While being the musical novice of the band, Rik has still enjoyed the success of playing in quite a few cover bands in the Chicagoland music scene. His foray into the local music scene came when he bought his first bass guitar in early 2000. Rik’s playing lends itself to a tight, in the pocket style, keeping locked in with the drums, and creating a driving rhythm section which is responsible for bringing bodies on the dance floor.  While most of the bands that Rik has played in the past focused on the specific musical genre of 90’s rock to the, then current, radio hits, it was his short stint in the female fronted band, Zu Zu’s Petals, that created the vision of what has come to be X-GirlFriend.  While spending more than two years in the alt-rock cover band, Milhouse, Rik grew tiresome of the songs that could not only be heard by Milhouse, but also a variety of bands all across Chicago area clubs.  This made Rik want to create a fun, energetic, female-fronted band that could perform dance rock cover songs, but with more diversity to appeal to a larger audience.  Rik is the founding member of X-GirlFriend that took inception in September 2003.