Rick Ness didn't always have aspirations to become a gold miner. In fact, after he sustained an injury playing football in college, he began practicing music (via Discovery GO). He started playing the upright bass and even started his own band called .357 Stringband. The band was relatively successful, releasing three albums over the course of seven years. The band ended up touring around the globe, and it was during a stop in Alaska where Ness met a certain miner named (you guessed it) Parker Schnabel.
Rick Ness expressed an interest in working with Schnabel despite not having any mining experience, but within a year, Schnabel contacted him and got him to work on Gold Rush season 3. What he lacked in experience he made up for in gumption, and he proved himself to be adept at working rock trucks and excavators. Schnabel soon promoted Ness to the position of foreman and sent him to run the company's second operation located in Indian River.
