THE ARTIST…
Who’s your single biggest inspiration?
It’s impossible to have a single biggest inspiration, at least for me anyway. But I’d say that anyone who goes up against the odds or the general consensus and manages to change the way that things are, whether in the smallest or the biggest way, is an inspiration to me.
DAW or hardware?
I write all my songs on iPhone voice note these days, if it sounds good on there it’ll sound good anywhere. I started off making music on my Playstation in the 00s, and then I graduated to Fruity Loops and then both Cubase and Logic but i’ve dropped off all of that now. My mate Patrick bought a whole bunch of keyboards and modules off gumtree but then he sold them all because he, in turn, needed money. In the short time he did have them we made some good stuff together though.
What would be your dream collaboration?
I would have loved to have worked with Morrissey but he’s turned into a proper dickhead, maybe I could go back in time to the 80s and work with him then. I’ve always wanted to do a tune with Craig David as well, ever since I heard Rewind on pirate radio in the late 90s.
THE PARTY…
Favourite UKG track of all time?
Masterstepz – Melody is the greatest garage record of all time. And if you want to talk vocal tracks it has to be Roy Davis Jr feat. Peven Everett – Gabriel.
Why Thursday nights at South?
This was a while ago now but I’m happy that people hang onto these memories. Club nights are moments in time really, and tend to get forgotten, so the fact that The Murkage Club had a cultural impact beyond this makes me happy. I started the party because I wanted to hear genres like Garage, Grime and Dubstep in the centre of town, but do it in a way where the police couldn’t just come and shut it down, which is what they were doing to everyone’s parties back then.
Best ever re-wind?
Elizabeth Troy (who did the vocal for MJ Cole’s ‘Crazy Love’) came to the Murkage Club once. We have a mutual friend in Fallacy, and she was in Manchester on tour with Clean Bandit during the early days of that thing, so he brought them all down. I just remember her grabbing the mic and singing over Show Me Love, she was really blowing, the crowd went nuts! When the tune dropped she got the deepest reload, It felt like the walls were going to crumble. That night it was proper mad, and those Clean Bandit kids got super waved, one of them was violently sick everywhere!
THE CITY…
What are your thoughts on The Northern Powerhouse?
I had no clue what this even was, I had to google it. I moved back to East London a while ago now, I don’t know what’s going on!
What’s the biggest difference between Southerners and Northerners?
I really enjoyed living up north. I stayed for a decade! The weather is colder but the people are warmer man.
Which up-and-coming Manchester talents have really caught your eye?
I really like Sangy, he’s hugely talented. He produces most of his own stuff, and he’s a great writer. I’m hoping to bring him out on a couple shows on my tour.