I've always listened to the varied forms of rave music from the early 90s really, starting with the Old Skool, Jungle etc. As it hit 2001 i went to Flashback and proper got into all my raving! Que Club was like my second home! I mainly listened to Old Skool at that time, some D&B and a bit of Hardcore.

As for the mixing, id had a few goes on my mates decks, but it wasnt until I brought my own set a few years back that i started to get the bug. By the time I'd brought my decks i was well into my Drum & Bass, didnt really have much time for anything else by then, and week in and week out brought myself loads of the D&B vinyl to smash off. I didnt really have any time for any of the other styles of music anymore, and didnt really want to listen to it.

I'd tried getting Wookie to mix a bit of D&B with me as he was obviously interested in getting himself on the decks too, but as he'd stopped listening to his D&B months and months before, he wasnt really getting the vibe that i was from the D&B.

Start of 2006 i think it was, and Wookie was getting a bit p*ssed off with my D&B, so he started buying some Hardcore vinyls, so that he could just have a bit of a blast when he came to mine. To be honest with you, i didnt like it, as i was so much into my D&B. But he persisted "Yo Manis, we used to smash off the Hardcore here a year or two back - you know you love it really."

I'm not too sure what it was, maybe because i'd not listened to hardcore for ages and when i had now the whole sound had changed. But given a couple of months, and Wookie buying more vinyls, i started to feel where the music was heading, and before i knew it - the Drum & Bass vinyls werent even making it back onto my decks anymore!

So now i pretty much DJ hardcore all the time, im loving the sound now and thanks to the mixing i used to do with D&B, i feel i can bring a different style of mixing to my sets. Bring on the core i say!!