ter location for older musicians.
And since he is turning 56 this
year, retirement and the ability
to keep performing/recording
was extremely attractive.
Richards has been part of the
Nashville Musician’s Union for
nearly a decade. When Garry
Tallent recommended it to him,
he switched from the Asbury
Park Musician’s Union to Nash-
ville. Even living in New Jersey,
the Nashville union found work
for him.
“It was a natural move because
I knew people in the union,” ex-
plained Richards. “Musically, it
made sense to start transitioning
to a different location where an
older musician can still have a
relatively active career and still
get opportunities that you’re not
going to get in the Jersey Shore
scene. Unless you’re already
famous, the old guys aren’t gig-
ging out much.”
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 44
Richards may have grown
up and lived along the Jersey
Shore, but his first bands came
up at a time in which there were
few places to play original music
in New Jersey. So they played
all over New York City. His first
band was known as The Slices
and they played punk mu-
sic. Some thought the name
was punk inspired, but it was
named after pizza. The band
was formed at Martell’s on the
boardwalk in Point Pleasant.
He still remembers the ideas
they had for the band. “We had
the concept all planned out. Ev-
ery album would be like a pizza
box. It would have stuff like,
‘You’ve tried all the rest, now try
the best’ on it. When you pulled
out the dust jacket, one side
would be a full pizza; the other
would be a pizza with slices
missing and our faces and who
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