Everyone has a past, but within electronic music there are often attempts to hide it or at least distort the truth to showcase some kind of musical brilliance being evident at an early age. You know how it goes, the DJs who claimed Kraftwerk changed their musical outlook at the age of five or that they were digging Rhythm to Rhythm B-sides in their teenage years, equipped with photo shopped images of children playing with analogue audio equipment. Rich Furness doesn't quite fall under that category. His roots when he started raving back in 1999 were in the lesser celebrated Trance and Gabber scenes, his thirst set alight by the touch paper of hard and fast music. All along he was looking beyond the dancefloor and into the DJ booth, buying vinyl and amassing a collection which would eventually lead to him playing alongside legends from the scene like Sharkey, Mark EG and Producer. Soon his tastes would splinter further again, getting bothered by a myriad of underground genres that would often come without names. It was enthusiasm that didn’t give a fuck, a hunger for music that excited his heart rather than made him look cool, a characteristic that would never leave him. He started Jasbof, a night that ran completely against the grain of Liverpool’s focus on house and techno and put on music that no-one else dared or even knew existed. Whilst the local message boards were run up with complaints from promoters about clubbers not digging their ‘underground’ DJs with Ibizan credentials, Furness was booking DJ Scotch Egg and Venetian Snares. The policy was relentless and it flew in the face of convention. Rich knew what he liked and booked it regardless, sticking two fingers up to rationale and doing what he believed in. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but every Jasbof was a party whether there was 10 people there or 200, the music was wild and from genres that even the most ardent trainspotters hadn’t yet titled. It was one of these genres that would really captivate Rich's ears, and take him from underground obscurity to consolidation as one of the city of Liverpool's premier tastemakers. Dubstep knocked Furness for six back in 2005, a blistering barrage of sound and acres of space within each track saw his ears opened up to something new beyond the frantic beats he was used to, and he soon followed the Hive Collective as being one of the first promoters to bring Dubstep to the city, being responsible for early debuts in Liverpool for Shackleton, Appleblim and Drop The Lime amongst others. This coincided with Chibuku Shake Shake's own next evolution. As the resident old guard slowly moved away from the club, Chibuku was one of the first of the nation's nightspots to really gift dubstep some floor time, and they needed someone to set the tone early doors for the raft of DJs and artists they were bringing in. Rich fitted the bill perfectly, and when his sets showed his breathtaking knowledge beyond this music he became the perfect choice to spearhead their surge forward into newer realms of sonic evolution, and Liverpool’s musical renegade was now resident of the city’s biggest and most important club. He hasn’t looked back; Rich has DJed consistently for Chibuku for nearly 6 years in all three rooms of Nation and the Masque, playing warm-up, peak time and after party sets to hundreds of raucous clubbers, and he’s also represented the club in Fabric in London. He can also claim sets at legendary Liverpool nights such as Sophonic & Voodoo, as well as numerous Manchester based nights such as Metropolis, Gutterfunk, Rollin Soundz and Audiofarm, whilst set's further afield in the UK have saw him play in famous venues such as the Sanctuary in Birmingham, Lakota in Bristol and SeOne in London. He's also hit the festival circuit, making appearances at Creamfields (where he naturally played some Gabber just to see what would happen) and Parklife in Manchester as well as maintaining a long relationship with Wales' best kept secret Hoofer Doofer. His sound is consistently evolving and remains constantly pushing new sounds, and he’s just as adept barricading dancefloors with wobbly bass rumblers as he is glitchy Disco. One set at Chibuku saw him bridge a Tensnake live show between a Skream DJ offering in a seamless hour which took the music from synth heavy house and disco to rumbling bass led beats, and such versatility means he’s appeared alongside a storming bevy of talent: David Rodigan, Katy B, Nero, Chase & Status, Skream, Benga, Caspa, Rusko, Joker, Loefah, Jackmaster, Mary Anne Hobbs, Subfocus, Pendulum, Andy C, Hype and Zinc are just a smattering of the names he’s shared booths with. His style continues to move forward, now fully embracing every apex of the bass music spectrum with Garage, Grime, Funky and the more raucous side of House music all permeating his sets, an evolution which has seen him add a second residency to his bow at undoubtedly one of Liverpool's most special new nights, Abandon Silence, a now 2 year plus residency which has seen him play along Mount Kimbie, James Blake, Joy Orbison, SBTRKT and many more. The disobedience to trends and instant credibility remains, staying true to the passion that started in the unfashionable dancefloors he first inhabited well over a decade ago, and which is why his musical involvement will continue to transcend the half hearted. (Words by Jimmy Coultas)