1. Part of the Raver Baby crew, how did you team up with Styles and Hixxy?

I’ve known both of them for a number of years, when I got started making hardcore Hixxy was running Essential Platinum with Dougal. Darren I knew through Dougal and DJ’ed for him (Styles) and Force at their night UK Dance on Clacton Pier.

2. Do you remember how you got into raving? What was your first raving experience?

I remember it like yesterday to be honest … my first big rave was an early ESP outdoor event called ‘Heaven on Earth ‘it really stunned me, I still have the flyer from it. I used to make it to Milwaukee’s Night club at Souldrop, Rushden (just on boarders on Bedford and Northampton) every Friday night, it was ESP one weekend then Helter Skelter the next, and I was a regular there for years. I still have my Helter Skelter membership card!

3. How would you describe your DJ’in style and what are your musical influences?

I’m not one for chopping it all up and showing off, I tend to just get the music building and mixing it as good as I can, although I always keep my eye on the dance floor. Some DJ’s can be blind to what is going on in the club and not really playing to the crowd.

The job of a DJ is to make you dance and enjoy yourself, not just play what you want to play.

4. Recently yourself and the Raver Baby crew (Hixxy, Styles, Re-Con, Storm & Whizzkid) have toured Australia playing in Sydney, at The Sydney Superdome (one the venues used to stage the Olympic games)
What was it like to perform at a venue on this scale? What is the scene like there in Australia in comparison to the UK?

Myself and Styles have been lucky enough to play at the Superdome four times now, the venue is amazing it’s a huge stadium with a full on concert type show. The night before we played there they had 50 cent, so you can imagine the size of the place.

The Australian scene is a healthy one; they are very up to date with the music. DJ Weaver is the biggest Hardcore DJ out there, who is also a Raverbaby artist and they have heard a lot of our tracks through him very upfront.

5. As one of the most successful producers of recent times in the hardcore scene how did you get into producing?

I did my first record some years ago, after hooking up with some friends at the time, we went into Noisegate Studio, which was Double Trouble’s Studio, and did a rap track which was released on Furious Fish records, it never went anywhere but it was a start. But the first hardcore track I did was ‘Miles Ahead’ which was with Mickey Skeedal and was on Essential Platinum. That gave me the buzz to carry on and learn the trade of engineering and producing.

6. You and Darren Styles have won Best Track consecutively for (‘You’re shining’ 2003, ‘Heartbeatz’ 2004 ‘Slide away’ 2005) at the Hardcore Heaven awards. How does that feel to win the award for 3 years running?

It’s a fantastic feeling to know people are enjoying your music, we never go in the studio with any thoughts in our minds to say ‘this track will be next years best track ‘, its just one of those things that if it works it works! We have been lucky to have some good ideas over last few years for some great tracks.

7. What do you say to people who complain about the new remixes of the classic tunes? Such as, ‘Keep on Tryin’, ‘Cutting Deep’, ‘Pacific Sun’, ‘Shining Down’ etc.

I suppose its each to there own really, the way I see it is, these tracks are classics in there own right, but if redoing the track means it moves it on that one step further production wise, then why let a hardcore classic not get remixed again? It has a lot of meaning to people to sometimes hear their favourite track again and the new kids coming into the scene may like to hear it too.

8. ‘Dark Like Vader’, A massive tune at the moment. How did this come about and what was it like working with Storm in the studio?

It’s good working with other people, it gives you a different outlook on the track, the idea came about by one or two samples really and that set us off. Storm liked the sound and laid the vocal down, and it just worked. He’s very certain of what he wants in the track and that helps a lot, and when you have a great vocal lyric to work with you got half the ingredients already.

9. How does it feel when you see the crowd buzzing and singing along to one of the tracks that you’ve produced?

That’s a crazy feeling, I often stand there and think, this was being made in my studio few months ago and now all you lot are singing it! Ha-ha.
It’s a great feeling you just can’t beat.