How to summarise a T-Lex set in three words? Explosive, powerful, and inventive. With her frog-like sound design and crowd-stopping DJ sets, this artist is setting herself apart in the modern jump-up era. Three years into her journey, she’s owning the big stage more than ever before.
From supporting heavyweight artists including Hedex at Wembley Arena to playing Rampage Open Air, the growth of this Cornish-born producer and DJ has been nothing short of exponential.
Let’s fast forward to 2025…Powered by grit, graft, and determination, she’s recently pulled off her first ever self-constructed headline show in Bristol, ‘Lex Marks The Spot’. Though not her first headline show, this one in particular proved to be a turning point in her music career — one built by her own vision, personally curated lineup, and chosen production elements. Though, behind every great show is equally strong support. During her journey into production, T-Lex found herself supported in a community of like-minded aspiring drum and bass artists whilst studying Electronic Music Production at dBs Institute. Notable talents include SMG, Belle, and Rendah who not only continue to support T-Lex, but are now also thriving in their own music careers.
With over 10 official releases on labels such as CruCast, Invicta Audio, Belgian-born Exert Records, and plans for multiple projects in the pipeline, there are no signs of slowing down for this drum and bass powerhouse. We asked T-Lex in for a chat about her journey and the direction she’s heading in now. Let’s see what she had to say.
Hey T-Lex! How have things been?
Yes things have been really good thank you! I’ve been super busy recently working on new music / releases and also preparing for the summer!
Your Home Run / The Inspector EP recently dropped on CruCast — what was the inspiration behind these two tracks?
These tracks are a good representation of how my production has come on in the past year I think! I made them after graduating uni so I relate them to that time in general. I originally made one of the tracks ‘Home Run’ as a new intro song for my sets, and ‘The Inspector’ was more of an experiment giving the stripped back jump-up style a go which I hadn’t done much of before. It was a goal for me to release on CruCast so I was really gassed when they liked them, and the EP has got some good support from some of my favourite artists so I’m happy!
What has been the biggest turning point in your music career so far?
I feel like one of the turning points was the DnB Allstars Printworks in 2023, I think it was in February. It was just amazing to play in such a historical venue and also the crowd there was amazing, it just felt good. And I was so motivated too! It was also one of the first sets where I’d played a few of my own tunes in it because I was kind of working up to that point. There was one moment in the recording where you can see I played a tune I had made a couple of days before and it got a really good reaction — it was such a good feeling! I’m so glad I got to play before the venue closed. Another one I reckon was Boomtown last year when I played in one of the little venues, called Soapranos Laundrette, and it was so good! The queue was massive to get in and I had so many messages from people after saying that they couldn’t get in. It was a good feeling.
If you could spend a day in the studio with any music producer in the world, who would it be and what would you want to learn from them?
That’s a hard one! I mean this is a bit different because it isn’t drum and bass but I reckon I would love to sit with Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas and see the way that they work. They just come up with random things on the spot and I’ve seen videos of it, so yeah it would just be really cool to just see how they work and experience it —they’re just so good!
Who or what first lit the spark for you to start producing and DJing—and how has that evolved over time?
Well, when I first started listening to drum and bass and bassline I didn’t really know any of the artists and stuff like that but I was listening to quite a lot of Flava D. About six months later I then realised she was a woman and I was just amazed by that because I didn’t know that there were many women that produced and stuff, so I think that really inspired me to get going myself I think. I hadn’t really seen too many female DJs and producers because I started back in 2017 when there were less females. And then I’d say I really got into Upgrade, Amplify, and SOTA, those are my favourites!
Let’s talk about your headline show in Bristol in March – what does this milestone mean to you?
Although it wasn’t my first actual headline show, this was the first one I ran myself alongside my team and the team at Clock Factory, so it was a really special one! It also ended up being sold out which is absolutely insane… I still can’t believe it to be honest. The vibes were amazing and I’ll definitely remember the night for a very very long time!
That is definitely cool! What sort of preparation goes into creating a headline show like this?
There was so much more preparation that went into it than just coming up with my own set and making my own music. I picked the support alongside a couple others – and we decided to pick a couple who were some of my favourite upcoming producers at the moment, El Pablo and Jaybee, as well as a couple of DJs who I think have been smashing it recently, Belle and Emzi. I’ve played El Pablo’s and Jaybee’s tunes for a while now and it’s been nice to see them come through and get the recognition they deserve! I also teamed up with a friend called Sam who made some amazing visuals for the screens in Clock Factory, which went all the way around the 360 room. I also recorded some promo videos for Instagram etc which unfortunately isn’t really my forté, but we got it done! I’m glad all of the hard work paid off and the night ran smoothly, and we also recorded the set which is now online!
It must be a busy time for you T-Lex! As for your DJ name though, is there a hidden meaning or story behind it?
It was just my nickname at school! But yeah one of my friends used to just shout it at me I think because it sounds like T-Rex but I thought it was kind of cool so it stuck. Nothing too exciting!
What is it about jump-up in particular that you love so much, and how do you see this subgenre evolving in the coming years?
I feel like in general it’s the subgenre that makes me the most happy out of all of them when I play out. It just makes me the most excited! Hearing new sounds that I haven’t heard before just makes me excited, and I guess jump-up is about being different with your sound design and stuff like that. And for evolution, I reckon in the short-term rollers and stuff like that are going to come back in and high-energy jump-up, I think people are enjoying that at the moment. Also, people seem to really like old-style jump-up at the moment which is absolutely fine by me because I really love that sound. I’m really enjoying putting the songs that I started DJing with in 2017 back in my set again – I love it! It’s definitely going to come back into fashion.
Have you ever experimented with other subgenres of drum and bass, or is there one you wish to explore in the future?
Yeah, I used to mix more jungly stuff three or four years ago and I do really love that stuff as well, it’s really good for the festival vibes. And I also really like dancefloor-y and neuro-y sort of vibes at the moment as well. I was never really into that until more recently but I’ve really been enjoying putting these in my set at the moment and maybe I’d like to learn how to make it but it’s definitely very different to learning how to make jump-up — that’s pretty scary!
What are you most excited for in 2025?
I’ve got a lot that I’m really looking forward to. It’s looking like my busiest Q2/Q3 that I’ve ever had and I’m really buzzing about that. I’ve got a collab that’s just been released with Deep Notion which I’ve been really excited about because I love that tune, so I hope others have been enjoying it too. And then playing Let It Roll for the first time, I’m really buzzing about that. And also back at Rampage again, I love Rampage so much. These are milestone moments that are really cool stuff, I’m really grateful to be in the position that I’m in to be honest.
Follow T-Lex: Instagram / Soundcloud
