To date, Rick Rutherford has completed and released over 60 original singles, with 12 new singles in 2025 alone. These releases reflect his growth as both a songwriter and a vocal performer as well as a music producer.
The Vision …
In the beginning, Rick was just a kid with a Les Paul and a fire for something bigger that could explain. That photo — that moment — wasn’t just about music; it was the first glimpse of a path to be walked.
From Vision to Legacy
Though the years — wide-eyed, raw, and burning with desire — Rick didn’t just dream of rock; he lived it. What started as hunger turned into hustle with XxtremeFiend Records — a project forged out of pure grit and underground energy.
XxtremeFiend gave sound to the unheard.
It was never about fitting in — it was about breaking out. We didn’t wait for permission; we created our own lane, releasing raw, emotional, and unapologetic rock n roll. Like when we took Roxxie Vine into the studio to record “Little Angel” — we just scraped all of the coins from under ever body’s car seats to pay to studio for a real demo so the radio station would play the song. We never took no as an answer, we just found another way to make it happen.
Roxxie Vine (live Performances) – Roxxie Vine wasn’t always easy to work with, but they were flawless on stage and laid down pristine tracks in the studio for the release of “Little Angel” written by Rick.
As time moved, so did the mission.
XxtremeFiend Records evolved into Lightnin Stik Productions — a next-generation project focused on building a national show band for touring and performing the song catalog for live productions. It’s not just about making music, it’s about building a fully independent scene of music that connects with fans to spark a genuine cultural reset.
When met with the Pandemic, Rick used his free time to return to his music career by writing and releasing a number of original hard rock tunes.
This isn’t a phase. This is life.
Lightnin Stik is the legacy of that first spark — now fully realized, weaponized, and wide open to anyone still chasing something real. From basement studios to digital stages, from cassette tape dreams to the future mosh pits and beyond — it all started with a guitar, a vision, and a fire that never went out.
