1). You’ve been playing out for ten years now, what would you say has been career highlights to date?

To be honest there’s so many to mention, I feel very lucky in what I’ve done and accomplished in the past ten years. The events I’ll always remember to be my biggest career highlights for me, will be djing the main room at the Birmingham NEC for “Max Power Live” for 3 years in a row. The main room at Camden Palace for the last ever party before it became Koko. Also I dj’d back 2 back with the mighty Phil Reynolds, which is something I have always wanted to do as I find that he has to be one of the best Hard Dance dj‘s on the planet. But the biggest highlight so far will definitely be being a part of the “SUMMIT” team and running what I would say is going to be the biggest, freshest night in London.

2). How did you get into Djing in the first place?

Djing and the underground music scene has really been a life long dream from the age of about 11. I got into old skool and jungle music from the aid of my older sister Tara. Back then me and my mates would save up all our dinner and pocket money, and every Saturday we would head down to the Future World record shop in Camberley and buy our Dub Plates and tape packs. I never really understood how to dj until the age of 16 when I met my best mate Craig Howes aka Dj Hypnosis. He had been djing a couple of years when I met him and he was also into the same music tastes as me, luckily enough he showed me the ways of djing and that’s how it all begun.

3). You’ve expanded your range to include the hardcore scene, what is it about hardcore you particularly like?

For me Hardcore will always hold my best memories from growing up, to wanting to become a dj, trying to break in to the rhythm station parties and getting chased out by the bouncers for being to young!

The main things I love about Hardcore is the sound it brings. It can be fast, hard, bouncy uplifting, emotional and brings a real feel good vibe to any night. I’ve always found Hardcore events to be the best productively with great visuals, music and one awesome atmosphere. It has a huge following of ravers who will support the scene to its very end. HTID!

4) You are the co-promoter of Summit, the London hard-dance promotion that is doing rather well at the moment. Recent Summit events have incorporated a “Summit Above 160” room, tell me more about Above 160.

“SUMMIT ABOVE 160” is our new arena dedicated to music above 160 beats per minute i.e. Hardcore, Freeform etc. Its something I’ve been planning for a couple of years and in December 2007 I got the full backing from my team. We launched the “SUMMIT Above 160” In February this year at Hidden, Vauxhall. Which to date has been the biggest and most talked about event we have ever done.

After recent nights out to big events, I’ve found the Hardcore sound to be very commercial. I do enjoy this sound a lot but I would like to offer the ravers more choice as there’s so much more styles of Hardcore to hear. SUMMIT has always been about giving the clubber Summit fresh, with this in mind I want the Above 160 arena to showcase Hardcore music to its full potential from the hard rave sounds, to the uplifting bouncy beats and even giving you a bit of freeform, SUMMIT for every one!

5). Summit III Clash of the Titans is the next event to look forward to, tell me more about who you have playing in the 160 room.

Heading our night and needing no introduction is Raver Baby’s front man and HTID pioneer, Dj Hixxy. Hixxy has been in the scene since the dawn of time, won countless amounts of awards and has always delivered unforgettable sets. He is one of the biggest names in the business and is not to be missed! Supporting this legend on the night, also known for his top Raver Baby production, is the south coast bad boy, UFO and Tasty’s very own Billy Bunter.
To host the arena I couldn’t think of anyone better then the lyrical talents of Mc Spenno. Spenno, without question is one of my personal favourites but I will also be supporting one of the greatest mcs of all time, Mc Whizzkid. Putting our head liners aside I have very carefully hand picked a line-up of pure upcoming talent that will dominate the London scene. Watch this space.

6). Summit moves to a new location, Mass at Brixton; what attracted you to Mass?

Personally the Mass is one of my favourite venues in London and hosting London’s successful Hardcore / Hard Dance collaborated event “Tasty“, I couldn’t think of a better venue.
Not only does the Mass offer us 2 hefty size rooms which is ideal for SUMMIT, now that we are running 2 different main rooms, a Hard Dance room and a Hardcore room. The Mass also has the lush “Babbalou” night club which is the lower club to the church, this is ideal for a more of a chilled out area which will include our VIP tables whilst “SUMMIT Dirty” will be hosting Dirty House and Electro to funk things up. To sum it up, the Mass is the perfect new home for SUMMIT and I know we will have lots of fun and adventures in church “The Mass“.

7). For the uneducated, how would you described “hardcore” as a genre of music?

Absolutely AWESOME! Its fast, bouncy, uplifting and has a hard edge. Hardcore has so many styles within the genre to suit any mood, whether you want to hang out with your mates or go have it on the dance floor. It is a genre of music that has progressed for years upon years and is still developing new sounds to create unforgettable tracks which will be remembered for years to come.

What are your top 5 tunes at the moment please?

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8). In your hard-house days you list Enusha (Colin Barratt), Butterfly Effect (Greg Brookman) and Sweatdreams (Carl Nicholson) as your top three tunes. Is this still the case?

Most definitely. For me these tracks gave me a whole new sound to play with when I was breaking through the scene as a hard dance dj. I will always play these tunes in the main club scene. They also hold a lot of good memories of when SUMMIT first started and in my eyes they will always be top anthems.

9). You’re known for your harder taste in music. If I was to raid your CD collection would there be any surprises?

No of course not.. ok I’m lying!

My taste in music expands right across the board. I know I keep going on about how much I like Hardcore and Hard Dance but it doesn’t stop there. When I first started out, as well as being into Hardcore, I was also heavily into my Drum ’n’ Bass which I still love to play today. When I was 19 I use to play a lot of Garage sets around my local clubs and this is when i started my promotion career. I first started to run a night which was for under 18’s. This was called “Frequency”, House, Garage, Hardcore and many other types of music was danced to at this event at the Agincourt night club in Camberley. I also listen to a lot of Trance and Chill out music, I am a big fan of the Hed Kandi, Winter Collection compilations. I think it is very important to have an open mind on all different types of music. This can really help any dj who is trying to break through into music production to incorporate and develop new sounds and to keep music evolving.

10). When you’re not Djing or promoting, what are you likely to be doing?

I spend a lot of my time with my lovely girlfriend Lauren, we have just recently got our new flat so loving the parties! We hang out in the realm of Great Holland’s with a group of top friends who are always up for banging out the Hardcore till the break of dawn!

Currently, I have been trying my hand in music production and have recently produced a new Hardcore track alongside Al Bamford aka Technical/Technicore and Tim Shirvington aka Dj Yarpy. Our tune is called “Miss You”. I am looking at releasing “Miss You” very soon on my new label “ABOVE 160 DIGITAL”. This will hopefully be launched by the beginning of next year.
I would just like to take this time to give a massive shout out and thanks to Lauren, Nick, Tim, the Welsh Boy! Craig, Martin, Scotty, Charlotte, Raf, Julie, Elle, Adam, Polly, Ken, Sam, Monkey, Dano, Jason, Bubble, Joe, Matty, Gemma, Scottish Dave, Jaymo, Molly, Smyrky, Seraya, Marie, Lee, Barnett, Spenno, Luffman, Monica, Glen Gavin, Steve Smith, Carl Nicholson, Mayers and Fabio, my big sis Tara and all the crew at Bespoke Entertainment.

Especially a big thanks to all the ravers without you guys SUMMIT wouldn’t be what it is today!