Today, I sit down with one of the most respected and quietly influential figures in modern trance and electronic music, Stephen Kirkwood.

Stephen’s story is not the usual DJ success narrative. This is a deep, honest conversation about creativity, resilience, graft, and finding multiple ways to survive and thrive in an industry that constantly shifts beneath your feet.

If you know Stephen for his productions, his releases on major labels, or his appearances at iconic venues like Amnesia Ibiza, this episode reveals the layers behind the music. If you do not know his story yet, this is a rare opportunity to hear how a working-class kid from Scotland built a career in trance, production, education, and business by staying adaptable and relentlessly consistent.

We talk about Stephen’s journey from early DJ gigs and self-promoted club nights to working with industry heavyweights, hearing his music played by legends like Paul van Dyk, and eventually playing after them on some of the biggest stages in dance music.

One of the most surprising parts of this conversation is how Stephen built Banging Pizza, a now multi-location pizza business that became a genuine hub for the Scottish electronic music scene. What started as a lockdown pivot turned into a thriving brand, with shops run and franchised by DJs and producers from the scene itself. It is a perfect example of creative thinking outside the booth.

We go deep into music production, the reality of putting in 10,000 hours, why most tracks fail before one finally works, and how mentorship from figures like Lange, Mark Sherry and David Forbes shaped Stephen’s sound and mindset. Stephen also opens up about teaching the next generation through Escapade Studios and why education and community matter more than ever in today’s music industry.

This episode also explores:

We also talk candidly about rejection, releases falling through at the last minute, managing expectations, and how to stay mentally grounded in an industry built on highs and lows.

This is not just an interview for DJs. It is a conversation for any creative, entrepreneur, or artist trying to build something meaningful while navigating pressure, comparison, and constant change.

If you love Ibiza culture, trance music, electronic production, behind-the-scenes industry stories, or real conversations about creativity and survival in music, this episode will resonate deeply.

Do not forget to subscribe for more long-form conversations with DJs, producers, promoters, and the people who built the culture from the inside out.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro – Stephen Kirkwood: Trance, Ibiza & Creative Survival

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, Dexter Jones sits down with Habs Akram, a pioneering VJ, visual artist, and live visual mixer who has helped shape how electronic music events, clubs, and festivals look for over 35 years.

Working alongside some of the biggest names in dance music, including Carl Cox, Habs has played a key role in bringing club visuals, live video mixing, and stage visuals into global electronic music culture, from underground London parties to Ibiza superclubs, Glastonbury, and world tours.

Often mistaken for “the lighting guy”, Habs explains what a VJ actually does, why visuals matter on the dance floor, and how live visual mixing can completely change the way music is experienced in clubs and festivals.

We dive into:

🔥 The moment Carl Cox told Habs: “Best visuals I’ve ever seen”

This episode is not just about visuals. It’s about timing, instinct, creativity, and what it really means to bring music to life on a dance floor.

If you’ve ever wondered how iconic nights actually come together behind the scenes, this one’s for you.

Chapters: 

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The System Is Broken: Why Dance Music Is Harder Than Ever | Jason FUBAR

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Jason FUBAR, a long-time DJ, promoter, and rave scene grafter who has lived every era of dance music culture first-hand.

Jason has been part of the scene for over 35 years. From the early rave days in Blackpool to superclubs, festivals, bars, the Royal Navy, Ibiza, Mallorca, and booking future superstars before they were even known, he’s seen the industry evolve from the inside.

This conversation is a reality check on why dance music feels broken right now.

We talk honestly about rising costs and shrinking margins, exclusivity deals, micro-venues versus mega clubs, and why promoters are being squeezed harder than ever. Jason also shares stories from running bars and festivals, touring internationally, and witnessing UK rave culture being built from the ground up.

This is not nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

We talk about:

■ Why it now costs more to make less money in dance music

Chapters:

00:00 The System Is Broken: Why Dance Music Is Harder Than Ever

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For guest invitations, sponsorship proposals, and collaboration enquiries, please contact Dexter:

[email protected]

Ian Van Dahl on the pressure, politics, and reality of making timeless dance music

Few tracks define an entire generation of club culture quite like Castles in the Sky. For many, it was a soundtrack to first nights out, Ibiza summers, and the emotional peak of late-90s and early-2000s trance.

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I’m joined by Ian Van Dahl to revisit the story, sound, and legacy behind one of the most influential dance music projects of its era.

We explore the rise of euphoric trance at a time when clubs were built on emotion, release, and collective energy. From early aliases and studio pressure to record label politics and creative control, this conversation pulls back the curtain on what it really took to create records that still resonate decades later.

This is not nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

If you lived through the golden era of trance, this will resonate.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

🎶 The story behind Castles in the Sky

🌍 How Ian Van Dahl broke through globally

🧠 Making music before laptops and DAWs

⚖️ Record labels, pressure, and creative control

🪩 Eurodance, trance, and why the UK scene was different

🔮 Why modern DJs struggle with identity

00:00 Intro and meeting Ian Van Dahl

For guest invitations, sponsorship proposals, and collaboration enquiries, please contact Dexter:

[email protected]

What happens after Ibiza?

For many, Ibiza is a moment in time.

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I’m joined by Lisa Good, a former Manumission performer, to explore what life really looks like after the lights come up and the music fades.

We begin where it all started.

But this conversation goes deeper than nostalgia.

Lisa shares the journey that came after Ibiza, how travel, the ocean, and a series of life-changing experiences led her away from the party world and towards a new purpose rooted in environmental action, community, and long-term legacy.

This is not a charity pitch.

At its core, this episode is about evolution.

If you lived through Ibiza in the late 90s and early 2000s, this will resonate.

🎧 Sit back, take your time, and enjoy this next chapter.

To find out more about Pure Sea, visit: www.puresea.co.uk

🪩 Life during the Manumission era in Ibiza

🗺️ What happens when that world ends and reality returns

✈️ Leaving Ibiza and searching for identity afterwards

🌊 How the ocean became a turning point

🎗️ The connection between music culture and community action

🎧 Ibiza DJs and creatives giving back

00:00 Ibiza, Manumission & Losing Identity

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Who documented Ibiza before everyone had a camera?

Before podcasts, before social media, and long before everyone had a camera in their pocket, Ibiza’s club culture was documented by a small group of presenters, hosts, and storytellers working quietly behind the scenes.

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Katie Knight, one of the most influential yet often overlooked voices in dance music media, to explore how Ibiza’s club history was captured during its most important years.

From her early days at Amnesia Ibiza to hosting interviews for Amnesia TV, Boiler Room, Ibiza Global Radio, the International Music Summit, and live broadcasts for Amazon Music, Katie has spent over a decade documenting the artists, venues, and moments that shaped Ibiza and the global electronic music scene.

This conversation pulls back the curtain on the media side of dance music. We talk candidly about working inside Ibiza’s clubs during the 2010s, being thrown into high-pressure interviews with artists like Carl Cox, Marco Carola, and Steve Aoki with little or no preparation, and why presenters and hosts play a critical role in preserving dance music history.

We also explore career advice for aspiring presenters and podcasters, the importance of communication and public speaking, the realities of live broadcasting, radio versus filmed interviews, cultural and language fluency in Ibiza, online abuse in the modern era, and why nostalgia-driven storytelling resonates more than hype.

This is not an episode about trends or algorithms.

If you care about Ibiza, club culture, dance music history, or the people who built the scene behind the scenes, this episode is essential listening.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

🇪🇸 Life inside Ibiza clubs before social media

📺 How Amnesia TV documented a generation of artists

🎤 Being thrown into interviews with no training or prep

🪩 The unseen role of presenters in dance music culture

📻 Radio vs filmed interviews and the power of storytelling

❌ Misogyny, online abuse, and resilience in the industry

🎬 Why nostalgia content connects more deeply than hype

❤️ Preserving Ibiza’s cultural history properly

00:00 Introduction to Katie Knight

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The world’s highest DJ set and the story behind it

In 2018, a team from Last Night A DJ Saved My Life made dance music history.

Alongside Nightmares on Wax, the LNADJ crew climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and performed what was, at the time, the highest-altitude DJ set ever recorded, all to raise money for children in need.

The challenge raised thousands of pounds, funded a new housing unit for a special-needs children’s home in Tanzania, and has since been turned into a full two-hour documentary titled Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Neil Kemp, the LNADJ filmmaker who climbed alongside the team, carried the cameras up the mountain, battled 10 per cent oxygen, freezing temperatures, and exhaustion, and ultimately brought this record-breaking moment to life on screen.

This conversation goes far beyond the headline.

We talk about the realities of filming at extreme altitude, the technical and physical challenges of DJing on a mountain, the emotional moments that unfolded during the climb, and how a charity-led idea turned into a powerful piece of dance music history.

The record itself has since been surpassed, but the purpose, impact, and legacy of this climb remain unmatched.

This is not a hype story.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

🎚️ How the 2018 world-record DJ set happened

🏔️ The technical nightmare of DJing at extreme altitude

🧠 Mental and physical challenges on the climb

❤️ Raising money and creating lasting change in Tanzania

🎬 Turning a near-lost project into a feature-length documentary

🌕 The next challenge: the world’s highest full-moon party in Nepal

00:00 DJing on Mount Kilimanjaro – World’s Highest DJ Set Intro

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If you lived, worked, or partied in Ibiza during the 90s or early 2000s, you already know her name. If you didn’t, this episode offers one of the most honest insider accounts of Ibiza’s most outrageous era.

In this episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Lisa Good, one of the most creative and unforgettable characters to ever work in Ibiza nightlife.

Lisa takes us deep inside the world of Manumission, a party still regarded by many as the greatest clubbing experience of all time. From the raw creativity of the entertainers to the madness inside Privilege, Space, and the old San Antonio West End, this conversation captures Ibiza’s golden years exactly as they were lived.

We trace Lisa’s journey from being bullied as a teenager to finding escape in rave culture, Spiral Tribe festivals, Club UK, and eventually booking a Teletext ticket to Ibiza in 1994. Arriving alone, she found a family in the West End and was accidentally pulled into Manumission after walking in with painted costumes, vegetables, and no plan. Only in Ibiza.

Lisa shares vivid, never-before-heard stories about backstage chaos, the entertainers, the dressing rooms, the rubber chicken, the Coca Loco tree, Dennis Rodman, Space Tuesday carry on, Ibiza Uncovered, the end of the West End era, and friendships that lasted a lifetime.

This episode also reflects on the cultural shift from pre-social-media Ibiza to the modern VIP era, and why the freedom, creativity, and sense of belonging of that time can never truly be recreated.

If you lived through San Antonio in the mid-90s, worked a season, partied at Privilege when Manumission ruled the island, or simply want to understand why Ibiza changed so many lives, this conversation will resonate deeply.

This is not revisionist nostalgia.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

🪩 Manumission backstage stories and entertainer secrets

🍸 Life in San Antonio’s West End in the 90s

🌈 Why Ibiza gave so many people a second childhood

🎶 Space, Carry On, DC10, and the rise of morning culture

📺 How Ibiza Uncovered changed the island forever

🧠 What really made Manumission the greatest party in history

🔚 Why today’s club scene will never feel the same

00:00 Introduction: Meeting Lisa Good

For guest invitations, sponsorship proposals, and collaboration enquiries, please contact Dexter:

This is where the Graham Gold story gets wild.

In Part Two of this conversation on The Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Graham Gold to explore one of the most important chapters in UK dance music history.

We dive deep into the rise of trance, the birth of legendary club nights, and the behind-the-scenes reality of a scene that exploded across London, Ibiza, Thailand, and beyond. From breaking future global icons to shaping dancefloor culture at its peak, this episode captures the moment when UK club culture became a worldwide movement.

Graham doesn’t just talk about history. He lived it.

From booking Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, and Ferry Corsten before they were household names, to building Peach into one of the most loved club nights in British dance music, this conversation is packed with insight, nostalgia, and unfiltered truth.

We talk about the evolution of trance, the reality of touring at scale, Ibiza tales, industry shifts, and what it really means to live through multiple eras of club culture without losing your identity.

If you care about UK dance music history, trance culture, legendary club nights, or the real stories behind the records, this episode delivers.

No myths.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

🎶 Early UK bookings for Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, and Ferry Corsten

🪩 The story of Peach and how it became a defining club night

🔊 The evolution of trance and its impact on British nightlife

🌍 Touring life, Ibiza stories, and global scene shifts

🎛️ Breaking new talent and championing records before the hype

🧠 Behind-the-scenes moments from a true pioneer

00:00 Introduction

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In this powerful and deeply personal episode of The Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Pete Bennett to explore the raw, unfiltered reality of his life after reality television.

Best known as the unforgettable winner of Big Brother UK, Pete opens up about what really happened once the cameras stopped rolling. From sudden fame and media pressure to anxiety, grief, and losing close friends, this is Pete as you have never heard him before.

We trace his story from growing up in South London and living with Tourette’s from a young age, through bullying, isolation, and finding escape in music. Pete talks candidly about how creativity became therapy, how meditation helped him regain control, and how hitting rock bottom ultimately led him back to his true purpose.

The conversation then turns to his unexpected second chapter. Almost by accident, Pete found himself producing hard house, reconnecting with rave culture, and eventually signing music to Tidy Trax. Blending punk vocals with hard dance energy, he is now building a new career as a DJ and producer, preparing for major UK events and a full album release.

This episode is not about reality TV nostalgia.

If you care about mental health, rave culture, personal reinvention, or the power of creativity, this conversation will stay with you.

🎧 Take your time with this one.

🧠 Growing up with Tourette’s and navigating bullying

📺 Life-changing fame after Big Brother

💔 Grief, loss, and hitting rock bottom

🎵 Music as therapy and creative identity

🔊 Discovering hard house and the UK rave scene

🎚️ Signing to Tidy Trax and building a new sound

⚡ Punk vocals meeting hard dance energy

🔮 Purpose, resilience, and the next chapter

00:00 Intro and birthday coincidence

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