The second Audio Farm resident to step up takes the form of energetic party-starter, Hugo, with a voyage through a gloriously anthemic rollercoaster of hand raisers and foot tappers.

So how did you come to be involved in the Audio Farm team?

I met the guys from Audio Farm a few times at forest raves and parties and this one year my nephew Andy asked me to throw him a mega party at his house so we went crazy and decked his whole gaff out with camo by screwing heavy duty hooks all around his house. We even had a slip and slide into a swimming pool outside amongst other crazy fun stuff. Later that night I had a call off Tay Audio Farm asking if they could come round, an hour later they turned up with a rig and before we knew it the place was full on party. We called it ‘Smashed at the Brickhouse’.

I have been involved with the Audio Farm crew and their parties from pretty much the beginning. I was lucky enough to be asked by Ste Chesters to develop the first website, which has been redeveloped over the years and which I still look after today.

I’m also hands on when the festival build is on and help out as much as I can, as anyone who’s involved in running big events knows how much work there is behind the scenes to make these events happen so anything I can do I know goes a long way.

You’ve been playing for the event for a few years now, can you talk us through how you prepare to play at the festival?

One of my passions is finding decent music and not necessarily new music but great tracks that become almost archived, these are the tracks I love to find and add to my ever-growing collection. I have been collecting music now for over 20 years so organising my library is important to me so I can easily find the sound I am looking for when playing at any party or event. Most of my collection is digital now and I am currently migrating to Rekordbox as it just makes sense to do this as Pioneers’ industry standard kit uses this.

For each planned set I will collate a digital crate of tracks on usb and make sure I have enough tracks to play depending on the present crowd. From experience having a planned set from one track to the next never seems to go how you want it to, so by having a more diverse selection on hand gives you the freedom to change the mood and get more in tune with the crowd.

Could you give us a few of your favourite memories at the festival and are there any special tracks reserved for your Audio Farm set?

There are so many memories but my all time favourite was last year’s Audio Farm Festival at Cholmondley Castle. Mobius Loop were performing in The Nest, and up until that point the whole of the weekend was dry, we had a short down poor and soon we had mud. My daughter, Verity Mae who was 11 at the time decided to cover herself in mud from head to toe and join in the dancing at the front of the stage, it wasn’t long before she had an entourage of mud dancing tribal warriors joining in the fun. That pretty much made my weekend.

Do you think working for the festival has had an impact on your everyday life?

Not really although I am constantly tinkering away on the backend of the site. I have met and continue to meet the best people and for this I’m grateful. There are so many corporate festivals that are just money making machines and they can attract the wrong crowd, that’s pretty much the opposite for Audio Farm Audio Farm Festival as everyone there is there not only for the music and healing but to meet like-minded souls of a kindred spirit. One Love One Tribe X