Brian Ritchie (born 21 November 1960) is the bass guitarist for the folk/punk/rock band Violent Femmes. His distinct sound comes from using Ernie Ball acoustic bass guitars, which is very uncommon in rock music. He is also one of the more high-profile users of the relatively new Barker Bass.
In addition to his bass playing, Ritchie is also proficient at the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. He acquired a Jun Shihan (shakuhachi teaching license) in March 2003 and his professional name is "Tairaku" ("big music" in Japanese).
In 2006 he and his wife Dr Varuni Kulasekara moved to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, where he has guest played in a band called The Green Mist.
In Aug. 2007, Ritchie sued Violent Femmes bandmate Gordon Gano, claiming he was deprived proper songwriting credits on Violent Femmes songs. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.