When I started, DJs weren't in the media, electronic music wasn't in the sales charts and a DJ was the freak in the corner who provided the music while other people had fun. So to do it, you must have been a freak and a music lover.

DJs should not be just pressing play with a USB stick, or getting wasted and throwing cake. I don't think [stunts like throwing cake] have anything to do with connecting with your audience. To me, it has no substantial creative value - it's just a waste of food.

The good thing, really, is that electronic music started as a fringe subculture, and now it's the biggest youth culture in the world. People pretty much everywhere go crazy for electronic music.

I don't tell anyone what they should do (drugs). It's like this music is so full of power and energy you don't really need to take anything if you just open up and let the music take you.

Ministry of Sound was actually the first club I ever played in the UK, it must have been around 1993. Being invited to play was a big thing and visited many times since - The Gallery always has a great crowd, great sound system and just a great night.

It is not the gift, but the thought that counts.

Trance had become a dirty word. Thanks to Ian Van Dahl, Lasgo, Flip 'N' Fill and DJ Sammy, a generation of kids has grown up thinking trance is the shittiest music since country and western.