1) You've been into music for a long time, but where did it all begin for you? What is your first musical memory and how did you develop your interest in music as a youth?

Hi, I guess just from picking up things off the radio as I grew up. I remember some of the 80's synth pop, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Depeche Mode, Wham etc. After that I started to develop my own tastes from an early flirtation with hip hop through heavy metal in my early teens to more electronic music, starting with rave (Prodigy, Altern8 etc) then onto techno and drum & bass. From the age of 13 to 17 I was in numerous bands, most of which were not that great! I sung in some and played bass in others, it was fun at the time and some of the equipment I bought then is still used today.

2) As far as your professional career is concerned, what was the most significant turning point for you? Was it in 2001 when James Holden got his hands on you, or before/after this, and how did Holden help you progress to where you are today?

There have been lots of key moments, rather than one where everything changed over night. Obviously getting signed by James in 2001 was a giant leap. I had actually stopped sending out demos a few months before because I felt I was getting nowhere, so it was amazing when he picked up on my music. James still plays odd things by me and he is still a good friend and obviously is an inspiration in terms of his production and what he has achieved. Some key moments were my first release on Perc Trax doing well, which meant the label could continue and Michael Mayer and Slam picking up on my track 'Splashy''.This year releasing 'Up' on Kompakt and 'Sticklebrick' on Drumcode have really given me confidence and pushed my career forwards and Kompakt picking up my next release 'Headphone Heart' has shown a few people that 'Up' was no fluke.

3) You learnt some of your trade in Manchester, doing a music business course and music production up here. What does the city mean to you with respects to your career and how does it feel to be coming back up now to play out up here?

I've always loved Manchester, my older brother was a student at the Metropolitan University and I used to get the coach up to see him and his friends and go clubbing. I managed to go to the Hacienda with a fake student ID before it closed which was amazing. When I returned as a student myself the city was better than ever. The whole city centre has an energy and buzz that is very rare in the UK. And an afternoon record shopping at Eastern Bloc, Piccadilly and Vinyl Exchange cannot be beaten.
It will be great to get back to Manchester, the people there are open minded and up for a party so hopefully it will be a great night.

4) As far as promoting yourself, pretty much all of the work is done by you. You are your own agent, you run your own label and you take on the burdens that most other artists would pass on to someone else. Why do you take this approach and how does it help you as an artist?

I actually do have a few people helping me behind the scenes. I guy in London helps me with press and PR and I have a booking agent covering Europe apart from the UK who is based in Rotterdam. The label has also had help along the way, from designers to label managers at distribution companies. The main thing for me is that I am contactable and am the public face of all things 'Perc''. I can't stand it when people hide behind walls of PR and management personnel, if you are a rock star then fair enough but most dj's or producers don't need all that.

5) As well as your own tunes, you've remixed an untold amount of records for artists like DJ Hell and James Holden, amongst many others. Do you prefer to make your own music or remix others and, of all the remixes you've done, which is your favourite and why?

The remix thing is a strange one, the more you do, the more you get asked to do and it just snowballs from there. I love doing them but I am trying to do a few less in 2008 so I can concentrate on my own tracks and work on getting my live set together. If I had to pick one it would be my remix of DJ Hell's 'Buttersaure'' ,it opened up so many doors with the techno guys, to have Adam Beyer and Chris Liebing using it on their Essential Mixes and mix cds was amazing.

6) This year's been a big one for you. You've quit your day job, you've been touring round South Africa, America and, of course, all over the UK - it seems there's almost no time goes by you don't have a gig at the moment. How has this affected you as a person and as an artist and how do you see 2008 panning out?

Now that I've quit the day job I'm fine. It was more of a problem when I was working 9-5 five days a week and gigging a few times a month, there were few dark Mondays in the office in my last few months of working there. Now I can see how I feel when I get back on a Monday morning and either dive straight into work or just take it easy for a day or so. I thought I'd have more time after leaving my job but the more time I have the more I take on, so there are always a number of projects on the go. Each place I play in is a new challenge, tracks which tore up a dance floor in one city, people are indifferent to in another. That's why I like to get to gigs quite early, to watch what the other dj's are playing and what sort of sounds the clubbers pick up on. 2008 is looking good. Some gigs already confirmed and a few others still being discussed. There is a Perc Trax party scheduled for St Patrick's Day in Dublin (March 16th) which should be great and there one or to new places on the schedule that I've never been to, let alone played at.

7) Your style is definitely your own and is distinctive enough to be recognised without knowing you're involved. In a scene that has been saturated over the last couple of years with what might be deemed 'minimal' music, you seem to always keep to a more driving, percussion based ethos with regards to the music you produce yourself and that which you release on your label. Do you make a conscious effort to deliver more energetic releases or is this just your natural style?

For me the drums have always been the central thing, from the cut-up tribal sounds of my earlier releases to the more electronic rhythms now. I always look for ways to make my music powerful and energetic without it ever getting too fast or relentless. Even for my EP on Drumcode, which was by far the fastest thing I have had released, I worked hard to give the tracks enough groove and detail to differentiate them from the glut of fast looped up tracks served up by some other harder techno labels. For other artists on Perc Trax, the energy is not so important, but anything I sign has to be something that I would be desperate to play out as a DJ. A release must have something that stands out and grabs people. I'm happy to put out deeper tracks but they must still have a groove and some sort of innovation and sound design in there.

8) Perc Trax has come on leaps and bounds since it began back in 2003 with releases from Avus, Mihalis Safras and yourself getting big play from artists like Paul Woolford, Funk D'Void, Shlomi Aber, Miss Kitten and Sebo K. What does 2008 hold for the label and what other artists would you like to bring on board?

2008 will see a few changes with a new distributor to be announced soon, hopefully this will be a positive step for the label, widening its reach and appeal. Currently in the schedule is a new single from me which is currently being remixed, 2nd releases on Perc Trax from Marc Ashken, Gonno and Salmon and the launch of a new series of various artist EP's. Maybe there will be a mix cd from me as well, it is quite a risky area of the market, but its something I'd love to do. If I could pick artists to be on the label then one or two out of Adam Beyer, Par Grindvik, Misc, Metope, Audion, Andrea Parker or Basteroid would do me just fine.

9) M_Theory is actually a scientific theory of the make-up of the universe and, further on from that, the multi-verse. It suggests that in other dimensions you could still exist, but that you might be an investment banker in one or a homeless guy in the other, or have special powers in another. Do you feel like you're in the best dimension you could be in right now, or is there something you would change if you had the chance?

Things are going fine now but of course things can always get better. More time to work on music would be great or the ability to stop time (and dead-lines!) until something is finished would be handy. I'd happily move to another dimension where airport security could be passed through in a matter of minutes rather than hours. I recently had every record in my bag taken out their sleeves and laid out on a table. If you could stop that happening again then I'd be indebted to you for life!