Started Before He Even Knew
FLETCH
No Escaping the Music
Some people find music. For FLETCH, it was already there.
"My Mum was a singer for years when she was younger and my Dad used to DJ vinyls a bunch, so I was surrounded by all kinds of music. I also have a grandad who played guitar with Eric Clapton and a pretty famous DJ uncle you might have heard of called Tipper. I would say music for me was inevitable."
Knowing music runs through your blood is one thing. Knowing which direction it will take you is another. When FLETCH found that out, there was no question where he was going.
"I remember being absolutely blown away by The Martinez Brothers when I found some of their old CircoLoco sets on the bus to school. They still set the standard for me today in a lot of ways."
That was the moment. Everything after it was about closing the gap between what he was hearing and what he could make.
MANCHESTER MADE
Manchester has a way of getting into people. For FLETCH it was not about the weight of the city's history so much as what the city does for you week to week when you are coming up.
"There is something in the air in Manchester I swear."
What made Manchester different was the community. A track made on a weekday could be in a set by the weekend, and every friend in the scene had each other's back. Feedback was not something you had to chase. It came week in, week out.
"I could send some ideas to whichever DJ friend was playing that weekend and get instant live feedback. Being around like minded artists in a city where you could hear your tracks played every week and see a first hand response to whatever you had made that week was everything."
Most artists spend years trying to build that kind of environment. FLETCH had it on his doorstep.
A Self Made Smash
Play House was not built to be a career moment. FLETCH made it for himself, something he wanted to play out. Then it hit number one on Beatport's house chart within 48 hours of dropping on No Art.
The real tell came before any of that. He sent it to the ANOTR guys and watched them play it at Warehouse Project.
"Everybody got their phones out and started throwing their hands in the air, which I guess was a good sign!"
"The reaction definitely caught me off guard. That track just started out as something for me to play in my sets."
A room full of strangers confirmed it before the charts did.
SUN GOES DOWN
The connection with Mason Collective goes back a while. The Tyla Water remix, Street Heat Vol 1, and now Sun Goes Down on TSZR Recordings. Each one adding another layer to a creative relationship that has its own shorthand.
This one started before the session even began.
"I actually woke up with the bass and synth melody in my head one morning and immediately voice noted Blair as we had a session that day. I think that is the only time that has ever happened to me."
They laid the foundations that day. Ellie sent the vocal over the next morning.
"Once Ellie sent it over the next day, the rest is history."
CircoLoco at DC-10. Music On at Pacha Ibiza. The opening night of Pacha New York. These have been on a list since FLETCH was fourteen or fifteen years old.
"It is still really surreal. I have had these as bucket list goals since I was 14 or 15, so now over ten years later to be able to play for those parties means a lot."
The road to those rooms ran through every decision he made along the way. Every job he took, every hour he held onto.
"I have based any decisions or jobs I have had to get in the pursuit of doing this full time around whatever would give me the most free time to work on music. As cliche as it sounds, I did not really have anything else besides music. I have done some form of music my whole life, whether it is playing guitar in bands, to DJing other genres. Music was always the thing."
THE SUMMER AHEAD
WHAT IS NEXT
He is not giving much away. But he is moving.
"I can not say too much, but maybe a vinyl release and a follow up EP or two might be on the way."
For someone who has spent over a decade treating music as the one non-negotiable, the momentum right now is not an accident. It is the return on everything that came before it.