Miranda Lee Richards

“Courtney Taylor from the Dandy Warhols calls my genre ‘Pixie Fairy Dust Chick Music,’” Miranda Lee Richards laughs, from her home in Los Angeles. “But I think another fitting description for Light Of X might be ‘Psychedelic Chamber Folk Rock’”.

Richards grew up in San Francisco, the daughter of Ted and Teresa Richards, stars of the underground comics revolution. Her father created The 40 Year Old Hippie, and was a core of the now infamous Air Pirates; her mother was one of the founding editors and contributors of Wimmin’s Comix, (the first all female artist publication), and High Times magazine in the 1970’s. “Growing up, I got the message that if you do what you love to do, money will follow…just not a whole lot of it,” Miranda chuckles. It was a very Bohemian upbringing to put it lightly.

Richards played in school bands, but never considered music as a profession until her senior year of high school. Fate offered a very unique hand when an older best friend started dating Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and Hammett soon taught Richards her first few guitar chords. “As soon as I knew how to play, I started writing songs and everything just clicked. Eventually I got a piano to expand my musical vocabulary.”

Richards recorded her first demo in the basement of Hammett’s studio. Dave Deresinski, the then manager of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, passed the tape along to singer Anton Newcombe, who asked her to join the group. During that time, friend Ondi Timoner was filming the BJM for her seminal documentary DIG! (2004). Richards was only in the movie briefly, but did provide some of the film’s memorable sound bites. In one scene, a hiker observed the all white-clad members of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and friends gathered on a mountain top location. “Excuse me,” he asked, “is this a cult or a photo shoot?” Miranda then candidly replied, “Honestly sir, I don’t know the answer to that question.”

Shortly thereafter, Miranda moved down the coast to LA in search of a record deal. “I played clubs and open mics and worked day jobs while I made demos. A mutual friend introduced me to Rick Parker (producer/musician who went on to work with BRMC and The Von Bondies) and we’ve been working together ever since.” After recording a few sets of demos, she signed with Virgin, and began work on her debut, The Herethereafter.

After its release, The Herethereafter was licensed over 40 times for film and television, allowing Richards the freedom to continue to explore her musical path full time. She collaborated in the studio with Tricky, Tim Burgess (Charlatans), Neil Halstead (Mojave 3), and The Shore. She joined The Jesus and Mary Chain for the West Coast leg of their 2007 tour, singing the duet with Jim Reid on “Sometimes Always” and “Just Like Honey.” In the fall of 2007, a vinyl single was released in the U.K. on Sonic Cathedral called “Life Boat” which appears on her full-length sophomore effort, Light Of X, released February 10, 2009 on Nettwerk.

Light Of X is moody and introspective, the kind of music to play while you’re getting dressed up at night, sitting by the phone, and waiting for it to ring. The album fairly shimmers with folk, country, psychedelic, and even classical influences. Richards and Parker assembled a top-notch group of players including Eva Gardner (Mars Volta, Tim Burgess) on bass; main drummer Keith Mitchell (Mazzy Star); Ben Peeler (Wallflowers, Shelby Lynne) on pedal steel; and Josh Schwartz (Beachwood Sparks) on guitar. Rick Parker produced, engineered, mixed the record, and contributed most of the electric and twelve string guitar; Richards composed all the material and string arrangements, and played acoustic guitar, piano, and Hammond B3.