Hello, and welcome to the hidden page on this website.

Congratulations. You’ve just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont.

My name is Brett Richardson, and I am the man responsible for the sounds and general racket that you have (I hope) been listening to; the music of The Shadow That Melt The Flesh. Please excuse me while I ramble about myself, for a while.

I was born in the mid-70s, in middle England. Always musical as a child, I was drawn to playing instruments of all types, and at the age of 9 was taken up as a student of the bassoon. I worked with some amazing teachers, artists and other students throughout the rest of my school years, travelling England and Europe to perform, and learning the craft of being a musician.

I began playing in bands at age 16, and taught myself bass and guitar. Again, I was very fortunate to play alongside people much more talented than myself, in a variety of bands from Rockabilly to Grindcore Metal.

Life went on, I had a little time away from music, then returned to play in bands with even more diversity, from lightweight soulful pop, through avant garde jazz fusion, to indie rock: all genres I had not played in before. Most notable among these was surely ist, a Canadian/Scottish/English band of 4 lunatics with nothing in common except a love for Adam And The Ants and each other. That was always fun, even when it wasn't.

After my time with ist came to an end, I wanted to pursue a post rock kinda sound, akin to Mogwai or Crippled Black Phoenix maybe, but something wasn't quite right. I knew I wouldn't be able to find another group of musicians like ist again, but this idea I had in mind would need people of that calibre. The way forward seemed obscure at best. However, something else was afoot...

I developed a condition called Meniere's Disease. Look it up here if you'd like to know more. This was a bit of a setback - being struck with an incurable degenerative hearing disease at the age of 40 was not part of the plan, and although I was determined not to let it get in my way, I also knew it would have an impact on playing as part of a band.

Shortly afterwards, I was injured at a concert, where my left wrist was shattered into dozens of pieces. I thought I might never play again, but with the incredible help, guidance and determination of NHS physiotherapists and occupational therapists, I came back to the stage a year (almost to the day) after my injury.

Shortly after that, I also found out that I have 2 holes in my brain. You might have seen the picture on the front page of this website? Yes, that's actually my brain, with 2 holes in it. There's nothing like being shown an abnormal brain scan to give you a bit of a weird feeling, and a new perspective on life in general - trust me.

So, as you can see, in middle-life things went quite awry for a time.

Off the back of all these muddles, the seed which grew into The Shadow That Melts The Flesh was planted. I told that story on the front page.

I know it's a little odd, quite weird even at times; the music, that is.

But I like it. And I made it. Nobody else, just me. Hell, I even enjoy listening back to it.

And I've never been able to say any of that before.

That makes me feel OK.

So yeah, that's a little bit of self-indulgent waffle about The Man Behind The Noise.

Thank you for reading, if indeed you still are.

BRETT