Ahead of Freeformation this Friday I took the time to ask DJ Switch some questions and see what we can expect at Happily Ever Plastered.

You are high known and credited for your amazing skills on the turntables, did you set off to be a technical scratch DJ or did you start off simply blending tunes?
What got me into it was watching all these DMC videos, the old school DJ battles. The first guy on one starts cutting it up fresh over 'The Muppet Show', and I was just like 'that's f*cking ridiculous', so I wanted to try and get to that very technical level, even if I just mixed most of the time.

From your first scratch and chop on a sample how long did it take you to perfect your scratch skills? How hard did you have to practise?
I was naff for the first two years I was DJing, because I was self-taught all that time and was picking up snippets of information. But in terms of practise time, I get down to it any time I have available, I'm at uni at the moment so whenever between lectures. I practised for three months solidly in preparation for this year's world finals.

Were you taught by anyone in particular?
It was only when I started going to the DJ Academy that I started getting any good. Because I was self-taught until that point, and they knew loads more stuff about DJing and scratching than I could have ever got from just watching the videos. It also helps so much to just practise around other people, so everyone's bouncing off each other and everyone improves.

So the DMC championships have honoured you some great achievements, please explain to us about the categories you have won in the past and how they work.
I've been three times UK Battle For Supremacy champion so far, and a team champion with my crew Bionic Stylus. The teams is up to four people on 6 turntables, and is an absolutely mental event because you've got so much scope. The Battle for Supremacy is essentially the boxing ring of the DJ world, in each individual battle 2 DJs face off to win through to the next round. It's essentially an anything-goes-knockout event, and it really tests you because you have to have more material than the individual, where you only get 6 minutes, and you have to work out what to pull against which opponent, and what you should save.

The 2008 DMC Championships took place last weekend and you were competing for the top prize in two categories. How did you get on?
Well, I'm the new World Battle Champion, with a big award, big prizes and a big cheque for $10,000, so quite well. The timing was perfect really, I'd won my third British battle title in a row back in July, and the best I'd done on the international level was to go to the semi-finals, so I was really desperate to win the whole thing, and thankfully I did, so it's a great way to round off the battling. For the time being at least.

So, being a scratch DJ rather than a genre DJ means your able to work with a lot of different styles and influences, what styles do you like to cover in an ideal set?
A helluva lot, if I have the time I'd like to cover hip hop, soul, jazz, funk, reggae, breakbeat, garage, drum & bass, anything else I listen to. Because it makes sense to add variety to keep the crowd happy, keep them interested and just have fun with it.

At Freeformation you’ll be dazzling the crowd in our ‘anything goes’ Jam Room. Our crowd are completely mental and rave to anything you can throw at them. Are there any pre-set hints you give us to wet our appetites?
Well I'll be including something for everyone, if you want to stand and be gobsmacked by a kid being very quick on the 1's and 2's then I'll be doing that, but if you want to party hard I'll be doing that as well.

Rumour has it your Dad loves a party too? My Dads nickname is ‘The Ultimate Raver’ because he parties so much! Is your dad coming to Freeformation? Maybe we can have a ‘Dad Rave-Off’!?!
Haha, he likes a drink my dad, but I wouldn't really call him a party animal. But he and my mom are great because they always come down to the finals to support me, which is awesome. They've done it so often they're now called Mr and Mrs Switch!

At 19 years old you’ve got the world at your doorstep. Do you plan to make a career out of your turntablism?
Definitely, it may always be something I'll do on the sideline because it's generally hard to make a living out of just DJing, but it brings in that bix extra and every gig I do the crowd love it, I love it so I can't see myself stopping doing it anytime soon.

Our Jam Room is hosted by the awesome beatboxer Bass6, have you worked together on a set before?
We first met at Scratch Club, it was after I'd won my second UK title and I saw Rupert on stage and was just like "damn, that boy's good". I had a couple of records on me and he was hosting Scratch Club, a hip hop open decks and mic night, I just asked if I could step up and he just said yes, probably thinking this kid could be ok and then I did the full demo and I think he was a just little stunned! I've done stuff with Scratch Club quite a few times, and it's been great every time, especially the Q-Bert gig. But yeh he and I'll be down for HEP, ripping it big time!

Thanks for your time Anthony. We will see you there.

Interview by Kevin Energy

DJ Switch will be playing at Freeformation: Happily Ever Plastered! this Friday @ Hidden