Hi Rich! What’s up, how are you doing?
Rich: “Hello there 🙂 I’m doing ok thanks, gearing up for Xmas, which is kind of fun now we have a toddler in the house, it’s all new bikes and Thomas the Tank Engine here!”
We’re approaching the end of 2025. Looking back on it, what’s the first word that comes to mind and why?
Rich: “Intense. The music business never slows down, only ever gets more challenging and demanding – and now that Paula & I have less time available we must work harder in the time that we have on music, the record labels, touring, artist bookings and the radio show. Trying to balance all that with family life is hard work, but of course it’s the same for everyone with a young family. The positives outweigh the negatives though.”
What were some of your favourite moments, personal highlights?
Rich: “The roll-out of my ‘All Night Long’ project with Orkidea has been brilliant – it’s always invigorating to do something new, and we have big plans for it next year. The release of ‘innermost’ was a big deal for me too, and my recent set at Dreamstate was a massive buzz. I’m sure other great things happened too, but it all becomes something of a blur…”
June brought the release of ‘Innermost’, your latest album – and a very personal one. It’s been 5 years in the making – it must have been somewhat of a catharsis to finally have that one out?
Rich: “Yes, that’s a good way of describing it – it felt like opening a pressure-release valve. It was a major undertaking for me, but it had to be done and it’s a relief that it is complete. It was very well-received and a lot of people said some very nice things about it.”
The pressure’s off from that, as you’re rolling out its singles now – along with remixes. What’s your focus now, when you’re in the studio? Do you ever take a break or move on right away and start new projects?
Rich: “Well, now that ’innermost’ is complete, I’ve rediscovered my mojo for making pumping trance music again! I have a new musical project that is underway, I’m 3 tracks into that and am hoping to push it out mid 2026. And there are other new tracks that I’ll be releasing in the meantime, starting with my new Susie Ledge collaboration entitled ‘Haunt Me’ which I debuted at Dreamstate recently.”
Now, on to I Like It Pure, the record label family. How do you reflect on 2025 for Pure Trance, NEON, Pure Progressive, Pure Breaks & Electronic Architecture.
Rich: “It’s been another great year for all my labels, the quality of the releases has been outstanding – there’s so much talent out there. I can honestly say there has not been a single track I have not loved.”
You go through an amazing amount of demos each year, so you’re probably one of the first to spot changes, differences and new techniques etc. What are some of the things you’ve noticed?
Rich: “Unfortunately, one thing I’ve noticed is the dilution of creativity by many people sending me demos based on templates, dragging and dropping of samples from Splice, and awful Ai vocals. These things are lazy. I’d rather people didn’t send me this stuff , but I don’t blame them for trying. Although, on a positive note, this makes the innovative and truly talented artists shine through more brightly.”
There’s a lot of diversity out there on the labels, ranging from the harder, faster type of trance to the deep kind of progressive you’d hear in underground clubs, and anything in between. Is that your strategy for the labels?
Rich: “Absolutely, that’s exactly it. I only sign & release music I would play in the clubs, and my sets range from 1 hour of peak-time trance to an all night long open-to-close ranging from 120bpm progressive to 144bpm pumping trance and everything in between.”
Which tracks do you consider some of the highlights for Pure Trance this year?
Rich: “Some highlights for me were ‘Heart Logic’ by Derek Ryan & ‘Studlagil’ by Luke Terry on Pure Trance, ‘Space’ by VADM on Pure Progressive, ‘Artemision’ by Ishiro & Starry Major on NEON and the Super-Frog Saves Tokyo album on Electronic Architecture.”
The labels take a bit of a Christmas & New Year’s break, with no releases for 3 weeks. Is there a reason for that? Are we all stuck with Christmas songs instead? 😉
Rich: “We must do it like that, because so many people in the industry are on holiday and if there are any technical issues it’s hard to fix them. Also, people are more distracted over the holidays & new records tend to get notice less. We send out the promos to DJs for the New Year releases early, so they can drop them over the New Year and have time to bed in before release in mid-January. In the meantime people can enjoy ‘A Fairytale of New York’ and my ‘Story for Christmas’ :).”
What does 2026 bring with regards to Pure Trance? Any releases you’re particularly excited about?
Rich: “Well… there is something rather large coming in the first half of 2026, but I’m saying no more than that about it. I’ve discovered some amazing new talents who will be getting their debut on the label too, plus new music from some label favourites. I don’t like to give too much away too early, sorry!”
You’ve also been keeping busy with some really cool Pure nights, doing Open to Close sets with Orkidea in Amsterdam and Helsinki. The Pure Trance event at Captured Malta was also fun. Will we be seeing more of those in 2026? Anything in the works?
Rich: “Yes, lots on the planner! But again, we like to time announcements in a certain way. What I will say is that we will be returning to many places with Pure Trance events in 2026.”
How about Pure Trance Radio? Anything coming up you’d like to share?
Rich: “I have a Chillout-Moment special lined up for Xmas Eve, and our New Years Eve show will be all-requests – so everyone please send your musical requests and shout outs to me via info@puretrance.com or respond to our posts on social media or send DMs to @ilikeitpure on Instagram.”
Last but not least – what would you like to say to the Pure Trance community, as a little holiday season shoutout?
Rich: “Paula & I send love, thanks and best wishes to you all, we hope you have much fun over the holidays and get everything you wish for :).”