Richard Hessels is one of just a few Dutch artists who received as much critical acclaim both nationally and off-shore right up to Brazil. Then again, when you're no stranger to performing at major festival style raves such as Dance Valley, you must have made a lasting impression. If you haven't heard him play or DJ under the names Aerophobia or DJ Riches, there's an equal chance you've seen his graphic art on websites. His work includes websites for Multigroove, flyers for Hellraiser and various cover sleeves for CD's.

Inspired by raves in the early nineties Richard often worked for dance organisations as a graphic designer for promotional purposes. His employers were often pleasantly surprised with the background music when they worked on a project with him. DJ Riches received his first invitation in 1996 to mix chill-out at the Melkweg cafe. Multigroove asked him to become resident DJ at their chill-out zones at their bigger raves as the response grew in enthusiasm.

A year earlier Richard bought his first synthesizer together with another legendary Dutch trancer DJ Danyel. The first step to build a homestudio was made. It took a few years until Riches was confident to play live and throughout the years he experimented with upbeat techno and trance. Again, it was Multigroove who let him debut with his live outfit Aerophobia in 2001.

Summer 2002 marked another milestone for DJ Riches. His appearances at Mysteryland and at two leading psytrance events in Brazil, including Universo Paralello at new years eve, concludes the distinction with the average DJ. A year later at Dance Valley 2003 he proved that he got more tricks on his sleeve. He played a glorious live Aerophobia performance earning him the title as one of the most active and promising trance artists in the Netherlands.

Aerophobia staged a memorable liveset in the early morning of EarthDance Amsterdam 2004, right in between psychedelic trance legends DJ Dimitri Nakov from Russia and DJ Zen from the Netherlands.