Ruffneck (NL)

Patrick Van Kerckhoven is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the hardcore sound. He is specifically responsible for initiating the creation of a sub-genre of hardcore that became known as "Artcore".

Inspired by the House Music coming from Chicago and Detroit, he began his musical career at just 15 years old performing at various clubs around Holland. Most of Europe had not yet been exposed to House, let alone any form of Hardcore. Patrick kept pushing the Hardcore sound throughout the 80's and 90's, producing hits such as "Mindcontroller".

In lieu of his DJ and Producing successes, van Kerckhoven started his own record label "Ruffneck Records" in 1993. This label released over 250 tracks including several major hits such as "Ruffneck Rules Da Artcore Scene" which even managed to hit the European music charts at number 8.

Currently Patrick runs several of his own record labels that are prominent in various genres like Hardcore, Industrial, Hard Techno and Crossbreed. These musical elements as well as those that cannot be described are all pieces of the unique puzzle that makes up Patrick Van Kerckhoven and his musical vision.