Q: Long before you moved to London, music had already entered your life.

Would you like to tell us about your musical roots and how you started DJing and producing?

A: It’s always a tough thing to go back to but I actually do remember the earliest times where my dad was playing records in the living room.

I cannot be precise about what age I was at that time but I do remember being in my bedroom and dad starts playing Stevie Wonder’s “Hotter Than July” LP.

The circular motion and aspect of the vinyl record immediately caught my attention, after I was pulled in from the sonic frequencies coming out of the speakers!

I remember that I was very careful with dad’s record collection and had started organising the 7’s and LPs with the correct sides inside the sleeves and even in alphabetical order. My uncle would come, take all records out of the covers, shuffle them and go and chat with my parents.

After he came back to say goodbye, I already had all 50 records (or so) organised again and that would always make him scratch his head in disbelief! “How can he do this?” He asked? I laughed and so did mum and dad.

At the age of 7, seeing my intense love for all things music, my parents put me to study music (theory and keyboards) in a private garage located small independent school (formed by two military people that were part of the military band).

From then onwards, I was consuming everything that television and radio would give me, having in mind that most of the music that was coming through the media, was more mainstream and based on Europe, UK and USA’s tops.

I grew up with Folklore, Fado, Portuguese and international Pop and Rock music, but also some electronics like Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and similar records, but also with a lot of trashy commercial music! I was absorbing everything, which also made my eclectic taste, I believe!

At 15, I got a feeling that I loved music so much that I asked my parents for 2 turntables and a mixer. I was lucky because they had the chance to do that with their hard work, but also, for the understanding and caring about my passion. 2 Technics SL1210 MK2, a mixer and a set of the old Furacão speakers with an amplifier.

From then, I started making a kid’s radio show on the local radio station, whilst DJ at friend’s birthday parties, which led to be “discovered” by the local big club owner, who invited me to shadow the resident DJ for 2 weekends and then start DJing myself.

I was almost 16 at the time and I remember I’ve written down the entire tracklist from the last Saturday I was shadowing, which I replicated on the following Saturday (due to lack of experience on DJing for a big 2000 people capacity club!) and because I was very nervous.

That tracklist was very eclectic, as Sociedades Anónima’s nights were at that time. I became a resident DJ there for the following 6 years and it was a very important residency for my musical education, culture, but also, to understand how to read a crowd and adapt music choices to also suit the dancefloor (along with music that I also thought deserved to be shared).

Nights started at 22:00 with some house until midnight, then, the crossover track was always Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” and then, progressing into RnB, Hip Hop, Pop, Rock, Hard Rock, Grunge, Metal, and then, “breaking down with Santana and progressing into acid jazz (around 5:30 am) with The Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, Incognito, and ending up with music to send everyone on a high spirit at 6am with either: Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, Aretha Franklin’s “I Say A little Prayer”, Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together or Nina Simone’s “My Baby Just Cares For Me”.

As for producing, I’ve only dealt with DAW’s (Digital Audio Workstations) within being a keyboard player in a Portuguese rock band called “Almas Do Convento”, where we also sequenced samples and loops to trigger whilst live performing.

Only in 2001, my friend Bruno had introduced me to Propellerhead’s Reason music software and that’s where I started producing.

I remember the first thing I’ve done was a Julio Pereira Drum n Bass “bootleg remix” of his track “Miradouro” (which he approved when I showed him but clearing the whole track is expensive).

That bootleg came when I’ve decided to end one of my nights in Bicaense Cafe in Bairro Alto, blending that Miradouro track with a locked groove DnB loops vinyl and remixing it on the spot. DJ Johnny (Cooltrain Crew) was there and I remember him coming up to the booth and giving me a high five! I was so pumped that I went on to “produce it” in Reason.


My second incursion in Reason was my first original track “A Bright Future”, which is also the first release on my label, Eclectic Beats Music.Af

Q: You’ve been living in London since 2008. How has that move influenced your sound and the way you approach music as a DJ and producer?

A: I moved to London mainly because of my professional career in Film and Television, as I’ve transferred my Film and Broadcast course to London, due to the disappointment with the small prospects of employment in Portugal.

I had visited my friend Bruno, who was already living in London for 7 years and I remember just being there for 5 days and feeling that part of my life belongs to that city. On the last day before travelling back, chatting with Bruno, I expressed those feelings and he just said: “why don’t you transfer your course to London and come and live and study here then?”.

The connection in my mind of also being closer to the broken beat scene (and the added bonus of being in my own space and having a much bigger LGBT community that I could mingle with), immediately flamed my desire and I started researching about transferring courses from Portuguese university to the UK.

London had stimulated me more to dig deeper into the broken beat vaults but I had no money enough to be able to buy records in the first 4 years (occasional essential purchases only). At the same time, it had stimulated me in several different genres like Hip Hop, Post Dubstep, Deep Soulful Jazzy Funky House, Drum N Bass but more importantly, Jazz.

I started connecting with a lot of radio shows that played jazz but also house and broken beat, and that had given me a broader spectrum of music.

As for DJing, I was always a very eclectic DJ, even on my sets, being able to read the venue and understand if I was going to make a “beat matched only” set or “a 5 hour journey” starting from downtempo and progressing into broken beat, house but also soul, funk, dub, electro swing. Etc! I had a really cool residence for a year in east London at Platform bar & Terrace, where I was free to do these journeys through music, always paying attention to the fact that the venue was a mix of “tables where you can lounge” but also with a small dancefloor, that ended up packed by the end of the night, as the bar was.

My producing was more stimulated by the “club format” of the 12” records I was buying but Jazz (Fusion, Latin and Brazilian) had given me a bit more of an “open mind” but only in terms of harmonic structure, because I feel that today, still, I’m very attached to the whole “intro 64 bars”, “main 64 bars”, “breakdown / build up” “club record” format.

Q: You started collecting records and DJing at a very young age. How do those early experiences shape the way you produce music and run Eclectic Beats Music today?

A: Because I was exposed to so much different music, I think that experience has given me an open mind to try and blend obvious but also not obvious things (mixing Julio Pereira with Drum N Bass comes to mind).

I’ve “inherited” my parent’s record collection, which wasn’t big but had some good records on it. It was only at the age of 16, when I became a resident DJ, that I’ve started to buy my own records.

I remember it was mainly house records back then and it only progressed into more electronic stuff (CDs mostly) through Bjork, Portishead, Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp and later, through shopping for the usual deep house records online, it made me discover broken beat (through Jazzanova’s 1997-2000 Remixes compilation on Compost Records) and I’ve also discovered Brazilian Drum N Bass, Breakbeat Funk and Breaks.

I guess those early experiences were valuable in that sense of eclecticism for my label nowadays but the main focus on my label is indeed broken beat.

Q: Eclectic Beats Music feels like a direct extension of your musical identity. What guides your decision when choosing what to release, and what role does vinyl play in that process?

A: Even though I love music of all forms and genres, my idea was to create a label where I could release my own broken beat tracks, but having a lookout for potential other artists than myself.

One of the reasons that Broken Beat attracts me so much is the fact that is a melting pot of different genres and influences, that are blended with syncopated intricate club beats, maintaining the Jazz, Soul, Funk, Latin, Afro, Brazilian and Global music elements. My decisions on my label releases are the kind of “go with the flow” and decide what I’m going to release next in the spur of the moment.

The only “planning” I had to do was the first 3 releases as I was pitching for vinyl distribution so, that pitch was kind of the lead for releasing on my label but in reality, it’s more like “I’ve made a track. Wicked! Let’s make 3 more and put an EP out!” And it all just flows naturally, without any industry worries as these are an expression of myself and the music that I believe in and want to show the world.

Q: Broken beat and nu jazz seem to be enjoying a bit of a revival lately. Do you feel the same? Which current artists or labels are inspiring you within those scenes?

A: I feel that it’s being payed more attention to, since the revival of the UK Jazz Scene, with a lot of young musicians inspiring young producers to make new music. Although, I feel that broken beat hasn’t got as much new output than the new jazz projects that are arising and that have also been inspiring the rest of the world.

I also feel that several people are a bit fed up of the “linearity” of House and techno and are searching for music that has also got a bit more of an “organic feel” to it.

Having lived in the UK for 12 years, and now being back in Portugal since 2020, I feel that Broken beat is more appreciated in the UK, with passionate lovers of the genre spread around the world but I do feel this “revival” (which is “slowing down” a bit, in terms of new Broken beat releases) is more in the UK than anywhere else.

My favourite current artists are Kaidi Tatham (of course, one of the legendary pioneers that is also an amazing jazz musician!) and Footshooter, who comes from a UK Garage background but his Broken beats are ethereal, futuristic, soulful, funky, classy and tasty! My 2 favourite current labels are very eclectic but do release these two artists on their roster: Tru Thoughts and First Word Records.

Q: You host a regular show on Radio YE-YE and you’ve also made quite a splash on TikTok. How do these platforms help you connect with new audiences and stay inspired creatively?

A: Even though my DJ career has had different formats of DJ set (beat matched sets and eclectic progressive journeys), I always had a passion for “normal” radio show style sets, where I can be freer and present a wider array of music that I appreciate and like to share.

My show on Ye-ye is a monthly display of my recent purchases (but sometimes digging back into my collection too, as there hasn’t been many relevant “for me to buy” releases) and it’s where I make use of that “radio style” format, where I just present each track and play it. This allows people to see that I’m a music lover above being a DJ and that I love sharing music.

TikTok is a funny one because, even though I have the biggest amount of followers on there (way more than on the Meta apps), I feel it’s the platform that I get least interaction when it comes to releases on my label but it has been important to show people my multi talent, also with DJing, talking about vinyl records,musicx production, video editing, music sub-genres, serious subjects like all the “isms” and the “phobias” and also (a big favourite of mine!), comedy sketches!

I have been known for being a bit of a rage baiter since someone asked me to react to a Trap / new School artist... I was harsh and now, that’s my new label on TikTok: Rage Baiter! (Fradinho remix: RUIge Baiter!).

TikTok inspires me a lot in several different fronts, not just the musical one but production, editing, coming up with ideas for comedy sketches and all the above mentioned things that TikTok has shown to my audience. I feel it’s the best platform for a multi niche “creator” (whatever that means... and “content” too) like me, who loves to express myself eclectically.