Richard Lloyd is perhaps best known as being the guitarist in the influential New York band Television, however, his involvement in music goes back further than that up to the present day. Prior to playing guitar, Lloyd studied and played drums. In his teens, Lloyd became friends with Velvert Turner, who was the only person to ever get guitar lessons from Jimi Hendrix. Through Turner, Lloyd learned guitar secondhand from Hendrix’s lessons. At a young age Lloyd also made his first public appearance on stage with blues legend John Lee Hooker. After a stint in LA, Lloyd relocated to New York to check out the music scene at the time, which featured the New York Dolls. By 1973, he had met Terry Ork and through Ork it would lead to an encounter with Tom Verlaine (then known as Tom Miller). Television formed not too long after with their early lineup featuring Richard Hell on bass, Billy Ficca on drums, Lloyd on lead guitar and Verlaine on guitar/vocals. The first thing that Television recorded was “Little Johnny Jewel” which would not only be their first single, but the first single on Terry Ork’s label, Ork Records. By the time this single was recorded Hell had quit the band and was replaced by Blondie bassist Fred Smith. With Smith on bass and the solidness that he brought in terms of bass playing, the band found the right elements to make their sound work in the way that they wanted.
The album Marquee Moon was recorded in New York and released in February of 1977. Recorded with no special effects of the day and with basically just a band playing in a room sound, the album did well in the UK upon its release, but sold poorly in the US at the time. Now, Marquee Moon is viewed as not only a highly influential album, but also as one of the best albums recorded from this time period. The band was embedded within the CBGB’s music scene in this time period alongside bands like Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie to name a few. They were also one of the last bands to release an album from this early music scene. The music of the band on this release has been described as having elements of 60s garage rock and elements of jazz, especially in the guitar work of Verlaine and Lloyd. Television released their second full-length album in 1978 called Adventure. Despite featuring two songs from their live repertoire, the album was not as well received as Marquee Moon. Adventure was not as straightforward as its predecessor in terms of production and the songs, however, it has since become more appreciated than it was upon its original release. Following some live dates, Television split up later that year. Adventure did do well in the UK once again reaching #7 on the UK album charts, but success in the US eluded Television at the time. The band reunited many years later recording a third album in 1992. They played live occasionally for many years following this, but Lloyd left the band in 2007. The band still performs live, but with a different guitarist, Jimmy Rip.
In 1979, Richard Lloyd released his first full-length album entitled Alchemy. This ten-track album featured many New York musicians such as drummer Vinny DeNunzio (formerly of The Feelies), James Maestro on guitar (of The Bongos), and Fred Smith of Television/Blondie on bass. The album was intended to have more of a personal/sentimental and pop feel, as stated by Lloyd on his website. His second solo album wasn’t released until 1986. It was released in the US in 1987. The album was recorded in Sweden and features primarily Scandinavian musicians. The album is a much heavier record than Alchemy, featuring some blues elements. Fields of Fire was reissued in a deluxe album format in 2007 featuring a second CD of an alternate/revisited version of the album. In addition to solo material Richard Lloyd has been a session musician and has played with Matthew Sweet, John Doe (of X), Rocket From The Tombs and others. In 1987 Lloyd released the live album Real Time, The Cover Don’t Matter (2001), The Radiant Monkey (2007), and The Jamie Neverts Story (2009), an album made up of a collection of Jimi Hendrix covers. In 2016, Richard Lloyd released the album Rosedale. An album in which he played the majority of the instruments, Billy Ficca (of Television) and Chris Frantz (of Talking Heads) are featured on drums on some tracks as well.
In 2017, Richard Lloyd released his autobiography Everything Is Combustible. As stated in the subtitle of the book, it covers being in Television, involved in the CBGB’s music scene, and being in rock and roll for five decades. A forthcoming album is coming out in November 2018 on Plowboy Records called The Countdown.
Check out this interview that Dave and Adam of Revolution Rock did with Richard Lloyd below:
Show 735 (Richard Lloyd Radio Brain Drain Special)(Originally Aired On August 16th, 2018):
1. Television - Venus (Marquee Moon - 1977)
2. Television - Ain't That Nothin' (Adventure - 1978)
Richard Lloyd Interview Part 1
3. Richard Lloyd - Blue and Grey (Alchemy - 1979)
4. Richard Lloyd - Watch Yourself (Field of Fire - 1986)
5. Richard Lloyd - Summer Rain Alchemy (Alchemy - 1979)
Richard Lloyd Interview Part 2
6. Richard Lloyd - Should Have Known Better (Alchemy - 1979)
7. Television - Horizontal Ascension (1974 Ork Rehearsal) (Poor Circulation - 1998)
8. Television - Double Exposure (Demo) (Double Exposure - 1988)
9. Richard Lloyd - (I Thought) You Wanted To Know (New York New York: Ork Records Box Set - 2015)
10. Richard Lloyd - Connection (Get Off My Cloud/Connection - 1981)
11. Television - The Fire (Adventure - 1978)
12. Television - See No Evil (Marquee Moon - 1977)
Richard Lloyd Interview Part 3
12. Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself (100% Fun - 1995)
13. Richard Lloyd - Fire Engine (Real Time - 1987)
14. Television - Little Johnny Jewel (Little Johnny Jewel - 1975)
15. Richard Lloyd - Wait Till Tomorrow (The Jamie Neverts Story - 2009)
16. Television - Marquee Moon (Marquee Moon - 1977)
Download This episode here.
Show 734 (Originally Aired On August 11th, 2018)(David Byrne, Motor City Muscle Festival, Ox, Mink DeVille):
1. David Byrne - Gasoline and Dirty Shirts
2. Sextile - Paradox
3. Poisoned - It Won't Last
4. Ultravox! - Hiroshima Mon Amour
5. Teenage Fanclub - Metal Baby
6. The Jam - All Mod Cons
7. Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz
8. Pontuation - Ciao Bye Ciao
9. Go Four 3 - Someone
10. Zoom - They Only Come Out At Night
11. Actual Water - Open Votes
12. Mexican Knives - Wait 4 Ever
13. The Gories - Boogie Chillun
14. The Gories - Chick-In
15. The Gories - There But For The Grace of God
16. Death - You're A Prisoner
17. Iceage - You're Nothing
18. The Locusts Have No King - Shotgun Wedding
19. Bruce Springsteen - State Trooper
20. Condition - Rancho Deluxo
21. Ox - Brand New Key
22. Dead Ghosts - Summer With Phil
23. It's All Meat - You Don't Notice The Time You Waste
24. Steely Dan - With A Gun
25. The Unusuals - Measure For Measure
26. The Sonics - Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
27. X - Soul Kitchen
28. Mink DeVille - She's So Tough
29. The Clash - Red Angel Dragnet
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 11.
Show 733 (Originally Aired On August 4th, 2018)(White Stripes, Pow Wows, The Dirty Pretty Things):
1. The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard
2. The Creation Factory - You Be The Judge
3. The White Stripes - Let's Shake Hands (Live)
4. The Dirtbombs - Headlights On
5. The Walkmen - The Rat
6. Carlo - Meathead
7. Fitness - Physical Copies
8. Electricity - Cool Thunder
10. TOPS - Dayglo Bimbo
11. Pow Wows - Killing Floor
12. Pow Wows - Killing Me
13. Dusty Mush - The Ostrich Effect
14. White Lung - Vegas
15. Chad VanGaalen - Static Shape
16. John Lennon - Tight A$
17. Stompin' Tom Connors - Love's Not The Only Thing
18. Greg Cartwright - Love Won't Leave You A Song
19. Johnny West - Wicked Town
20. The Spooky But Nice - Everytime
21. Spoon - All The Pretty Girls Go To The City
22. Patti Smith - Kimberly
23. Radio Birdman - Man With Golden Helmet
24. Nerve Breakers - I Can't Help You
25. Wire - Men 2nd (Fifth Demo Session)
26. Jawbox - Cruel Swing
27. The Dirty Pretty Things - Gin & Milk
28. The Dirty Pretty Things - Gentry Cove
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 4.
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