Sam is the founder and a resident at Pumping Velvet, a London-based Queer dance party that takes place bi-monthly at LGBTQ+ venue Dalston Superstore.

Sam grew up in London, his tastes moulded by the city’s diverse dance music scenes: from childhood trips to Notting Hill Carnival, to formative dancefloor experiences at nights like FWD, Trash and Süd Electronic. He brings these influences to his DJing in sets that span a broad gamut of genres, tied together by a love for big drums, pop melodies and sleaze.

Frustrated by the lack of queer spaces where you could hear both a Svek record and Kylie in the same night, Sam founded Pumping Velvet in 2018, driven by the firm belief that any barriers erected between pop and ‘serious’ dance music are entirely artificial and that there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure. It’s this same ethos and disregard for boundaries that makes his DJ so thrilling.