New Age Voice Magazine - by Peter Manzi
February 2000 Issue

Rockers Gone New Age
     A founding member of NYC's electronic music scene, Richard Bone's rock roots are quite varied. Known today for his intriguing ambient releases, most notably and recently his '98 release The Spectral Ships and '99s jazzy atmospheric Coxa, his career began writing music for the off Broadway theatre in the '70s. It all began when he met Lenny Kaye (from the Patti Smith Group) who took Bone under his wing and put him in a recording studio for the first time. In 1980, he joined Shox Lumania as keyboardist, a high profile NYC band within the New York Underground elite that recorded their first release on the ROIR label.

(Photo from the early 80's)

     "You need to understand how intense the New Wave movement was within New York City at the time. Especially the sub genre called New Romantic," stated Bone. Shox Lumania were the darlings of the city and it was not uncommon to find everyone from David Bowie, Souixie Souix or Devo hanging out in their dressing rooms. During that time, Bone had also released an independent single that was picked up by Survival Records in the UK, and Bone was signed as a solo artist. A series of solo LP's and singles followed, that climbed the UK Indie charts after Shox Lumania and the New Wave movement disintegrated.
     "I started listening to early electronica music when I was around 12 or 13 and I was constantly trying to bring electronics into the traditional rock and roll context," says Bone. "Brian Eno opened the door for all of us seeking a musical life beyond traditional rock. With ambient, I found that life. There is much more dimensions to ambient, or new age, and it has allowed me to break out from the constrictions of rock." Bone breaks it down technically, "I could consider a bar of music, moving at a much slower tempo, its own entity. Whereas with rock it is about the whole frenetic piece. The rock song is usually greater that the sum of its parts, with ambient, the sum of the parts are often equal to, or even greater than the whole."