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Could you describe the process of creating this mix? Was there a particular direction or theme you wanted to convey? “I tend to not be the most conceptual person when it comes to mixes. Honestly I just went through my collection and picked a selection of tunes that I really like and felt could convey a decent cross-section of my taste, I think a lot more could’ve been covered but happy with where I ended up. I had a vague idea of starting with house then going into some more dubby house/techno then playing some dubstep. I recorded it once at Corsica and thought it was crap so had another go in the basement of the office I work in (that happens to have a particularly nice set up). Not quite the same as my mixes I tend to put out on my monthly AAJA radio slot but I tried to get a bit weirder with it and tried and have some more clear segments in it.”

What are some of your most fond early music memories? What sounds have stuck with you since childhood and how have your musical tastes changed over the years? “I grew up listening to Rock and Metal mostly, I was in a band playing bass from the age of about 8 to 13. We had 2 names in that time, both of which have been used to embarrass me a lot in the years since then by various friends, I think we were actually decent considering our age to be fair but decisions on song names/band names were expectedly rather cringey. I think the first albums I owned personally were probably something by Blink-182 or Sum 41. Continued along those lines for a while with stuff like Rage Against The Machine/Foo Fighters/Metallica etc and then got really into hip hop after that. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what sounds have stuck and I still have appreciation for pretty much everything I’ve liked at different points in my life. Whatever it is though I’ve always been slightly obsessive about the music I’m listening to at the time.”

When exactly did you get the DJ bug then? Were there any parties you were attending that informed your interest in all this? “I Started DJing when I joined Uni at 18. I was listening to loads of electronic music and just figured after buying/downloading a lot of it, it made sense to start mixing. I didn’t initially make tonnes of friends in my first year so spent a lot of time mixing in my room (shoutout to the trusty mixtrack pro 3) and working it out by myself. I’d been to some questionable raves when I was under 18 that mainly played jump up and if lucky some jungle. I used my older siblings ID when I was 17 and started visiting Fabric/Corsica/Ministry of Sound/XOYO etc. I’d gone through the classic journey of listening to UKF dubstep & MOS dubstep compilations when I was younger and eventually refined that part of my taste a bit more in time for when I was able to go out and appreciate a load of really good bass music. We did a lot of Swamp 81 parties, and lots of dubstep – DMZ 10 at Electric Brixton was a particularly memorable one. I have a strong memory of Mark Pritchard – ? being played while the whole crowd were stood in silence, lighters in the air in memory of The Spaceape who’d passed not too long before, still gives me goosebumps when I listen back to that song almost ten years on. Also, can’t not mention this ridiculous lineup from what I think was my first visit to XOYO – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQo_0PQb27I At the same time I had started to get into disco/house/techno – I saw Artwork when he was doing his arts house parties more times than I can remember in those first couple of years.”

Can you tell us about three albums that a) define you getting into electronic music in general, b) maybe a midway album when you were fully invested in DJing and and c) a recent album that you’ve especially enjoyed? And what made these albums so special at the time.

A) Almost definitely ‘More Than A Lot’ by Chase & Status – I was 11 when this came out and remember getting the CD from HMV and absolutely rinsing it. I think before this the majority of my CDs were things like Iron Maiden/Avenged Sevenfold/Led Zeppelin etc, really not sure what got me to Chase & Status from a rock background but glad I got there. I had these logitec 5.1 speakers that had their own subwoofer volume control that I thought was amazing at the time, playing stuff like Chase and Status through them at unnecessarily loud volumes was always very enjoyable.

B) This is tough as when I was first fully invested into DJing I probably wasn’t listening to loads of electronic albums to be honest – there was a lot of in depth digging but more so for singular songs/EPs that I liked rather than full album projects. I think Skream’s self titled album is probably worth mentioning – had definitely heard various tunes on there previously but eventually grew to love the whole thing once I’d properly listened through it.

C) Panoram – Great Times – received this as a promo (shouts to Chanel/Dawn for always sending the best stuff) and having not heard of Panoram before gave it a listen and was just blown away. On an ambient vibe but not even sure how you go about properly categorising it – really haven’t heard much other music quite like it before that’s all consistently as good. The ‘Keep Looking Where The Light Comes From’ album released before that is also excellent.

Can you tell us a little about Small Talk? What’s your history been like in throwing parties? Have they always been in London? “So Small Talk is an in-house night at Corsica Studios. I started working there on the cloakroom when I first moved to London and have pretty much continued working there in some capacity since. Matt who’s the current booker asked me a few years ago if I fancied doing some AL work at Trouble Vision parties then not too long after started Small Talk. Matt & Chris who handle the bookings are both a few years older and have more serious life commitments than being in clubs most weekends til 6am so asked me if I’d manage the nights on the actual night. It’s been great, I work at a 9-5 at a label in the week and often get asked by (non music industry) friends how I manage doing that then working a 10pm – 6am shift on a Friday but 90% of the time it really doesn’t bother me – working with good people/good music in a place that’s pretty much a second home is easy and is completely worth being a bit tired on the Saturday. I’ve met far too many really great people through working there over the years.

My first intro into throwing parties was at university in Swansea. I ended up going there through clearance as it wasn’t one of my choices (and I flopped my a levels). The electronic music scene in Swansea was not the best, the bookings were pretty much the same people twice a year every year and almost exclusively DNB & Bassline (there were a couple of good parties that existed at the time to be fair but were quite infrequent). A friend and I were playing a lot of house parties in second year and people were enjoying it (mostly playing house/disco at that point) which just made us question why there wasn’t any of that happening in the clubs. We eventually started a club night called Polymer with another mate and it went shockingly well. I studied economics at uni and throwing those parties is almost definitely the reason I ended up working in music rather than finance when I left. The last two events we did we managed to book Joy Orbison and Optimo which I was very very happy with.”

What’s your approach to DJing like? Do you have a style you’re trying to hone or have particular tracks you look for when digging? “I’d love to give a really inspired answer to this but I’d be lying. I have a very straight forward approach to DJing if I’m honest – I tend to just play things I like. Obviously this depends where I’m playing but there’s not loads of conceptual thought behind it. I think it can be summed up well using one of my favourite interview quotes ever from Andrew Weatherall after being asked what the idea behind his RA mix was: “The idea was to sequence some records together without the joins being too apparent”. I think my style is relatively broad and therefore I don’t tend to try and locate specific things when digging. I have my bandcamp new release emails come through to a separate folder in my inbox and move them out once i’ve listened to them. It often gets quite overwhelming to keep up with as I think I may follow almost too many labels/artists at this point however I have a very strong fear of missing out when it comes to music. I get unreasonably annoyed with myself when I hear a song in a mix/club, find out what it is only to see I got the bandcamp email sometime earlier that year and just hadn’t got round to checking it yet. Or maybe there’s a label I follow where I’ve only ever actually heard one song I like on it but I keep up to date with the label because what if they then release another one song I like. I would never ever want to miss out on good music!! I think it should go without saying but anyone claiming music isn’t as good nowadays needs to grow up and look a bit harder – if anything there’s too much good music being released.”

What was the last thing to put a big smile on your face and when was the last time you had a proper dance? “Last thing that put a smile on my face was probably just chatting complete nonsense with my partner which luckily tends to be a daily occurrence. Last proper good dance was at Draaimolen, outrageously good production/good sound/good music. Not sure I could single out a set I enjoyed the most but was somewhere amongst CCL doing CCL things in the forest, DJ Voices & Polygonia going deep at the Aura stage and Pariah & Mad Miran blowing minds in the pit (shoutout to that ridiculous roaming light/strobe/smoke machine). Absolutely will be going back next year.”

Mix artwork by Lolo: Instagram, Soundcloud

You can download Truancy Sessions S02 E02: FNKD in 320 kbps on Patreon here. Your support helps cover all our costs and allows Truants to continue running as a non-profit and ad-free platform. Members will receive exclusive access to mixes, tracklists, and discounts off future merchandise. If money is tight however and you’re desperately after any ID, please leave us a comment over on the Soundcloud link and either us or FNKD will get back to you :)