"I was working in a sex shop at the time..."

You've been making beats for quite a long time but only started releasing music relatively recently. What changed?

The main thing was that a mate of mine died who was doing music- a guy called Phil Wells who was in a techno group called Subhead. He was 54 and had a stroke. He was always doing music- he probably didn't make much money or whatever, but was always like 'Do it, fly to this country, do a gig, get drunk, enjoy it'. He just loved living and doing his music all the time and being creative. He was always like 'You've gotta do your music, it's really good' and I was always like [pulls long face] 'No, I hate it, it's rubbish'. And then he died and I was like 'shit, maybe I should do some work, see what happens'. I did some remixes for mates and Wichita Records heard them and said 'we want to manage you'. They wanted to start managing bands and they approached me and I just said yes, straight away, as I was working in a sex shop at the time [laughs balefully]....a pretty low point. It just went from there really. They gave me a Bloc Party remix, they really liked it. I think that's what nailed it really. Dropped off my own music and they thought it was good. A guy who does website and online promotion stuff for them was doing stuff for Various Production, who heard some tracks and put out a 12" [the 'Miyamae' EP].

Are you on a particular label?

No, just totally free. I did a CDR myself, I got a shop called Puregroove in Farringdon to press 'em up. I should've done it myself. I got some mates to make some artwork- stamped sleeve, 300 copies, which sold out. I had some extra tracks and just thought 'let's put something else out and see what happens'. I like things that are kind of compact and kind of fit together- well, in my head they do- other people might think they're all over the place.

Which EP is that?

It's called 'Before'. It's available digitally as well. There's the 12" on Various Production, the 7" on a little label called Make Mine. I'm doing another 7" in April, I dunno who with. It might be with Ghostly [International] in the States, I dunno about here. I might just do it myself, 'cos I haven't seen a penny yet. I've only seen money from remixes and playing live, not from downloads or anything. I've got PRS money from radioplays but not from record sales. I don't know if I will, y'know [laughs]? I'm thinking I might be a bit more business-minded about things. I could make more money just doing it myself.

Would you be tempted to set up your own label?

Yeah, but for the album I've got two labels who are really interested, one for Europe and one for the States and I really like those labels, so I think it is still worth having a label, especially if you're into what that label's doing anyway and can see yourself fitting in.