Max Rushden and the Football Weekly pod squad bring you a twice-weekly dose of puns and punditry, news and analysis from the Premier League and beyond throughout the 2017-18 season

Playing a collection of tapes at small venues in a small town doesn’t sound like a career plan, but that was how my musical career first began, then morphed into a full-time profession andbecame my raison d’etre, so to speak.
	A small-town boy from South India, I’d already shocked the family and opted out of the mainstream when I picked being in a hard rock band called Z Axis over a conventional career. For five years, I sang covers of 1980’s heavy metal bands at small gigs, and had a great time doing it till, like most other garage bands, the financial crunch did us in. I hung up my (salvaged and home made!) leather bands but not my love for music, which is what kept me looking for other ways through which I could explore sound, and led me to deejaying.
	In the 13 years that I have been spinning records, I’ve held court at some of the country’s best clubs and happily, provided the aural memories to many, many celebrations.
And in many ways I think I have my short attention span to thank,I moved on quickly from playing the funky house music that I began with to electronic music, when I felt like I was over it, and more importantly, I felt my audience was as well. When House music began to feel a little stale, I moved on to electro house much before anybody else did, then onto some hard techno way and more recently, ever since that’s become ubiquitous, I’ve begun playing more Drum & Bass and dubstep and it’s been the same ever since.
Being quicker to introduce people to something new, and having a diverse, open format while playing have defined the trajectory of my life in music. That and practicing what I see as the lost art of crowd reading; there is a lot to be said for being able to play music that people like and not just what I like. Once I think I’ve got a finger on the pulse, I use the music to tell stories, build moods, communicate with a crowd, take them places and every now and then, surprise them.
	I do my research, work at thinking a set through and building it right, and when I play I consider it just my own tiny contribution to the massive world of good music.

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