Conrad Richards
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Music
Press
In his paintings this Chicagoan pits jagged splashes of hallucinogenic color against lines of poetry that seem to leap off the canvas (plywood, etc); they’d make great covers for the albums I hope he gets around to making. The music he’s put up online shows him to be a singer-songwriter working at a riveting level of energy and charisma: guitar and harmonica blare and rattle and chug like the soundtrack to a rail-riding hobo’s apocalyptic nightmare—like Captain Beefheart is back and he wants to kill you. OK, sometimes Richards goes the Tom Waits-ballad route, as on “Leave It Beautiful,” but I’m pretty sure that’s just to lull you into a false sense of security. - Chicago reader
A colony of roaches nesting in the sun are over here the almost visible goblins playing with their bodies on pew tops, unable to believe they can kick out their legs, distracting the attention of churchgoers worshiping metaphors like a colony of roaches nesting in the sun. -3/16/08 Underdogg for Conrad Richards at Double Door - by poet Thax Douglas
Discography
Conrad has self-released many recordings at live shows.
Photos
Bio
: Conrad Richards claims to have written over 1000 songs and poems. He has been playing and recording music in his basement studio for years. In the last 5 years he has been playing live at some of Chicago's premier dive bars and music venues. The set-up and number of band mates varies from show to show: sometimes blues-punk, sometimes murder ballads, always odd. His sound has been compared to a mixture of Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits, Eels, and Nick Cave. Monica Kendrick of the Chicago Reader called him "a singer-songwriter working at a riveting level of energy and charisma." She adds, "guitar and harmonica blare and rattle and chug like the soundtrack to a rail-riding hobo’s apocalyptic nightmare—like Captain Beefheart is back and he wants to kill you."
Band Members
Links
