Richie who?!?


"If you can't teach me to fly, teach me to sing!" (Peter Pan)

Richie Jones, born 1963, is a musician located in Hamburg, Germany. He sings and plays guitar in several bands and runs a small recording studio. His main projects are JONESGANG, a rock and oldie cover band from Hamburg/Lüneburg, DER UDONAUT UND DIE PANIKER and YONKS (aka JOHNNY B. BAD), a hard and heavy rock project from his hometown. Furthermore, he is sideman and/or sub for numerous party- and coverbands of the area, such as Sammy's Saloon, The Koasters, Sam Sära and Mona & Die falschen 50er.

Being Richie Jones...

"In my childhood days I got caught by the music of the early 60's my parents used to play on a tape machine. I airy remember placing my toys (basically cowboys, indians and astronauts) around it and even including this tape machine into my gaming, and the spinning reels would become a caroussel or a UFO comand centre, where the good pawns would fight against the bad ones, or the earthlings against the marsians (which turned out to be my favorite scenery). These combats were regularly interrupted by either my parents, bothering me with earthly business (e.g. dinner, bedtime, then later homework, and the such...), or exactly 3 songs on that tape my parents got. When these 3 songs were blaring on the tape machine, I'd pause my playing for listening, switch over to dancing (and an early form of playing air guitar), and there'd be peace on (toy)earth, and in (toy)space generally. There likely would have been other great songs (my mom was, and still is, a fan of Elvis), but I would always go for these 3 beat classics when I was 3 or 4 years old:

  • The Beatles - Rock and Roll Music
  • The Rainbows - My Baby Baby Balla Balla
  • The Beatles - I Wanna Hold Your Hand

So, when I was growing up, there was always music around, and since my parents figured out it would be a good thing for little Richie to play an instrument, I soon got lessons on a melodica, and, at the age of 7, on accordeon (I still got that one in the attic). But wait... anybody heard any other instrument playing on my Top 3 but guitars and drums?!? NO!!! Why ffs am I wasting my time with black and white keys, then?!?

 

To cut a long story short: I got my first guitar at the age of 10, and I never ever left this place anymore. Beyond that, it accelerated dramatically with the first electric guitar I got when I was 16, and after thousands of hours being spent with exercises, rehearsals and gigs, I still discover me pausing my business for a moment to listen to a Beatles tune or a great guitar solo. And still, being involved in the making of music, to me it is a deed of passion and peace. On earth, and in space generally... :-)"

 

Call it a mission.

 

 

Ridge

Hamburg, 2013


Coming up - Richie live

(Confirmed at this point of time):

06.04.24 Theater a. Hornwerk, Nienburg (Paniker)

19.05.24 Parkfestival, Bad Lippspringe (Paniker)

01.06.24 Chattahoochee HH (Johnny B Bad)

08.06.24 Dillingen (Paniker)

15.06.24 Bischofswerda, Stadtfest (Paniker)

21.06.24 Wernigerode, Rathausfest (Paniker)

20.07.24 Wiesmoor, Freilichtbühne (Paniker)

What's up, Ridge?

Meeting (and rehearsing with) Udo Lindenberg

----

Dreams come true. Sometimes. Happened to me in May '22. No kidding', seriously!

In April '22 I got a call from Andy, a guy who turned out to be a member of the „inner circle“ of Udo Lindenberg’s tour production team. In essence: „The artist wants to meet you, Richie! And bring your guitar...“.

Wait... WHAT?!? Fou...

So, this happened on May 1st 2022:

I drove to Timmendorfer Strand, where UL and the Panikorchester were rehearsing for the tour ’22, and met all these icons I knew from concerts and articles and the telly. I met the man himself and we rehearsed his music all day long. Mark well: Not a tribute band, I was part of the real deal!

I met a totally friendly, overwhelmingly nice guy, professionally well informed about this Richie Jones he was making music with. A man who’s absolutely reflected and aware about his attribute being a national treasure, totally committed to make everybody in the room feel comfortable and easy, including himself.

Maybe the purpose of having me at a rehearsal was to check out some plan B on guitar players against the background of the pandemic.

Since the tour took place without any virus incident (hence me not playing on this tour), you might ask: „Okay, now what’s next?!?“ Frankly, I dunno, but I keep dreaming of being part of Germany’s greatest Rock’n Roll circus. But whatever may come, hey, I’m already on the bright side of life. I played with Udo Lindenberg, he liked what he saw/heard, and nobody will ever take that away from me.

Surely, a dream came true…

Hamburg, May 2022

 

Update log - The latest enhancements:

24.10.2023

Welcome the Ridgeboard 2023 (aka "Kemperboard") to the Gear page!

 

06.05.2023

Pics and Vids on the Paniker page.

 

17.08.2022

Pics page: Some substitutions done.

 

01.08.2022

Some pics here and there added.

 

14.05.2022

What's up, Ridge?

"Meeting Udo Lindenberg" - Short Story.

 

11.01.2022

The Gear page needed an update wich was long overdue. Particularly the floor board was pretty outdated...