From a little cafe on the streets of Hong Kong, on his way to Australia for his first tour there in 4 years, ABSOLUTE. answers our questions with energy, right after he released his new rave-ready, breaks-laced vocal banger, Voices. The versatile artist, who is a fixture of the London clubbing scene, both as a DJ and an LGBTQI+ party promoter and organiser, talks to us about the importance of keeping supporting the local queer spaces and dancefloors, about the small seaside town where he comes from and about how believing in himself helped him build his professional career.
“Being queer eventually helped, as once you realise you’re not the same as society expects you to be, you question everything and then start to create a life that is truly yours,” comments ABSOLUTE. in one of the great thoughts that this interview brings, in which we also talk about his role as an activist and environmental campaigner, his work on the music for some runway presentations such as Raf Simons and his short and long-term plans.
2022 has been a huge year in your career. Tell us, how are you and where do you answer us from?
I’m feeling incredibly excited at the moment, even more than usual. I'm currently sitting in a little cafe on the streets of Hong Kong, on my way to Australia for my first tour there in four years. I have so many close mates there who I haven't seen for so long and I’m getting to play at Pitch Music and Arts Festival, which has been on my bucket list for a while, as well as Revolver which is a lot like the Panorama and I’m getting to queer things up at Sydney Mardi Gras and World Pride too.
I read that you learned to DJ aged 14 beatmatching on vinyl along to Pete Tong's radio shows, is this true? What comes to mind when you think of this stage in your life?
(Laughs) yes, this is true, I would sit at home on my own in my bedroom and just try and beat match to the radio with whatever vinyl I had spent all my money on that week. So it was a very surreal full circle moment when I got to co-host that same Friday night timeslot with Sarah Story.
And when would you say that your professional career began, was there any specific moment in which you felt “it’s turning serious?” Or have you always let yourself flow betting on organic growth?
For so long I never thought this could be a career. I come from a small seaside town, and I didn't know anyone who did music full-time. I think to everyone around me, including myself, being a DJ, producer or music artist was just a pipe dream. But I had this burning passion in me for dance music that just never ever went away, ever. A month after my first gig in a club, I won a national DJ competition, which gave me some additional fuel to keep going, but I still didn't think it could ‘happen’. More and more incredible things would come to fruition, but I think the biggest change came was when I started to actually believe in myself, and actually allowed myself to think this could be a career and my life. That was the hardest part, knowing this is something I deserve, knowing this is something I was born to do. I thought, if not me, who has literally been obsessed with dance music since I was a child, and would spend every bit of money I had on music, then who? Only then did things start to change and really become reality.
Self-belief is one of the hardest things to cultivate and maintain, especially being queer, coming from a smaller place where you don't necessarily fit in. But being queer eventually helped, as once you realise you’re not the same as society expects you to be, you question everything and then start to create a life that is truly yours.
If you had to define your career path so far in just one sentence, what would it be?
A long lesson in never ever giving up.
You've just released your new rave-ready, breaks-laced vocal banger, Voices. In just a few days, this track already exceeds 25,000 streams on Spotify. What does this release mean to you and what can you tell us about it?
Seeing the receptions it’s been receiving during my sets has been the most incredible feeling, but then for it to have had positive feedback from Bicep to Blessed Madonna to TSHA and to have every specialist dance DJ play it at BBC Radio 1 has felt like such an achievement. It all fuels me to want to keep writing better music. Originally it had my vocals on there too, but the track evolved into something else so, also learned that music doesn't always have to be rigid, feeling free to let them evolve into something new if that’s what feels right.
“If you’ve been to one of my sets this year, you will have likely heard me road-testing Voices,” you’ve said. What feedback has it received from the audience since you announced its release?
It’s been the track I received most messages about dropping as I’ve been closing the majority of my sets with it before it finally came out. I still get goosebumps when I play it.
In addition to having achieved great success with releases like Stuck In Love or Fauna, you're a real champion for LGBTQI+ rights. Could you tell us more about the London queer club scene? Has it changed a lot in recent years?
LGBTQI+ venues and queer spaces have been in decline, but The Glory and Dalston Superstore are two of my favourite full-time venues and London still has one of the best queer scenes in the world. Body Movements, UNFOLD, Adonis, House of Trash, Feel It and He.She.They, but it’s a fragile ecosystem, so it’s important we keep supporting our local queer spaces and dancefloors, they really are a haven for so many and often where we find our chosen families. What’s been amazing to see is LGBTQ+ brands like He.She.They creating safer queer spaces across festivals and clubs across the globe in some venues that have never had them.
Who were your great references when you were a child? And when you were a teenager?
Thomas Bangalter and Daft Punk were big influences to me growing up and I was also really into the harder house, trance and techno, so it’s been fun adding some of these back into my sets now.
You're also an environmental campaigner, aren’t you? Have you always been aware of the importance of caring for the environment and reducing the impact of human activity on the ecosystem, or was there a turning point that opened your eyes somehow?
I think I always cared but felt pretty helpless, the turning point for me was when the first Extinction Rebellion London action happened, Greta Thunberg’s school strikes and David Attenborough’s documentary happening simultaneously. It felt like it started to galvanise people, bringing it to the forefront of our minds. We’re only going to create change by actually coming together and holding governments to account, not giving in to corporate greed.
I can't help but ask you about your contribution to the presentations of some of the most important fashion brands in fashion. You snapped up for musical direction by designers Jack Irving, Fred Perry and Raf Simons during their London Fashion Week 2022 runway presentations. How did you live these experiences and what did you enjoy the most?
I loved working on the music for these runway presentations, it was an interesting new dynamic creating music to a brief, especially for such iconic brands. I’d love to keep exploring this. Jack and I are also looking at working on other projects together and we’ll be using some of his incredible wearable art creations during my Sydney Mardi Gras performance.
And tell us, what can we find in your favourite playlist right now? Who on the London music scene should we be keeping track of in the coming months?
You can check out and follow my Spotify playlist, here I update with new and older tracks that have been exciting me and that I’ve been playing recently:
What can you tell us about your upcoming projects?
I have a collaboration project coming up with some of my favourite artists that I’m extremely excited about. I don't want to give too much away just yet.
Last question, where would you like to be in 2030?
In a good flow of creativity, touring and life balance while creating positive change.
