Who or what would you say has been the biggest inspiration in your career?
WHAT - the biggest inspiration in my career would have to be The End, Fabric, Jaded and ibiza. without going to the end and fabric i would have never discovered so many of the dj's / producers that inspired me to start dj'ing myself. I was already dj’in a bit when i started going to jaded and then to ibiza but going to both made me love the music even more. Doing a season in ibiza seems to be a right of passage for most dj's and really help you experience so much amazing music in one place. Yes people say its changed and its not the same any more but it;s a natural progression like anything. I went to burning man for the first time a few years ago and thought it was one of the best experiences of my life! however, you get people who've been going for years saying 'its' not the same' / 'the people aren't what they used to be' blah blah blah, suppose that's the same thing. Jaded was a huge inspiration for me. Raymundo and Mouj were not only inspirations to me as dj's musically but also personally, giving me a lot of helpful advice. Its crazy to think they were some of the dj's who i most looked up to and respected when i first started and now i am a resident for jaded alongside them and playing back to back with them and showing them how it's done ;-) WHO - apart from the above, far too many to mention.
How did you end up in the jaded set up?
As i mentioned i was going there as a punter for a while but at first they didn't know i was a DJ too. I suppose i was a bit embarrassed / self conscious in a way that i was only playing in a few small bars and in my bedroom and they were booking massive headliners from all over the world. That probably sounds silly to you but thats an insight into how my crazy mind works and i suppose i thought they would think i was insignificant compared to them. I wanted to tell them that i DJ’ed too but didn't know how, so i used to play my mixes to them without telling them who did the mix, just to see what they said. Luckily the reaction was good and i remember ray once not believing me that the mix i had on was mine, he eventually realised it was and Krista offered me a gig at jaded shortly afterwards. Since then I have been playing as a guest for them for years but I wasn’t invited to become an official resident until last year, which I am over the moon about. I have always loved jaded since the AKA days and with each venue change (they’ve moved 3 times since then, now residing in corsica studios) they seem to just get better and better. It was the tenth birthday in November and as well as the massive techno line ups in room one, we are also focussing on some killer house music in room 2 too, so there's the best of both worlds. A journalist recently described jaded as 'london's foremost after-hours' so it's a pleasure to have been involved this long and hopefully for many more years to come.
What inspired the idea behind Rave to Save?
When i came back from my first season in ibiza, i decided i wanted to go travelling. No, I didn't steal charity money to go travelling if that's what you;re thinking! I did, however, need a job, so I got a job as an event manager for a charity. As i was clubbing loads and dj’in at the time i decided to ask them if i could put on a club night to raise money for the charity as one of my in house events but they were quite old fashioned and said they didn't think it was a good idea. SO i did it myself and raised money for them anyways but outside of my job and it started from there. I decided to do it for a different charity each time so that i am spreading the love to different causes.
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