29 year old Rich has been DJing for 8 years, but has been into electronic music more than half his life after discovering early Renaissance and Fantazia mix tapes whilst still at school. At lunchtimes he would bring in compilations he`d made himself at home, and whilst his classmates played football and rugby, Rich would immerse himself in electronica, losing himself in his own private world. However it wasn`t until Rich started University in the famed clubbing city of Manchester that he... Read more
29 year old Rich has been DJing for 8 years, but has been into electronic music more than half his life after discovering early Renaissance and Fantazia mix tapes whilst still at school. At lunchtimes he would bring in compilations he`d made himself at home, and whilst his classmates played football and rugby, Rich would immerse himself in electronica, losing himself in his own private world. However it wasn`t until Rich started University in the famed clubbing city of Manchester that he was finally able to spend his student loan on the really important things: clubbing, beer, turntables and vinyl – soon he was buying records like nobody`s business. Initially fascinated with more readily available forms of music such as trance and progressive house, Rich eventually began to calm down a bit and discovered a love for deep house, and this is primarily the style he loves today – along with a healthy dose of tech house, the occasional prog track, the jacking sounds coming out of the US, deep French beats – and basically anything that sounds good to him: as long as the production is tight, the beats funky and deep, and the music emotive, he likes to play it – from The Inland Knights to Charles Webster to Spirit Catcher to Troydon, MAW, Tenaglia and dozens of other producers, Rich has flirted with many styles but always returns to what he loosely calls `warm up material` – a tag that`s he`s proud to call his own. Rich is also one of a dying breed – he only plays off vinyl, and loves nothing more than finding obscure B-Sides and forgotten tracks – apart from playing them of course!
`I really like listening to more aggressive types of house sometimes, but most of the time I like to keep it deep, warm things up gradually and build a groove as the night goes on – there`s an endless supply of music, you just have to search for it .making a mix with your latest tunes, sitting back & listening to it always puts a big smile on my face. The real buzz is getting other people to hear it though – to share my love of House with everyone else`
Rich`s talents haven`t gone un-noticed. He has twice featured as a runner up in prestigious UK DJ Magazine `IDJ` for their monthly DJ competition. His first efforts at production were covered in an article by on-line magazine `EQ` in recent months, and gigs in the last 12 months have taken him far and wide – from Manchester (Sankeys, The Attic) to Middlesbrough (Basement) to Ibiza (Orange Corner) to Amsterdam (Greenhouse Effect) via dozens of local bars in his current home of Newcastle, and many more clubs around the UK. A recent set featured on renowned internet radio station Proton Radio caught the attention of several US promoters, and in March 2007 Rich will play in Seattle, and at the Winter Music Conference in Miami – gigs which he hopes will lead on to bigger and better things.
The next step in Rich`s career is production, and he is hoping to take a music production course in order to fine tune his fledgling production skills. Meanwhile, he is sending mixes to anyone who will listen, building relationships and cementing friendships, hoping that someone, somewhere will take notice.
`I`d love nothing more than to do this full time` says Rich. `The day job is uninspiring – I only really come alive when I`m DJing, seeing people`s reactions – it`s a buzz that will never get old – I just need people to sit up and take notice, and to give me that elusive lucky break` Show less
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