Your mix is dedicated to your mum [best dedication ever!], how does she inspire you and your relationship with dance music?

This mix is essentially a love letter to my mum. It's a selection of mostly groovy 90s tracks, that all made me want to dance with her. The 90s were a period in her life, and for most people at the time of great importance. It was an era of rebellion, of joy, and of hardcore partying. It was only until my teens that I got to see the sheer, just lovely effect she had on people. She always presented herself with the utmost level of sincere charm and earnest, you rarely find with someone so instantaneous. There is no one I know, that knows her, has shared a laugh with her, or has been dragged home from the pub with her, that would not agree with that statement wholeheartedly. From watching her party her frankly well-earnt socks off for so many years, I have learnt the value of an adequate dip selection, human connection and the importance of sleep. Although that last one is technically what I learnt not from her. Every single song I have chosen for this mix, was selected with one question in mind. Would mum have to be escorted down from a table for dancing to this? You fucking bet she would.

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How would you describe your music style?

I would say and only because I love saying the word, jazzy. I'm really just an old soul at heart, and I think my music style reflects that. Growing up I was surrounded by music at home, from dancing to Northern Soul in the kitchen whilst cooking with my mum, to seeing live bands like Deftones or IDLES with my dad. Because of that I very rarely stick to one genre, there's so much amazing new and old music that I keep discovering, my mixes tend to just be a jumbled collection of what I've been dancing to that week.

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You’ve moved back to Aus after living in the UK for a few years, how did that time influence you as an artist?

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Our time in the UK was actually pretty wild. We moved back to spend time with my family and friends before we moved back to Australia permanently but were locked down for 85% of it. My partner Tom and I had a really sweet little apartment with our second room as our music room. We only had two vinyl players to mix on, so we spent most lockdown afternoons in there. It really helped for me to grow my skills as a DJ, having such limited equipment it meant I could focus entirely on improving my mixing ability and not feel any pressure. The second room quickly became the room we spent the most time in, with the sun setting in the ludicrously cold English winter at about 4.30pm, golden hour was the perfect backdrop for a lockdown boogie. We started to lose the plot towards the end and started brewing our own wine, tried to master the ridiculously hard craft of making croissants, and I took up sewing for about 6 days.

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Tell us about your role as label assistant at Start Local Records and any goals for the label this year?

So my partner set up SLR a few years ago when I was overseas, and I've just been watching him transform this beautiful idea he would always speak of, into a really just lovely reality. He's constantly got about 5 million ideas going around in his head, so being able to watch him augment his passion into a constantly developing business, is such a genuine pleasure. As Label Assistant, I just try to get all the boxes ticked, from helping out with Artist Liason, Social Media, to general admin. Tom is such a hard-working, genuine and passionate person, I'm really just there to keep him organised! I feel so blessed to be able to share this journey with him, it's not often you find someone that makes you laugh even when you don't want to. So to be able to watch him continuously grow SLR, is such a privilege. We've got a really exciting year ahead with some unreal releases on the way (including a vinyl release!), and some really quite big plans. It's going to be all hands on deck, but luckily we're surrounded by so many talented and inspiring friends in the Sydney scene that it makes all the hard yards incredibly rewarding.

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What are you most excited for this year?

I'm just excited to see dance floors open again. It's such an emotional rollercoaster living in Sydney right now with the constant flip-flopping of the restrictions. Sometimes it feels like that scene in Peep Show, where Mark is hiding from Sophie at their wedding, and Jez pisses himself - 'Nothing this bad, could ever happen in reality'. I realise that is a very niche quote, but it wouldn't be a normal day in my life without comparing something to Peep Show. Essentially I just miss dance floors and I'm very much looking forward to the day that the government starts valuing the arts industry in higher regard, for the absolute wonder and joy it realistically brings to so many lives.

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Any other projects you’re working on and want to shout out?

I've got a few new mixes coming out for some wonderful friend's collectives, and some really exciting gigs that hopefully will be back on soon! It's been so refreshing being back in Sydney and seeing everyone just thriving and doing their thing, that's the most inspiring thing for me. I'm mainly just excited to see what the year brings for everyone, eat some good food, and hug my friends.