“I grew up in south-east London and I am a dedicated dance floor disciple. I’ve been raving since the late nineties and I don’t think I’ll ever stop partying, it gives me so much. Besides that, I’m 20 years deep as a journalist and I’ve been writing about music since 2010.”

” I’m deeply entrenched in the music world 1) because I LOVE it so much and 2) because I work in it. My connection to music is in my DNA; my dad was l part of a reggae soundsystem. Both him and my mum are avid collectors of music. My mum played music to me when I was in the womb. It’s been there since before I even existed so it was inevitable that I would end up a collector….”

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Each week we will be taking a dip into the crates and minds of some of the digging scenes most prolific collectors.

🤔 Who should be on the next RPM feature?

You’ve just been dumped… What’s on the turntable?

“The Other People Place – Let Me Be Me”

Weirdest, most quirky record buying memory?

“Suprimo Records in Baltimore. One of those truly authentic record shops where being weird is the norm. They sell jars of “record store air” and the guy behind the counter was a total stereotype, embodying the slightly snarky vinyl nerd archetype perfectly.”

Name one institution that changed your life musically, and why…

“Space, Ibiza. During my first trip to Ibiza in 2010, I went to Space on my last night and had an epiphany on the dance floor when Seth Troxler played ‘Plastic Dreams’ by Jaydee. I decided there and then that I would quit my career in showbiz journalism and write about music full-time. A pivotal moment.”

What were your earliest musical influences?

“My mum and her sisters were huge reggae fans, so there was A LOT of that when I was growing up.
This was parallel to watching Top of the Pops every week, and my uncle’s eclectic tastes which ran from punk/post-punk to early electronic music. I had a root around his old vinyl collection a few years ago and he’s got the original press of LFO, for example.”

What is it about vinyl that makes you dig it?

“A significant amount of nostalgia, for a start. I’ve grown up with records, so they connect me back to my childhood. But there’s also a certain kind of alchemy and magic that occurs when a record is spinning, especially when they’re being mixed together. I can’t quite explain it, but I get a huge buzz from seeing two records spinning in unison, the light reflecting off the black wax as they revolve smoothly and elegantly on the turntables. It is pure magic. I’ve got thousands and thousands of digital files, but having the physical version of a record means so much more to me. Always will.”