House Culture

Slipmatt is a hero of the hardcore scene and is quite rightly known as the Godfather Of Rave. Fascinated with playing vinyl on his parents’ record player before he could even walk, the young Matt Nelson quickly developed a thirst for soul music that lead him to start buying imported records at an extremely young age. Inspired by a DJ in a local Essex nightclub, Slipmatt was perfectly placed for th...

To celebrate the launch of the House Gospel Choir’s incredible debut album RE//CHOIRED , we caught up with the collective’s founder and creative director Natalie Maddix to talk about the formation of the choir and the recording of the album. In this chat we discover what went down at their very first gig at Glastonbury in 2014, what it was like working on the album with some genuine dance music ic...

Buckley has been a DJ on the scene since the early 90s and has held residencies at some of the most prestigious clubs and club nights in the world. Discovering house music on a visit to Manchester’s Hacienda, Buckley bought some decks and quickly found himself appearing at the venue as a regular DJ himself. He then went on to play the opening set at the first ever Renaissance party, became a resid...

Nick Slater and Lanx are two-thirds of the legendary old skool dance music group Shades Of Rhythm. Inspired by the jazz funk sounds being played at their local school disco by the older kids, Nick and Lanx started travelling out of their hometown of Peterborough to explore the records shops of London and Nottingham and soon started buying their own equipment to produce their own material. Pressing...

Harry Romero is one of the biggest US DJs in the world and has produced some of the most enduring house music records of all time. Growing up in a musical household in New Jersey, Harry was into the freestyle rhythms of early electro when his life changed upon hearing the Todd Terry produced ‘Bango’. Inspired by this new sound, Harry would visit The Sound Factory Bar in New York to watch Louie Veg...

Bongo Ben is a live percussionist and session musician with current residencies for Clockwork Orange and Lovejuice. Inspired by the likes of local percussionist Magic Fingers as well as Defected’s Shovell and Manumission’s Pav, Ben purchased his own bongos and became self-taught by watching videos of these performers on YouTube. Quickly making a name for himself within his local scene Ben visited...

Mark Archer is the driving force and the man behind the mask of cheeky old skool rave outfit Altern 8. Inspired to buy some musical equipment by the Electro sounds he had discovered at a young age, Mark had the right pieces of kit and the knowledge to start soundtracking the early acid house explosion. Quickly getting signed to a label under the strength of his Detroit techno inspired Nexus 21 pro...

Dave Jones is a promoter and DJ who has been putting on parties and playing at events over the last three decades. Based in South Wales, it was a chance visit to the Hacienda in 1988 that propelled Dave from the football terraces to the dancefloors and DJ booths of UK clubland. Whether he was DJ-ing as a resident for one of the UK's longest running club nights Time Flies, or setting up his own nig...

Danny Rampling is a superstar DJ who is one of the originators of the house music scene. After witnessing DJ Alfredo play in Amnesia on a fateful trip to Ibiza in 1987, Danny’s mind was opened up to how music can create a collective consciousness on the dancefloor and he decided to import this vibe back to Britain by setting up his legendary club night Shoom that then kickstarted the Summer Of Lov...

Ashley Beedle is a DJ, producer, remixer and a member of legendary dance music outfits X-Press 2 and Black Science Orchestra. Educating himself about music production by reading the sleevenotes on vinyl albums from a young age, Ashley became involved in sound system culture and was eventually introduced to this new sound called house. After hooking up with Boy's Own founders Terry Farley and Andre...

Paul Linney is a resident DJ at Pikes Hotel in Ibiza and one of the hardest working DJs in the business. Whilst he might not quite have the name recognition he deserves, Paul has played gigs to clued up clubbers all over the world alongside his corporate work at events like the after-parties of the National Television Awards. Deciding late on in life to pursue a career in music means Paul's story...

The Scumfrog (aka Jesse Houk) is a man of many talents: a Grammy nominated producer, a remixer to some of the music world's best known names and a DJ that has toured the world many times over. Growing up in Amsterdam, Jesse was already playing records as a DJ when he had his house music epiphany in 1988 and after moving to New York City in 1997 he managed to get one of his own productions into the...

Smokin Jo is a DJ who has been on the scene since the early days of the UK club scene. Her meteoric rise saw her top the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs poll back in 1992 and, to this day, she remains the only female to have won that accolade. Building her career by regularly playing to huge crowds at Trade at Turnmills, Jo’s career went to the next level after she became a resident at Space in Ibiza for...

Scott Gray is part of the Melon Bomb DJ collective and also, under his pseudonym Chapter, produces tasty artwork that has a distinctly Balearic flavour. Before he was entertaining crowds with his explosive mix of house and disco, Scott worked in recruitment in the UK and decided one morning to give it all up to move to Ibiza with his wife. Arriving on the white isle with a van and a positive...

Sophie Lloyd is a DJ who is a specialist in the happiest of house music. With over 15 years experience behind the decks and a few club hits to her name as well, Sophie has played everywhere from the main stages of festivals in Europe to the toilets at Glitterbox in Ibiza. Growing up listening to pirate radio from a young age and then living in Brighton during the Big Beat Boutique era, Sophie was...

Tall Paul is a giant on the DJ scene who has been rocking dancefloors for nearly 30 years. Honing his skills by appearing on (and running) pirate radio stations in London, Paul and his family found themselves in the right place at the right time to take on the Turnmills building - turning it into one of the capital's icons of clubland with regualr nights like Trade and The Gallery. Still very acti...

Dawn Hindle is the Creative Director at Pikes Hotel in Ibiza. Not only is she behind Pikes' resurgence as a cultural hub on the island, Dawn has also been an integral part of the Ibiza scene for the past 25 years after co-founding the outrageous Manumission club night as well as the legendary Ibiza Rocks brand. Starting out promoting in Manchester during her university years, in this chat we disco...

Norman Cook is none other than Fatboy Slim. With his wild and infectious energy behind the decks, this Mighty Dub Kat has been producing dance music anthems that have rocked many a dancefloor over the past 30 years and is an artist who continues to sell out arenas and clubs of any size across the world. In this episode, recorded at his home in Brighton, we chat about the source of his first house...

After sitting down with Danny Clockwork from Clockwork Orange in our first episode, we come full circle in the final episode in this first series with a sit down with his partner in parties - Andy Manston. After discovering early Hip-Hop and Belgian New Beat, Andy quickly got the mixing bug and was a successful DJ in his own right before he hooked up with Danny to create the iconic Clockwork Orang...

Terry Farley is one of the founding fathers of the UK House music scene. Growing up as a Soulboy in West London and Slough in the 70s, Terry always had a passion for music and youth culture. Pouring this knowledge into early editions of the Boy's Own fanzine he ran, Terry found himself in possession of the perfect platform to commentate on the Acid House scene when this first blew up in 1988 and f...

Nick Muir is a titan of the Progressive House genre and is one half of Bedrock (alongside John Digweed). Classically trained from a young age, Nick played in a variety of bands as well as featured as a session musician for many well known artists before he discovered dance music. Already tinkering in the studio with the early sequencer technology of the era, Nick was in the right place at the righ...

Greg Wilson is an absolute legend on the DJ scene. The first person to mix two records together live on television, as well as the person that introduced Electro to the UK, he has been a DJ and record collector since his school days. Building his reputation as a seamless mixer at clubs in the North of the UK in the late 70's and early 80's, Greg even landed himself a residency at a pre-Acid House...

Phat Phil Cooper is a true musical nomad who has done it all. Possessing a voracious appetite for music from a young age, Phil first discovered Acid House on a chance visit to Manchester's Hacienda - and he hasn't looked back since. After engineering his own big break as a resident DJ at Cream during the height of the superclub era, this fame has lead Phil to play at parties all over the world. We...

Gordon Mac is the founder of Kiss FM. Originally setting it up as a pirate station in London in the 80s, he eventually transformed it into the clubbing brand that we all know today. A lover of reggae and soulful music from a young age, Gordon made it his mission to promote this music across the airwaves - leading to the formation of Kiss FM. In this chat we discover the logistics of setting up a p...

Sally Rodgers is one half of A Man Called Adam and the first lady of Balearic house. Alongside her musical partner Steve Jones, Sally was at the forefront of the house music explosion on Ibiza and produced many tracks (as well as a few albums) that are now absolutely ingrained within the history of the White Isle. In this chat we have time to talk about that connection with Ibiza, the release of t...