Hello Ben, congratulations on your first overall Beatport number one! Did you already have a chance to celebrate the news?

Hello guys, thanks a lot, I’m very excited and pumped for this result, I’ll certainly be celebrating on the weekend!

Can you tell us a little bit about how “Somebody To Love” came to be? What made you want to do an edit of this Jefferson Airplane classic in the first place?

To be honest It was playing on the radio and I thought that the rhythm was cool. It was the first thing that made me think about reworking it. The track gives me such good vibes and energises me when I listen to it. The vocals are absolutely insane too, so I asked myself, ‘Why not give this track a version for the clubbers?’ And here we are!

I guess that initially you didn’t intend this track to be released. What was the process in getting the sample cleared?

Yes, exactly. I thought that it was an edit destined to die because of the copyright, but suddenly the track began to make some moves after Jamie Jones was playing it all over the world. Gorgon City were next to pick it up and proposed we release it. Their team was able to clear the publishing so we just needed to re-sing the vocals (an exceptional work by the way). It was a great idea from Gorgon City!

You’ve already had a record out on Repopulate Mars now REALM. Do you have any other records lined up?

Yes certainly, I have some great projects in the pipeline, but I like to keep everything a secret for now. I like surprises.

You are from Teramo, Italy. Are you still based there and can you tell us about the regional electronic music scene? Who were key influential DJs and producers to you?

Yes I still live here. Unfortunately the underground scene in Abruzzo now is something of the past. Years ago there were clubs and parties but in the last few years everything has faded out. I hope that in the future things can go back to what they were some years ago to give people an opportunity to enjoy themselves again. 

Lots of artists inspired me through the years, it often depended on my mood too. Some of the DJs that influenced me the most are: Jamie Jones, The Martinez Brothers, Damian Lazarus, Marco Carola and many more.

Have you been more productive over the last year due to the lack of DJ opportunities?

Unfortunately with Covid it has been tough making new tracks. I’ve lacked inspiration caused by the clubs being shut and being stuck at home. I think that is a problem that lots of producers have had, but as the situation improved, I got new inspirations and the willpower to keep working, which led to my improving as a producer. I really hope that Covid will be a thing of the past across the world as soon as possible and we can get back to our old lives.