Career
Richardson is an only child. His mother worked in a butcher's shop, bar and doctor's office, and his dad was a miner. Richardson has said that one of his earliest musical obsessions was David Bowie. He was inspired to learn to play bass by Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. [2]
Richardson's career in the music industry started off in the mid-1990s, working as a producer in his local area in Wales. [3] By the late 1990s he was working as an engineer at Front Line Studios in Caerphilly, which is where he first met the other members of Lostprophets. [2] He replaced Mike Lewis as bassist in Lostprophets after Mike switched to rhythm guitar, joining them in 1998 just before they recorded their third demo. He had worked with the band previously, having produced their first two demos. Lostprophets were signed to Columbia Records and Visible Noise in 2000 and released five studio albums.
In October 2013, ten months after lead singer Ian Watkins was arrested and charged with multiple sexual offences, Richardson and the remaining members of the band announced that they could "no longer make or perform music as Lostprophets". [4] "Not only did [Watkins] take 15 years' [work] away from me, but he took away my future as well," Richardson told The Daily Telegraph . "Because even though the band was starting to decline, we could have gone away for a couple of years and then come back with the hope that people might give a shit. So we thought about calling it a day for a bit and then returning and going on the road and playing all our greatest hits until we were dead. That was the retirement plan, but that's all gone now." [5]
Six months after the announcement, they formed a new band, No Devotion, with Geoff Rickly as their new lead singer. [6] The band have released two albums, Permanence (2015) and No Oblivion (2022).
During an appearance on the Sappenin' Podcast with Sean Smith in December 2019, Richardson revealed the reason why they formed a new band. "We didn't catch our breath after the whole thing went down with [Watkins]. So I was like, well 'fuck if that's gonna be the thing that's on my fucking gravestone.' Like 'Oh, that guy was in that band with that fucking prick.' It's like, fuck that. I'm gonna do my own band immediately." [7] During the same interview, Richardson revealed that he had engaged in a violent altercation with Watkins in 2012, as the latter's drug use put much strain on his relationship with the remaining band members prior to his conviction. [8] [9]
Richardson has been the touring bassist of Thursday since 2017. [3]
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