With him being flown over especially for the event, Irish house music maestro, Jupiter Ace, speaks to us about his forthcoming gig for Love-tec at Pacha - his first gig in England in over 1,000 Years. Well, not quite. But he DOES talk about cheese....(!)

Where did the name 'Jupiter Ace' come from?

The "Jupiter Ace" was a not very popular home computer in the 80s. Being a bit of a nerd I was aware of this and stole the name!

What did you do to celebrate your last birthday?

Nothing too crazy. My parents took me out for a meal in a seafood restaurant, then my girlfriend took me for a meal in a very expensive restaurant and then her parents took me out for another meal in a Lebanese restaurant. There are a lot of good places to eat in and around Belfast!!!

When was that?

Around 28th March!!

And, how young does that make you?!?!

27. Which isn't what you would call young, really!

Don't say that! I'm nearly 26 and I still think of myself as young!

Ooops!!!

What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you in a club?

It's always a bit weird when fights break out. I used to DJ in a cocktail bar to earn a few quid when I was cutting my teeth as a DJ, and a riot broke out. Luckily, I was upstairs and they were downstairs. The bouncers (who were pretty crap) eventually got them outside and it carried on out there. There was another punch-up - in that bar as well. God knows what they were putting in those cocktails!

What's the best night out you've ever had?

Well it's always nice to go out around Christmas time - everybody is home from wherever they are during the rest of the year. There is a club called the Limelight in Belfast where I used to go as a student and I remember they had a "School Disco" themed night. So we were all dressed up in school uniform and they played cheesy music all night. All my circle of friends were there - which is probably why I have good memories of it.

What's the worst gig you ever had?

Without question the first international gig I played in Bosnia. I was woken up at 5:30am after about an hour's sleep and accused of stealing DJ equipment and that they were calling the police! Things are a bit corrupt over there, and I was terrified that I was going to be arrested. After a few hours, the guy who actually owned the equipment turned up and admitted he'd taken it home with him without the organisers realising it.

What's your favourite record of all time?

Probably "Too Young" by Nat King Cole. It tends to make me cry.

What happened the last time you embarrassed yourself?

It's generally the last time I've been drunk! So that would've been when I was at my friend's club that he runs and me standing on the stage doing a rather camp dance routine of my own design.

What can't you live without?

I could say something sentimental but I think it's better if I say cheese.

Before you were a DJ, what was the worst job you ever had?

My first job. Which was working in a kitchen in the local pub washing dishes for 6 hours without a break. I really hated that.

What was the last record you bought?

The Patrick Wolf album. He's got a great combination of unusual music and good songs.

Who are your musical influences?

In house music, it was definitely Daft Punk and the whole Crydamoure thing to start off with. I've always liked pop and rock music with good melodies, too. These days I really like Antoine Clamaran's stuff and Yohanne Simon's remixes are great.

Is there anything unusual about you that we should know?

Not really, I don't think! Some people might consider my beard unusual. I haven't shaved it off for about 5 years so far!

If you had a time machine, where would you go and why?

I'd start by going back about 15 years and tell myself to not be such a swot in school and not to listen so much to what the teachers say. And to chase girls more. Then I'd go back about 5000 years to check out how our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived. I'm a big fan of the whole Ray Mears / Bushcraft thing!

Why did you decide to base yourself in Ireland?

Most of my family are from here and my parents moved back here from Cumbria when I was 11. I've been here ever since. I've toyed in the past with the idea of moving to London or Brighton for a while as it's more exciting over there but it never worked out that way and I'm really very happy being based around Belfast. I live in a nice house in the country with my girlfriend and all my friends are here. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

And finally, what tunes have lodged themselves in your record box and refuse to leave?

There's a great tune by Craig Obey (an Australian artist) called "Hypnotized" which I nearly always play and I've never heard anywhere else. I've been playing Dirty South's mix of Depeche Mode's "I Just Can't Get Enough" for a long while now. There's a Yohanne Simon remix of an Antoine Clamaran track I've been playing a lot as well.

Thanks, Gregory....

We look forward to seeing what surprises 'Jupiter Ace' has in store for us on Friday....

Can't wait!!!