Craig Richards is a tech house DJ from Bournemouth, also known as part of Tyrant alongside Lee Burridge and, initially, Sasha.Richards studied illustration at Saint Martins School of Art in London and is also a photographer and painter. He collaborated with producer Howie B on a music, poetry, and visual art project called A Short Run.
Artist, record collector, dreamer, DJ, producer and gentleman of the night – Craig Richards can be described in many ways but most of all he is a storyteller. His ability to bring life, breadth and narrative to everything he does is the secret to his success. Unlike many of his peers Craig has achieved worldwide recognition by staying in one place. His eighteen year period as artist in residence at Fabric in London has not only defined the musical output of the world’s most famous club but in doing so has shaped British underground music.
Although Craig played records at his parties he always considered himself more of a record collector than a DJ, however, during the mid nineties with the help of a second turntable, he developed his own quirky and unpredictable sound. A trippy mixture of deep house, dubby techno, bongos, interplanetary disco, funk and abstract beats. In 1997 Craig teamed up with his old friend Sasha and Lee Burridge (who’d just moved back from Hong Kong) and started the infamous monster Tyrant. They held long-standing and soon to be iconic residencies at The End in London and The Bomb in Nottingham. Two critically acclaimed Mix CDs defined the hypnotic push pull sound of Lee and Craig playing became known as the Tyrant Soundsystem…The Tyrant label released music by Sieg Uber Die Sonne, Silicon Scally, Scsi-9, Swag, Soul Capsule and Transparent Sound.
His label THENOTHINGSPECIAL has released music by Schatrax, Calibre, Trevino, D bridge and to name but a few. Craig’s paintings and drawings appear on all of the covers. More recently he started a seven inch label called Tuppence with releases so far by Radioactiveman, Convextion and Deadbeat. He also has an ongoing collaboration with studio genius Howie B.
