Bluck got to know the drum & bass scene through house parties and raves in Leeds, but nowadays you can find her on the other side of the decks in London. Ever since starting her DJ career, she has had a soft spot for jungle, inspired by artists like Shy FX, Dillinja and DJ Hybrid, and parties like License to Jungle and Jungle Jam.
In 2026, her journey has come full circle. Bluck took off after winning the “Bangers and Clangers” competition at Hospitality on the Beach in 2023 and this year, in 2026, she’s their “Women in Drum and Bass” mentee.
With her production taking off, this mentorship could not have come at a better time. Time to talk! We’re chatting with Bluck and covered everything, from her music to her Master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience and how that helped her in her path.
2026 started off amazingly for you. Congratulations on your Hospital Records mentorship!
Thank you, it feels amazing, I still can’t believe it. Hospital Records is one of the main labels that draws people to drum & bass, and it’s one of the labels you dream of working with. To now be in a position where I’m doing that for a whole year is crazy. I’ve looked up to all the women that have been their “Women in D&B” mentee, so to now be a name amongst them, wow. Although, there’s definitely some imposter syndrome happening, because I’m really new to my production journey.
What was the moment you decided to apply for the mentorship?
It’s such a good opportunity, so why would you not try? I’m a believer in throwing your all into everything, and something will stick. I just thought, I’m not going to lose anything from applying. I think something that really helped me was that at the start of last year, I did a lot of reflecting on what sort of artist I wanted to be. Ignore timelines, ignore wanting to get to a certain level of success at a certain point. What is the thing I want to be known for? That shift in mentality really helped me. I started to get bookings aligned with that, and it’s been helping me guide my production.
Yes! Ignore the timeline!
This is something that I struggle with a lot as someone who got into DJing a bit later on and producing even later, it’s really hard to detach yourself from timelines, because there is always going to be someone younger doing better than you. But if you’re in it for the right reasons, you shouldn’t care about timelines. “I try to tell myself “why does it matter if it takes me a few extra years to achieve a big milestone in the grand scheme of things?”. I can’t blame people for having that mentality but for me personally, I care about having a sustainable, long career.”.
That’s a good way of looking at it! Let’s talk about another recent highlight. Your first track! How did that come about?
Yes, it was the KRS-One ‘Sound of Da Police’ bootleg. The idea started when I came back from Boomtown, and came together really quickly. Because I was still really new to production, it took me a few months to really refine it. There’s so much that I had to learn as I went. I’ve got a good relationship with the DNB LAB. When I saw that they put out a story looking for bootlegs to release, I thought, I might as well send it.
You mentioned how you’re fairly new to the producing journey, but you do have quite a bit of experience as a DJ already. How did that start out?
I went to the University of Leeds and to be honest, I wasn’t really into music before I went there. I moved into a flat with friends who all really loved D&B and I didn’t have a clue what it was. I started going out with them and I was hooked straight away. We would go to events like License to Jungle, Jungle Jam… Another thing about Leeds, it’s a bit of a meme, but everyone there is a DJ. There would be big house parties with 400-500 people, DJs in each room, and I’d go to these quite a lot, and never saw a woman DJ. I just thought, let’s give it a go. I bought my first controller, played one or two events and then moved to London. After that, I didn’t play for nearly a year, but then overnight things started to snowball.
It can be quite daunting starting out as a DJ, and you moved to London as well… How was that?
It was interesting. I moved to London around three years ago. At the time I was balancing a full-time job with my Master’s and DJing really was just a hobby. I actually nearly considered selling my decks at one point for a bit of money, but thank god I didn’t do that, because that month I got a residency with Pirate.com. This led up to me playing out a bit more, and then I went to Hospitality on the Beach and won the DJ competition.This was the deciding moment of “I want to do this seriously now”. Not to take a dark turn but around this time I was actually going through a very scary period in my personal life, dealing with being stalked and harassed and quite quickly a lot of things started to feel very dangerous, including raving. However, DJing actually felt a bit more safe because I could talk to a promoter about my situation, they would always really look after me, fortunately. Because of that whole situation, I ended up moving back to my parents up North for a while, which felt a bit like another lockdown! The thing that really kept me going during that time was hopping on my decks and playing some tunes. It was a form of escapism, and when a good booking came through, that gave me something to look forward to. It was a very dark and isolating time, but it all pushed me into following my passion even more.
Wow, that’s quite the story. Good you pushed through it! Talking about following your passion… You seem quite passionate about the jungle scene in particular. What made you fall in love with that genre?
I think because of the events I went to in Leeds. It was the genre my friends went into and then I fell in love with it too. I love most corners of the drum & bass scene, so when I started to DJ, I dabbled in a bit of everything, but for a while now, I’ve been having the most fun with Jungle. I love the break patterns, they’re groovy. It’s my favourite thing to play, even if it’s not always as well received as playing some heavier and more commercial things.
And what made you fall in love with drum & bass in general?
I love the music, plain and simple. I listen to it all the time, and some of my favourite memories are from when I was discovering the music in a rave with my friends. Every time I hear the music, it brings me back to that, and it’s not something that I want to let go of. Getting into DJing opened up a whole new world as well, because you’re meeting these artists that you’ve spent years looking up to, and sharing lineups with them. It’s quite addictive once you get your first big show and this starts to happen..
You’ve also got a Master’s in cognitive neuroscience. Last year, you started making some explainer videos that went viral. How did you come up with this idea?
Rightly or wrongly so, if you’re an artist that’s coming up now, social media plays a big part. If you’re using it correctly, it really can drive momentum for you. My style of DJing has never really done amazing on social media, I don’t mix as quickly as a lot of younger DJs and I don’t mix as heavy either. But then I thought, while I’m sitting on all this information and it’s not used in my job, maybe I should try and find a use for it elsewhere. Someone actually commented on one of my TikToks, and said, don’t you have a master’s degree in neuroscience? Why don’t you try to make some content about that relating to electronic music? And I thought, fair enough, maybe I will. I didn’t expect them to do as well as they did, but I got a bit of momentum, got into a swing of it, and started talking about different things. Why drum & bass makes us move, why there are so many people with ADHD in the drum & bass scene, and what happens in our brain when we’re multitasking as a DJ. I’ve parked it for now just because they were so time consuming to make. I’d rather be using that time on producing but maybe they’ll make a return at some point.
Why did you start studying neuroscience?
It’s a bit of a random one, but when I was growing up I did gymnastics, and I had quite a bad head injury when I was nearly 14. Everything turned out fine in the end, but I think because there were certain changes that happened to my behaviour as a result of the damage, I was really interested in how this tiny thing in our head is so powerful and how, if you damage one bit your brain, it can rewire itself to compensate. As I got older, I became more interested in mental health and I studied psychology in my undergrad and got a job at a tech-startup running their marketing (it was more related to psychology than it sounds!). I’m quite ambitious and wanted to challenge myself, so I found the best Master’s course in cognitive neuroscience and decided to do that alongside my full time job, because London is expensive! I wasn’t intending for music to take any role in those two years, so it ended up being a mad juggle by the end of it.
That’s quite the backstory! Now, another project of yours is Circuit Sounds, which you’ve started in 2024. Can you tell us more about that?
I started this alongside finishing my Master’s and starting production. I don’t think we had a particular aim going into it, Anny and I, other than to create a space where people could play things that they don’t normally get to play. Over time it developed into not at all really being about us, but being a thing that is for the community. We’d put on events for new DJs to play their first sets. I loved that and I loved building a community, but ultimately the workload was very hard to manage. We’re on a bit of a hiatus now, but I would love to bring it back to life once I get into the groove of the mentorship and production a bit more. There’s such a need for small collectives. I thought it was hard for me to get into the scene but I think it’s even harder now. There were so many people that applied to play every show we did, and people were so grateful when they were on it. Right now, I want to find a way to sustainably keep it going because it’s important, the scene does need it.
Next to the Hospital Records mentorship having started, and your production journey taking off, is there anything else you’ve planned for 2026?
I’ve got a fair few sets that aren’t announced yet and I did announce my first festival set at Nowadaze which is exciting. I’ve been DJing for years but I’ve never played a festival so I’m excited to finally play one. It might sound weird but for a lot of 2026 I want to be a bit of a hermit. I want to be in Ableton and really focus on making music. I can appreciate that mentorship is such an amazing opportunity, but it is only one year. As much as I want to be doing cool things and playing cool shows, the biggest thing that I want to improve on this year is my production. I want to finish this year thinking, I put 110% into that.
Any final thoughts?
If you already know who the hell Bluck is and have been following my little journey so far, thank you. It’s only been a few years, but it already feels like I’ve had my fair share of highs and lows. To be getting some of the recognition and support I have now feels surreal, and I’m honestly just so grateful.
And if you’re only now learning who the hell Bluck is, I hope this has given you a good taste of who I am and hopefully you can continue to watch my journey!
