Some time in the mid-2000s, a teenage James Rand wandered into a squat rave at The Kif in Liverpool, looking for somewhere he and his friends could smoke weed. Just down the road was Parr Street Studios, a legendary recording space used by Coldplay and The Smiths. I had a really heavy night with some really weird people, he remembers. After listening to bands for years guitar, bass and drums I loved how I just couldnt tell what it was I was hearing. The next morning at a rehearsal session with his really atrocious band, he glanced around, thinking, none of you guys are gonna get this.

James soon ditched the guitars and started DJing, earning a residency at a local club. Through playing around Liverpool he met Thomas Gorton, a keyboard player and singer from a slightly better band that was getting a few gigs. Tom recalls falling asleep in the car as his dad played Joy Division and New Order records. By now he was also into Dr Dre, Aphex Twin, and embarrassingly psy-trance raves.

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We loved going out, we loved the dark and loud, says James. But the afters was where wed sit and play each other music. Wed listen to the Immer mixes by Michael Mayer, which was a huge influence on us early on. Inspired, they began making tunes in Jamess kitchen. Around 2015, having moved to London, they went to a Perc Trax night at Corsica Studios. I remember how scary it was, how much more broken and fucked up, says James. We went from wanting to make melodic, European-tinged things to being like no, actually, UK techno is it.

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