What he does for a living, on the side and for fun…
A fair few things. Right now I’m on the way to teach English at a company that produces medicine for farm animals. I also peddle our language at youngsters and anyone else that will meet my astronomical hourly demands. This is the easiest way to make money I have been made aware of until now, if you like telling stories and asking questions that is.
On the side, I’m the vice-president of El Flea, Barcelona’s third-biggest second-most-frequent first-coolest second-hand jump off. We started that in 2007 and it has gone from 8 tables in a bar to 60-plus tables a month, which we could fill three times over, without any exaggeration. We now have status of a cultural association, which means that we are a kind of community establishment, and we will soon be holding events in public every month here in my neighbourhood of El Raval.
And plus I have just started to throw down monthly on an astral tip at my wig-outs that go by the handle Zodiac. Inspired by home-made parties of Sheffield such as Lights Down Low, Kabal and Rude Movements, we have found an unusual space out of the way of undesirable attention and install ourselves around the full moon to attain maximum out-of-body experiences up there on the mountain where it takes place. We have a policy of not paying flights or hotels for DJs as we feel this city has enough talent to inspire the holy ghost in our peoples, but we are certainly open to international DJ exchanges.
For fun I dig all grape-related beverages, and will go on about it at length given the chance, which is not very often, which is good: I barely know anything about the subject.
I am also deep into football watching: with my heart the reds of Liverpool, with my head Los Leones of Athletic Club de Bilbao, and casually into playing for CF Llobregat Mar, for whom I play a clumsy but hard-working inside-left wing-back.
What he’s working on right now…
I started a radio-show type podcast this year which is going well, me and my co-host Trevor S. aka T-Wing broadcast indie/dance with a Barcelona slant every month under the title Radio Fauna. This is an attempt to whittle down the vast quantities of musical output the world has to offer and distill it to a minimum of sheer cross-generic quality for our listeners who we lovingly refer to as ‘flock’. Since doing the show I have stopped cringing at the mere sound of my own voice, but have come to the conclusion that ‘erm’ and ‘anyway’ are terrible catchphrases.
What he likes and dislikes…
I like that nothing I do bores me. If anything gets old it gets dropped like Fernando Torres.
Did where he grow up affect his choices…
I spent my early childhood in Hong Kong, I can’t say that it had much of an effect except getting used to flying. Then as a tween/teen I was in Southport, a hometown I share with Marc Almond and Andy Capper from Vice. I’d like to follow in both of their footsteps to some degree.
I did some more growing up after moving to Sheffield, where I developed my interest in hip-hop and later 4x4 music, graffiti and travel. I made a lot of good pals and connects in that town and love going back to visit.
The best advice he has ever received…
My close personal homeboy Jay-Z once told me in person: “Don’t argue with fools, as a man from a distance can’t tell who’s who.” You can spend an awful lot of time in disagreements that are of no benefit to either party and ultimately change nothing outside of the exchange. If you equivocate, I concede that you must be challenged, but this should come from an internal accountability check or someone close to you.
His number one recommendation…
Enjoy yourself!
Elsewhere on the interwebs…
United Jumble