Craig Richards

Born in Bournemouth in 1966, Craig Richards has been playing records at parties since he was eighteen. In those days owning a large quantity of records was enough to secure a gig, technical skills were not a requirement, one simply had to get from one tune to another. DJing was merely an extension of one's record collecting and an excuse for you to wear an old suit and a kipper tie.

Craig’s early fees were normally an 'all you can drink' arrangement and a lift home with one of the glass collectors. There was no money to speak of and certainly no real status. DJ booths were almost always tiny and in a dank, unappealing corner of the club. Record boxes were cardboard boxes. But Craig was overwhelmed by the extraordinary dynamic created by music played loud on a soundsystem, lights turned off and everything.

His style was random and eclectic and without any sense of reason until he purchased another deck and a mixer and began to take a more considered and tidy approach to programming music and subsequently beat mixing it. Nowadays he takes pride in his technical ability, focusing on juxtaposition, sequence and selection.