Meet Troy Richardson | Singer-songwriter in TruckerBomb

We had the good fortune of connecting with Troy Richardson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Troy, what is the most important factor behind your success?

Three things are essential in a band, song, or any artistic endeavor. Two parts are both the most challenging and most important. Starting and finishing. As artists, we can think, discuss, and contemplate what we want to do. Until we start, we have nothing. On the other hand, until we finish, we have nothing. Almost anything can be rewritten, remixed, and rearranged until the end of time. We have to pick a point to walk away. David Bowie said something to the effect of, “Nothing’s ever finished. We can just abandon it at the most interesting place possible.” The third thing is in between those two points. I try to make something better by 1% each day. Just 1% — nothing scary. No task that seems like it’s unimaginable. But add up about three months of that. Now we are coming up 100% better than we were before.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I formed my Americana rock band, TruckerBomb, about five years ago. We have eight singles released and are working on getting a full album out soon. I’m proud of every gig we’ve played and that our fan base is constantly growing. People sing along with the songs, and when I talk to them after the shows, they have favorites and even tell me what some of the songs mean to them. I’ll be happy even if I never have any greater success than I have right now.

I didn’t come from a musical family by any means, but I took advantage of everything my public school offered. There’s only so much to learn in a school that wasn’t a performing arts type, so I was self-taught to some extent before I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The big challenge for most artists is working the day job. It’s hard to do all you’d like to do musically when working eight hours a day at something else. Especially now when we are all the writer, producer, social media manager, tour manager, and everything else.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Well, my friend would want to see what I’m up to, so we’d go to Michael Dova Studios, where TruckerBomb rehearses. I’d visit Stairway Studios, where we are working on our album and cut a track with Fernando Perdomo.

I’d take my friend on a tour of LA pizza to dispel the rumors of it not being any good. Greco’s in Hollywood has huge slices that are excellent. It reminds me of east coast pizza a lot. No LA trip is complete without Mexican food, and El Compadre on Sunset is a classic. Maybe get ice cream at Mashti Malone’s afterward. We would hit Canter’s at some point as well.

We could see some bands at Hollywood American Legion Post 43, depending on the time of the year. They have two rooms and always put together good shows. Maui Sugar Mill Saloon in Tarzana is another excellent place.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I couldn’t do this without my music partner Ursula Lari. She’s ready to rehearse and work on music all the time. More than anyone I’ve ever known. She pushes me to do better every day. I trust her instincts, and she’s incredibly talented in ways I’m not, so we complement each other well. Since we’ve been together, the band has been more successful than ever, and I’ve created the best songs I’ve ever written. As silly and cliche as it sounds, we have a certain magic together. She’s come to be my best friend, too. I do love all my TruckerBomb band members — Salty Rose and Alrick Bills are essential to the group’s sound — and would love to rehearse as a band for hours and hours, but it just isn’t practical at this time. I got really lucky when I met Ursula. We can get a lot of work done together so the band can maximize the time we share when it’s all four of us. 

Website: truckerbomb.com

Instagram: instagram.com/truckerbombband

Facebook: facebook.com/truckerbombband

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@truckerbomb

Other: https://linktr.ee/truckerbomb

Image Credits
Pierre Robert