ELECTRONIC PERFORMER, AND PRODUCER, 

PATIENT RICHARD - A RECENT INTERVIEW.

A Story Steeped in Sound

Where are you from? Colchester. The UK oldest recorded Town, and the birthplace of Humpty Dumpty and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Where are you now? 
On my bed-it's a snow day and I've got work to do! 
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your music?
Being compared to another artist is always nice, but a double edged sword - I want to sound like me! One of the best things I've heard, was  somebody saying they spaced out for ten minutes listening to a track I'd written. That's kinda the point isn't it? You get lost in the music, in the moment. You're taken away from real life just for a few minutes. 
What’s the coolest, most important show you’ve played to date (the kind of show you’d like to play more of)? Errr... Goodness. Every gig is unique, or it has been at least. I like being able to provide a soundtrack to an event, so art gallery gigs have been great for me (at least), but I also enjoy dark rooms with just a strobe! 
Recently I performed at Acid Under The Arches, as both a solo act and as part of my live duo Don Quöng. That was a great night. Best for a while. 
Who do people say you sound like?
 Boards of Canada, Scanner, Aphex Twin et al. But that's because they are like the main reference points for electronic music. 
Who do you think you sound like? An idiot, locked in a room full of electronic devices that go bleep or bloop
Do you have any quotes or reviews from friends and colleagues? 
'this track has hypnotised me' 

What are you focusing your time on now?
 Writing an album with Don Quöng, working on my drone artist releases under Gordon Strange, working on some more colorations and trying to get two albums out from these, thinking about rebooting my radioshow which was a mishmash of electronic music, trying to not buy any more equipment..... 
What's your genre?
 Strange electronica, that takes in reference points from ambient music, techno, industrial, breaks, house, drones... So many genres I guess is the best answer! 

What's one quality of your music (i.e. dark, romantic, upbeat, acoustic, etc.)? 
Dark atmospheric 
What's another quality of your music that could also be used to describe food? I guess warm would be a good one, but it's also sometimes fragile, others in your face. I'm not too great at this am I! 
Why did you first start making music? 
After many years (20+) of being a DJ and involved in that world, I started to get really disillusioned with the scenes I was involved with. The trend for urban slanted pop music in house clubs, when I was booked as a house/techno guy became an issue for me-I don't own any of that music so why book me and ask me to play it. The bursting of the bubble for dance music, which had started in the 90's, and the subsequent backlash of genres such as 'nu-rave', and an almost complete disregard for the roots of dance music was also a contributing factor. Ultimately, I found I was more and more drawn to the weird esoteric side of things, stuff that felt cerebal as well as emotional was becoming my focus of attention. I'd always been an ambient DJ, creating soundtracks and the like but now I was focusing more on those sounds and experiments and less on searching for new music to play to people in sweaty clubs. I finally made the switch to ableton for djing and that really moved me to start creating again, till the point where I stopped djing altogether and producing full-time