WAFF: “AS I’M PLAYING AROUND WITH SOUNDS / SAMPLES AND SOMETHING WORKS, I USUALLY GET A GOOD FEELING ABOUT TRACKS”.

THANK YOU FOR THIS INTERVIEW, WAFF. LET’S START FROM THE BEGINNING, HOW DID ELECTRONIC MUSIC COME INTO YOUR LIFE?

Electronic music came into my life quite early to be honest. I was about 15-16 years old. I was at Performing arts and dance college and my dance teacher took me and our dance class out for a night out to listen to house music. This was my first ever experience clubbing to house music and it completely blew me away. I loved it so much that I started going out to this same event every week listening to as much house music as I could.

Eventually that led me to start DJing out at small events in the city and yeah that was the beginning of my whole journey with electronic music.

THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER, MANY PEOPLE HAVE SURELY BEEN IMPORTANT TO YOUR JOURNEY. WHO WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO STEP INTO A DJ BOOTH AND SHOWCASE YOUR TALENT?

The first person to ever give me a chance at playing in a club or at any event would be my good friend Terry Spammer who runs the main club scene in Hull the city where I grew up. He has an event called Deja-vu which was the party I would go to every week when I was younger to listen to house music.

But as I started to release music and get noticed, Jamie Jones is the one person who really helped me. One of my very first shows outside of Hull was at DC10 for Paradise back in 2012, which as you could imagine, was a huge opportunity to play DC10 before Jamie Jones, it was dream come true.

Jamie really supported me and still does to this day which I’m very grateful for.

HOW WAS THE PROCESS OF MOVING FROM PLAYING IN SMALL CLUBS IN LEEDS AND HULL TO LARGE INTERNATIONAL STAGES?

So, this felt like it happened overnight. I mean I was playing small clubs in Hull for a few years but I didn’t have
a name for myself at that point. But when I moved to Leeds when I was 20-21. I got my first EP signed to Hot Creations and all of a sudden, I was playing some of the biggest clubs and festivals in the world overnight! It was amazing to experience that but at the same time difficult to suddenly live a whole new life I wasn’t used to.

HOW DID YOU HANDLE THIS SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE? WAS IT DIFFICULT OR WAS IT A NATURAL PROCESS?

It was really difficult to get organised and used to the touring lifestyle! I loved it but it wasn’t easy no. I still struggle with the life, the life is absolutely insane at times. It’s the most exhausting career it feels like most the time. As I’ve got older it’s definitely becoming harder to have the energy but at the same time, I still love it so it keeps me going.

HOT CREATIONS HAS BEEN A KEY POINT IN YOUR CAREER. HOW DID YOU COME TO COLLABORATE WITH JAMIE JONES’S LABEL?

I just sent my first music I was happy with to Richy Ahmed back in 2011- 2012 as Richy was the only DJ I knew back then who I thought could help me out. He passed my music onto Jamie Jones and Jamie just signed me up right away. Jamie took my

first EP which was called Rainbows and signed it to Hot Creations then I followed up with another EP Ibiza which Jamie took for HC again, plus I got to do some remix’s for the label, then from there I became a resident for Paradise so it happened really quickly but naturally.

YOU ARE A VERSATILE ARTIST, ABLE TO NAVIGATE THROUGH DIFFERENT SPECTRUMS OF ELECTRONIC SOUND, HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR STYLE?

My style has changed quite a lot now compared to what I used to play. I still play my known big room rolling tech house sound but I do pick and choose the right times for the music I play now. My music has gone more Housey at the moment I would say. My productions have gone that direction, and many of my recent sets have been more house music driven. But then sometimes I will play big room tech house… sometimes I will play more minimal. It all depends on the vibe of the party, the energy of the crowd and how they react. The UK and a lot of Europe are heavily into the new minimal/deep tech sound, and I love it so I tend to focus on that sound more now in the UK and some places in Europe! But if I play South America, I tend to play rolling, tribal tech house.

It really is different every time I play! So I feel I’m in a good place with my music as I can play any genre and style so its good. It changes it up for me so its not always the same every show.

THIS SUMMER YOU WILL BE PERFORMING ALL OVER THE WORLD, BUT YOU WON’T MISS YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH IBIZA. YOU WILL BE IN THE DJ BOOTH OF DIFFERENT CLUBS, BUT IT WILL BE IN PARADISE WHERE WE CAN ENJOY YOUR MUSIC MORE OFTEN. WHAT WOULD YOU HIGHLIGHT ABOUT THIS PARTY? WHAT IS THE KEY TO ITS SUCCESS?

Yeah Paradise is my main spot in Ibiza this year. I am playing many other nights, like Solid Grooves, Kaluki, Abode and more. But for Paradise its a family for me. I’m so close with all the DJ’s and staff so its always a special time to play there. And
of course, to play Amnesia is just amazing experience every time. The crowd are always great energy ands vibes. I’m grateful to still be a big part of Paradise after all these years still.

WHEN AND HOW WAS YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE IN IBIZA?

I lived in Ibiza for the season for 5 years when I was younger. My first experience in Ibiza was when I was 20 years old, so 15 years ago now ha. It was amazing. I lived with all my best friends for the season, we would just party every night, barely ever sleep.

Living in Ibiza for a young DJ / Producer Is beneficial as you get to meet so many DJ’s you can pass your music onto that could open up so many new doors and opportunities for you. It really is a great place to go and experience and live for some time.

YOUR LABEL, NATURE, IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING AT THE MOMENT. WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO CREATE IT? WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN THE ARTISTS WHO PARTICIPATE IN IT?

Nature was something I wanted to create for a while but I had no mental space to even try begin work on it as I was just so busy touring and playing all over the world, it was hard to start working on such a huge project. But during covid when I had all that time off, it gave me the space mentally to start creating it which did take me a ling time. It took nearly 2 years to create it but it was such an amazing creative experience that was definitely difficult and hard work but really rewarding! I just wanted to have a platform to put out my own music and also help other new fresh artist showcase their music, also to get my favourite DJ’s on board too.

Which I feel like it’s been going really well so far. In terms of music and artists, well first of all it comes down to the music. If I really love it and can see potential in the artist and their music, then I will be open to releasing with them.

‘LEAVING YOU’ IS YOUR NEXT RELEASE, THE TWELFTH ONE. WHERE DID YOU FIND THE INSPIRATION TO CREATE IT?

Leaving you just released this month, and I couldn’t be happier with the response. Everyone has been really excited around the whole EP and I’ve been getting huge support from so many DJ’s its been really nice to see. I made leaving you 2 years ago and forgot all about it. I spent a whole day n to long ago going through all my old music and finding tracks I felt were good enough to go back to and finish off.

As I’m playing around with sounds / samples and something works, I usually get a good feeling about tracks and ‘Leaving You’ was definitely one of them.

BESIDES THE MAIN TRACK, THE OTHER TWO TRACKS, ‘UNDERBITE’ AND ‘FAT COUCH,’ ARE PURE DYNAMITE. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THEM?

As for ‘Underbite’ and ‘Fat Couch’, they are both brand new tracks I made for the EP and both just felt like really good tracks. Underbite has also been getting the same amount of support and love so I couldn’t be happier!