Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye.
He is also known to teach other aspiring guitarists in his studio
in New York
, where he frequently produces other acts. He acted as producer and recording engineer as well as a member of the band Rocket From The Tombs, entitled Rocket Redux, which was released on Smog Veil Records. He has also produced a number of records for other local bands, including The Blondes, Inc., Chris Purdy, Miss Mother USA and Kevin Otto. He recently finished up producing the album Let it Die from Holy Trinity River, a Brooklyn southern-rock influenced band, as well as Skinny Girls Are Trouble (2010), the third album from country-punk songwriter Jim Neversink
. He still owns the famous pinstriped Stratocaster
he played with Television.
His other current projects include a reformation of Rocket From The Tombs
. He has now released six solo albums. Alchemy in 1979, Field of Fire in 1986 (re released in 2007 with an additional disc of music), his live disc Real Time in 1987 (recorded at CBGB's) and The Cover Doesn't Matter in 2001. The Radiant Monkey was released on Parasol Records in late 2007. The CD features Lloyd playing everything but the drums (manned by session drummer Chris Purdy and on one track Television's own Billy Ficca). 2009 saw his most ambitious album yet: "The Jamie Neverts Story", a tribute to his hero Jimi Hendrix and dedicated to the memory of Velvert Turner, who was Jimi Hendrix's only authenticated protégé and guitar student. It was released on Parasol Records. "Jamie Neverts" was the secret codename that Velvert and Lloyd came up with to prevent all the kids in the neighborhood from trying to come along when they went to see Jimi.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, best known as a founding member of the rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
.
Early life
Lloyd first became interested in music as a small child and would sit at the age of three or four at a small 28-key child's piano, playing notes and wondering where they went as the vibrations subsided. When he was a young teenager he spent his evenings with a transistor radio balanced on his ear and a pillow over his head, searching for intelligent life. When he saw The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and experienced the phenomenon of Beatlemania, his main interest was anthropological
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, wondering how four young men would cause mass hysteria worldwide the likes of which could only be matched by world wars. He followed the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
back to its roots in American Blues and Jazz and listened to as much blues and jazz as he could find.
Lloyd attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City, which is a specialized science school considered to be one of the best public schools in the country. He attended the Be-ins and Love-ins in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
and even attended the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
and stayed awake for the entire three days, after being driven there by his stepfather. In his early teens he studied drums with William Kessler, who was the ghostwriter for Cozy Cole, one of the famous big-band drummers. But his cousins had also taught him three chords on the guitar, and after playing drums for 3½ years he had an auditory hallucination which told him to play a melody instrument. So he turned to the guitar. His first guitar was a Stratocaster, sold to him by one of his best friends older brothers for $200, which he saved up himself.
Teenage years
In his middle teens he met a scrawny black kid from BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
named Velvert Turner who knew Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. Jimi considered Velvert his "little brother", and took him on as his protégé, inviting him to various clubs and teaching him guitar from Jimi's apartment on W 12th St. As Velvert and Richard Lloyd were best friends, Velvert asked for permission to teach Lloyd what he was learning, and so Lloyd and Velvert began practicing together under the teaching auspice of Hendrix, and frequently attended his shows as well as those of other well-known acts such as Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, The Jeff Beck Group
The Jeff Beck Group
The Jeff Beck Group were an English rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy sounding blues and R&B was a major influence on popular music.- The first Jeff Beck Group :...
with Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
, Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
etc.
At Stuyvesant High School, during the 11th grade, Lloyd decided that he was going to become a well-known guitarist, and so he stopped bringing his textbooks or homework to school, instead bringing an electric guitar in a hardshell case. When his teachers would ask him where his schoolbooks were, he would point to the case. Being asked to open the case, the teachers would proclaim "I don't see any books in there — only an electric guitar", and Lloyd's retort was "That's the book I'm studying." He still managed to pass all of his tests but quit in May 1969, before graduation, because he did not believe in diplomas, and he considered that having a high school diploma would not do him any good in his pursuit of the music business. That summer his parents moved to Montclair, New Jersey and gave him an ultimatum: he could either get a job or repeat the 12th grade in a new high school. He chose the latter, which led to his deep friendship with another guitarist named Al Anderson, who went on to be the only American to play in Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
's touring band, The Wailers.
Early music career
After quitting a second high school before graduation, he moved to BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, where he lived for two years. It was during this time that he enjoyed his first public performance, sitting in with John Lee Hooker at the Jazz workshop on Boylston Street. By this time Lloyd had already met and knew Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, members of Led Zeppelin, and could be frequently found backstage conversing with his heroes. John Lee Hooker asked him what he did and Lloyd replied that he was a guitarist whereupon John Lee Hooker called him over and whispered into his ear "the secret of the electric guitar" and invited him to sit in with the band. After living in Boston for a period of time, Mr. Lloyd moved back to New York, but desiring to visit other centers of musical culture, he first decided upon hitchhiking across Route 66, but after considering how long it might take, he flew directly to Los Angeles instead. He spent 1971 through 1973 in Los Angeles, practicing the electric guitar without an amplifier and going to record company parties, which at that time were very ostentatious. He lived as a roommate with Richard Cromelin, the music critic for the Los Angeles Times, so again, he had access to the highest level and echelon of rock 'n roll.
In 1973 he heard about the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
and the beginning of a brand-new New York scene, so he arranged with a friend who owned a Lotus Europa to take him on as a passenger across the country. As they wound their way through the country at 125 miles an hour, with stops in famous towns like Memphis and New Orleans, he reached New York and heard the unpleasant news that the Mercer Arts Center had "fallen down." He began frequenting shows at the Diplomat Hotel and other spots, and seeing the possibility of a new scene, began contemplating putting a band together. He met a fellow named Terry Ork at Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
, who had a huge loft in Chinatown and needed a roommate, so Lloyd moved in to Ork's Chinatown loft, living in the front room, a small room facing East Broadway. Ork worked for Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
making silkscreen prints at night and working at a theatrical poster shop called Cinemabilia during the daytime. Ork very much wanted to manage or create a band such as Warhol had done with The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
. During discussions with Lloyd, Ork mentioned that he knew of another guitarist without a band who was auditioning a couple of songs at Reno Sweeney's audition night. Reno Sweeney's was an off-Broadway style club on W. 13th St that mostly hosted singers like Peter Allen and Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
.
Television
Ork and Lloyd went to Reno Sweeney's one night during the summer of 1973, where Richard saw Tom MillerTom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine is a singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the frontman for the New York rock band Television.-Biography:...
play three songs. Lloyd leaned over to Ork during the second song and told him that this fellow had something, but was missing something, and what he was missing, Lloyd had. He advised Ork that if Terry could convince Tom, the combination of Lloyd and Miller would have the makings of the band Terry Ork was looking for. This was the beginning of the formation of the band Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
. Miller would eventually changed his last name to Verlaine and Richard Meyers became Richard Hell
Richard Hell
Richard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
and promised to learn the bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
as they went along. With the addition of Billy Ficca
Billy Ficca
Billy Ficca is a punk rock drummer who has played with the bands Television, Nona Hendryx & Zero Cool, 40 Familys, The Washington Squares, The Waitresses and The Neon Boys...
on drums, the quartet was complete. Television rehearsed seven days a week for five or six hours a day during the fall and winter of 1973, and made their first public performance on March 2, 1974, at the Town House Theatre on W. 44th St.
Television were looking for a club where they could develop an audience and play more often as the house band, when Verlaine spotted a guy putting up the awning on a bar on the Bowery which stood under a flophouse for homeless alcoholics. Verlaine and Lloyd went back up and discussed the possibility of playing in this new club, which was to be called CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
s. After Television's manager Ork promised CBGBs a large take at the bar, Television was given a gig at the end of March, 1974. CBGBs was run by a man named Hilly Kristal
Hilly Kristal
Hilly Kristal was an American club owner and musician who was the owner of the iconic New York City club, CBGB, which opened in 1973 and closed in 2006 over a rent dispute. -Early years:...
, who was planning to have country, bluegrass and blues (CBGB) at the club, but when more original rock bands like Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
and the Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
started to show up after finding out that there was a place to play, Ork became the official booking agent for the club. CBGBs started to get noticed after bands like Television and Talking Heads started to fill the place up, and when a young poetess named Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
began playing double bills with Television, the club started becoming famous. CBGBs closed its doors in New York in 2007, but not until having earned the distinction of being the most famous rock-and-roll club in rock-and-roll history.
After recording some demos for various record companies, Richard Hell left the band and was replaced by Blondie's bass player at the time, Fred Smith
Fred Smith (bassist)
Fred Smith is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work with Television. He was the original bassist with Blondie until he replaced Richard Hell when Hell left Television in 1975 to form The Heartbreakers. At the time, Television played at CBGB along with Blondie...
. Fred Smith's solid bass playing allowed for a more transcendent and profound music from the two guitarists and drummer, resulting in their being signed to Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
in 1977.
Television recorded two albums for Elektra, Marquee Moon
Marquee Moon
Marquee Moon is the debut album by American rock band Television, released in 1977. While often considered a seminal work to come out of the New York punk scene of the late 1970s, the album differs from conventional punk in its clean, textured guitar-based arrangements and extended improvisation...
and Adventure. As a debut release in 1977, Marquee Moon remains on lists of greatest guitar albums in rock-and-roll history, and has never been out of print.
After recording Adventure in 1978, and finding success elusive in the United States, Television disbanded after a successful series of dates at New York's Bottom Line
Bottom Line
The Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
. The various members went their separate ways, although all of them continued in the music industry.
Solo career
After Television first disbanded in 1978, Lloyd released one album for Elektra RecordsElektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
called Alchemy
Alchemy (Richard Lloyd album)
Alchemy is the debut solo album of Television guitarist, Richard Lloyd. It was released in 1979, one year after the breakup of Television and the release of their second album, Adventure...
. During his solo career, as a guitarist and session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
he has worked with various artists in the music industry, including Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet
Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...
, John Doe
John Doe (musician)
John Doe is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet and bass player. Doe founded the much-praised L.A. punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span the rock, country and folk music genres...
(of the band X), and Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher
Stephan Eicher is a Swiss singer.His songs are sung in a variety of languages, including French, German, English, Italian, Swiss-German, and Romanche and sometimes he even uses different languages in the same piece.His success started in German-speaking countries in the 1980s when as part of the...
. In 1990 Lloyd recorded a cover version of the Roky Erikson/13th Floor Elevators
13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...
song "Fire Engine", which was included on the various artists tribute album Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye.
He is also known to teach other aspiring guitarists in his studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he frequently produces other acts. He acted as producer and recording engineer as well as a member of the band Rocket From The Tombs, entitled Rocket Redux, which was released on Smog Veil Records. He has also produced a number of records for other local bands, including The Blondes, Inc., Chris Purdy, Miss Mother USA and Kevin Otto. He recently finished up producing the album Let it Die from Holy Trinity River, a Brooklyn southern-rock influenced band, as well as Skinny Girls Are Trouble (2010), the third album from country-punk songwriter Jim Neversink
Jim Neversink
Jim Neversink is a South African musician, singer and songwriter. His musical style spans over indie rock, country, americana and punk.He is best known as a solo artist who performs with changing line-ups...
. He still owns the famous pinstriped Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
he played with Television.
His other current projects include a reformation of Rocket From The Tombs
Rocket From The Tombs
Rocket From the Tombs is an American rock music band originally active from mid-1974 to mid-1975 in Cleveland, Ohio.Heralded as an important protopunk group, they were little known during their lifetime, though various members later achieved renown in Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys...
. He has now released six solo albums. Alchemy in 1979, Field of Fire in 1986 (re released in 2007 with an additional disc of music), his live disc Real Time in 1987 (recorded at CBGB's) and The Cover Doesn't Matter in 2001. The Radiant Monkey was released on Parasol Records in late 2007. The CD features Lloyd playing everything but the drums (manned by session drummer Chris Purdy and on one track Television's own Billy Ficca). 2009 saw his most ambitious album yet: "The Jamie Neverts Story", a tribute to his hero Jimi Hendrix and dedicated to the memory of Velvert Turner, who was Jimi Hendrix's only authenticated protégé and guitar student. It was released on Parasol Records. "Jamie Neverts" was the secret codename that Velvert and Lloyd came up with to prevent all the kids in the neighborhood from trying to come along when they went to see Jimi.
Solo discography
- AlchemyAlchemy (Richard Lloyd album)Alchemy is the debut solo album of Television guitarist, Richard Lloyd. It was released in 1979, one year after the breakup of Television and the release of their second album, Adventure...
(ElektraElektra RecordsElektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
1979) - Field of FireField of Fire (album)Field of Fire is the second solo album by former Television guitarist Richard Lloyd. It was released in 1986, seven years after his solo debut, Alchemy. The album was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, backed mostly by Swedish musicians....
(Moving Target/CelluloidCelluloid RecordsCelluloid Records, a French/American record label, founded by Jean Georgakarakos operated from 1976 to 1989 in New York, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the early to late 1980s, largely under the auspices of de facto in-house producer Bill...
1986) - later released on CD by Reaction Recordings (c/o Parasol Records) - Real Time (1987)
- The Cover Doesn't Matter (2001)
- The Radiant Monkey (2007)
External links
- http://www.richardlloyd.com/
- http://www.avclub.com/madison/articles/richard-lloyd-at-the-frequency,27774/