Miranda Lee Richards Gets Lessons From Metallica, Mazzy Star

Miranda Lee Richards has had an up and down career so far -- some cool, some not. In the last ten years, she's been a member of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, performed with the Jesus and Mary Chain, and yet was dropped by Virgin in 2003, forcing her to explore other label alternatives.

All of this has only propelled her.

A long time Mazzy Star fan, Richards was able to snag Hope Sandovol's drummer Keith Mitchell for a new album, 'Light of X,' a collection that is much more country-tinged than fuzzed out guitar space rock. "A lot of my songs don't have the slow tempo [that Mazzy Star has], but Keith naturally fills that pocket of hypnotic, almost druggy kind of way," Richards tells Spinner. "He creates incredible space and mood in the music -- because sometimes when things pick up in tempo, they can lose some subtle feelings and frequencies."

This isn't the only Mazzy Star connection, either. Richards was taught by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, where they'd jam on 'Fade IntoYou.' "He opened me up to some new chord structures and patterns," she says. "I learned my B-minor chord there."

While all these disparate influences make for a fine album that recalls the psych-country of Cali-coastal acts such as Beachwood Sparks and Graham Parsons, Richards gives credit to the pedal steel as the instrument on 'Light of X' that's responsible for more warped sounds at times. "When you add the pedal steel in there, you immediately associate it with country," she says. "But to me, the pedal steel is also another emotive instrument. I find it to be a very beautiful and languid. I'm using it for that texture, too; it creates this dreamy, fantasy-scape in the music."

Richards is currently gearing up for a hefty season of touring this Spring, and is currently in the midst of a weekly residency at Spaceland in Los Angeles.