Influences: Anna Gram

I feel very lucky that I grew up in the 80’s because my formative years were spent listening to and absorbing one of the best eras of music. I was spoilt for choice with synth-pop, new beat and italo before I even knew what they were, and they’re still some of my favourite genres for both DJ sets and my own productions. Smalltown Boy is probably my ultimate synth-pop anthem because it’s incredibly sad and uplifting all at once, and sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1984.

I used to record the charts every Sunday when I was little, and I remember listening to this track so much I nearly wore the tape down. I was only about 10 when it was released and had no clue what the title was referencing, but I loved the acid house sound. Between 88/89 there were loads of similar tracks that hit the mainstream charts in the UK, and that’s definitely when my obsession with dance music started.

I had this on CD single and would listen to it and daydream about going to a proper rave. Unfortunately I didn’t know anyone that was into PROPER raving at the time, so the closest I got was my big sister taking me to a shit nightclub called 5th Avenue on a Thursday night when I was well underage and had school the next day. Luckily at that time the more commercial dance music was absolutely banging, so it gave 15 year old me a taste of what actual raving could be like.

In the mid-nineties I was a queer teenager living in a small town, and so far in the closet I was virtually in Narnia. I was scared of my sexuality, had no-one I could talk to about it, and there were very few out queer women in the media. I remember seeing the video for ‘Weak’ on MTV and being immediately drawn to Skin. I admired how strong she was for being out and proud, and the way that her songwriting always felt like a protest. She helped me become less afraid of my own sexuality, and was my first-hand experience of how crucially important positive representation is to the LGBTQI+ community, something I try really hard to do within my own community and beyond. LEZZER QUEST are playing at a queer festival called Body Movements in October and Skin’s also on the line-up….I’m secretly hoping to bump into her so I can tell her in person how awesome I think she is.

This is the track that made me want to become a DJ. I would imagine myself playing this out in a club, and was determined to at least learn how to DJ. I started buying vinyl and bought a pair of Technics in 2001…..20 years later I’m still going and have never stopped dreaming.

11 minutes of pure perfection. The hypnotic melodies, the pads, how it builds and builds….this is my musical happy place. My goal with my own productions is to make something as beautiful as this one day.

I absolutely love early to mid 90’s trance because it’s full of deep, hypnotic rhythms that literally put you in a trance. As a genre trance gets snubbed a lot, which is totally unjustified because it’s not just the more ‘euphoric’ stuff from the early 2000’s (which I also love). There was a time when the lines between loads of techno and trance records were very blurred, and I think ‘Indoctrinate’ is a great example of that. Castle Trancelott is Patrick Prins, who was also Subliminal Cuts and made ‘Le Voie Le Soleil’…one of the greatest rave tunes ever.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with Eris and Maya, and warm up for them a couple of times at Shoot Your Shot x T4T LUV NRG events. It’s impossible not to feel inspired when you watch them play, as they literally cast a spell on you and take you on the most incredible journey. They’ve really helped me feel less afraid of taking risks when I’m mixing, because if you nail it the pay off is more than worth it, and if you fuck it up no-one really cares.
FUN FACT – A few days before this Boiler Room set the SYS gang took Eris and Maya to a wee cottage near the Isle of Skye, and I needed to get them to the airport so they could catch their flight to Australia. It’s about a 4.5hr drive and we left in plenty of time but we got stuck behind EVERY slow moving vehicle you could imagine on the way down to Glasgow. I was starting to get pretty worried that they’d miss their flight, but I managed to get them to the airport with minutes to spare….thank fuck because I would’ve felt terrible and they might never have spoken to me again!

Every so often a song will come along that I can’t stop listening to, and ‘Trust Me’ is my latest. It’s an unbelievably beautiful and emotive piece of music from the equally amazing album ‘LP2 Ambient Dance’. I’m always in awe of producers who can evoke such strong emotions through their music, and Earth Trax has quickly become a firm favourite of mine.

I first saw the film ‘Hubble 3D’ in the IMAX theatre at Glasgow Science Centre, and it blew my mind. I’ve always been a star-gazer ever since I was little, but I hadn’t really grasped just how infinite space is until I watched this film….if I think about it too much it makes my head hurt! It’s been a huge influence on my productions, so much so that my first EP is called ‘Celestial Objects’. I love creating music that makes you feel like you’re flying through space.