Richard (RJ) Jones

Richard (RJ) Jones

While just a young lad in Kalamazoo Michigan, Richard saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (The Beatles, oh yeah, they were big in the 60’s). From that time on he knew he would be a rock star. Oh well, maybe the rock star thing didn’t quite work out. Anyway, after moving to Phoenix, he traded his trumpet for an electric guitar and that was the beginning. Those years of experience playing guitar, bass, keyboards and singing, have contributed to the style and energy that you see today. Everything from blues to country, from jazz to heavy metal, are the influences that have helped to shape this unique talent.

Richard has played in a variety of local bands in Arizona, California and Texas, doing covers and original music. Bands like Tarantula and Heathcliffe based in the Phoenix area in the 70’s, then moving to So. Cal. with The Heat, then to the Big D with Axiom, and back to Phoenix with Blitzkreig and Defiance in the 80’s. In the 90’s, he played with Mourning Would and did some miscellaneous roadwork across the Southwest. He joined Strange Brew in the mid 2000’s and played with Arctic Black, Blue Tattoo, Electric Mud and Aerotrain in the 2010’s. The music lives on, growing and evolving until, in 2015, he joined “Mojo Rats” where his excellent bass work has made a substantial contribution to their bluesy, classic rock sound that has helped make them one of Arizona’s favorite biker bands.