It’s customary to kick off a new year with a clean start. To hell with that, we’re going in dirty. Filthy, in fact…
Say hello to Liam Philp, a UK man currently based in Thailand but has strong links in Australia and is heading back to these shores soon enough. Operating as Filthy Philp, he delivered the perfect Mixmas mix to start 2025 with.
As ever, please don’t take our word for it. Turn on, tune in, test it yourself…
A super tight free for all that embraces every vibe in the D&B jungle rainbow, there’s such an energy, vibrancy and full spectrum edge to this mix. Just like Fireworks Factory HAD to close 2024 yesterday with its scorching rave message, Filthy Philp’s mix HAD to be the first soundtrack of 2025. And we reckon he’ll be soundtracking quite a few people’s 2025s with the music he has planned.
Co-owner of new label Trigga Fingaz (a brand which already exists as a promotions and events crew in Australia), Philp and co have a barrage of heavyweight missives to drop starting from this month onwards. You can expect material from some big names including Kleu, Conrad Subs, Dope Ammo and many others… Including Philp himself.
First appearing on our radar during our Demo Drop streams, Filthy Philp has been developing a really strong sound that’s rich in soul, strength and some serious messages. Just check the intro track on his mix for a staggering piece of spoken word / electronica and pay close attention throughout the mix as a few dubs are scattered here and there. Check the interview while you’re digesting the mix… While a life spent travelling some of the planet’s most beautiful corners and promoting parties sounds like fun, it’s come with some humungous challenges.
Read on and get inspired as he rose to every single one. Happy new year.
That first tune in the mix! What an awesome way to start the mix. It made me cry!
Thanks! It’s one of my favourite tunes I’ve made so far. The minute I heard those vocals I was in love with them. They really resonated with me at the time.
The vocals are by Beth The Barber, tell us about her…
She’s a friend of mine. I met her when I was travelling Australia for five years. She does a lot of spoken word and she said she’d love to make music with me. When she sent over that I knew it would work.
It really does. So it sounds like you’ve been on, or currently are on, a mad journey. Bring me up to speed!
Well musically I started when I was a child. Music was a huge part of my childhood as my dad was a DJ. Lots of hip-hop and RnB.
Would we, or any older readers, know your dad?
I don’t think so. He gave up in the early 90s pretty much when I was born. Fatherly responsibilities, I guess. But he definitely gave me such a strong love for music.
How did that flourish in you?
If we are talking about drum & bass specifically then through Grand Theft Auto Radio. Omni Trio Renegade Snares. It blew my mind and I’ve been hooked ever since. When I got old enough to buy myself a set of decks I never looked back. I tried a bunch of styles but jungle D&B stuck with me. I jumped right in at the deep end too. Most people practice then start getting gigs, right? I did it the other way and took on gigs I had no business taking!
In at the deep end!
It’s how I live my life! I played my first gig in Kettering supporting Mrs Magoo and I played to three people – two of my mates and the bar tender – but it was an amazing experience and enough to show me that I knew it was going to be what I wanted to do. I faced a lot of rejections of course – I was learning and growing but the worst people can say is no, right?
Absolutely.
And when that happened, I started my own promotion brand FP Events. There weren’t any D&B events in Bedford at the time so I found a community, built up the brand, developed myself as a DJ and started giving other DJs an opportunities.
Creating opportunities and feeding the culture
Exactly. I always say the reason for living is giving. I found it really rewarding to give people their first sets.
Living is giving! LOVE that! What took you to Australia, then?
A few big life events happened. So firstly, back in 2017, I was running a charity music festival raising money for Adenbrookes hospital. Unfortunately there was an altercation which I went to defuse but got knocked out and my jaw broke in two places which I had to get surgically repaired.
Shit! Oh no!
Yeah it was a really horrible time. These people weren’t nice people. I’d obviously involved the police and they were threatening violence unless I dropped the charges. It became hell for a while. I stopped DJing and fully spiraled. I was depressed, I was drinking a lot, I couldn’t eat properly because of my jaw.
Total and utter depression
Yeah absolutely. And that depression took away the most important thing to me – music, DJing and running events. So that was 2017 and a big part of 2018. And me and my partner at the time finally decided to leave England and search for a new life. Unfortunately we went separate ways but this sent me personally on a journey of self-discovery and self-growth. It sounds corny but I really found myself on that trip.
Oh wow. Were there any particular moments? Or was it a gradual thing?
Gradual but there were milestones along thew way. I was travelling South East Asia and ended up in Japan working as a football coach which was really cool, then I moved to Australia and felt like I’d settled enough to start FP Events in a town called Cairns. Again there wasn’t much of a scene there so I thought, ‘I’ll show this town what dnb is all about!’
Big move! Going back to promoting thousands of miles away from home
It felt like the right time. I had bounced around a lot in Asia but in Australia I found myself a base and started living a regular life again, just in a really beautiful country. That inspired me. Then I met a guy called Dan (Midge) who was an old school DJ. It was good to link with a fellow Englishman who had lived the scene back in the day. We also invited a lot of local DJs to come and play and it was going really well. Then covid hit…
Did you get stuck out there?
I raced to get stuck out there! I’d come home for Christmas before then headed back out to Asia in early 2020 but all the familiar places I knew were deserted. It felt strange. We kept an eye on the news and then I read a press release from Australia saying, ‘We are closing the borders at midnight.’ I flew straight out of Bali and beat the deadline by two hours.
Phew!
Well it was probably one of the most influential decisions I had ever made but it wasn’t without its hardships. In fact it was massive struggle and I hit rock bottom again.
Ah damn.
Yeah I had to use food banks and ask my parents for money. It was hard being a foreigner in Australia for a while. Getting any type of work during covid was pretty much impossible. But then covid relaxed and I started to pick gigs up. I gotta shout Kim De La Haye who started booking me in Brisbane. It was funny playing sit down shows but I enjoyed getting back out there.
Yeah it was a weird time wasn’t it? So the gigs picked up, what next?
I met a guy from Chile named Nico, who goes by the stage name Inguerzon. He reached out to me on Facebook and said, ‘We’re on a similar journey, we’ve got a mutual love for D&B, let’s go for a drink and talk music’. Turns out we had a lot in common – both love DJing, both love D&B and pro wrestling. We clicked and Trigga Fingaz was born that night.
The start of a new chapter! Did productions follow quite quickly after that?
No not at this point. But Trigga Fingaz was born. Our first night was NYE and covid restrictions were super strict. We didn’t agree with that so we said, ‘Fuck it, everyone is free to come and celebrate this night’. We had people drive for hours to enjoy the night!
Haha. The world needed that at that stage
Right? Of course we all got covid but the night was so good. It was a lot of people’s first rave in two years. Off the back of that we started doing monthly raves and had the likes of Ed Solo, Bryan Gee, Burt Cope, Klue, Jappa. We made so many amazing connections and friends along the way.
Sick! Back in the game!
Kinda… The problem was that I was having a bad time internally. I was playing these big gigs but I was feeling a lot of imposter syndrome. I felt I was playing tunes to fit in the with the crowd and not for my own enjoyment. I was experiencing a lot of doubt, I was using alcohol to cope with that and I hit another rock bottom in my life. I’d lost my job, I was barely surviving in Australia, I had a car accident and was in a toxic relationship. It was really rough.
Oh no!
Yeah. But everything changed when I was sitting my car crying. Just didn’t know how I could turn things around. Then I looked at my phone and saw an ad called Your Shot. It was a DJ competition where the finale is a massive event and the prize is a gig at a festival. I felt this was my sign to get out of this life I was so miserable in. I’m not religious, but it was like I’d prayed for a sign. It felt like my ticket out of this headfuck. I had to win it. It turns out I’d missed the deadline but someone had dropped out so they called me.
Wow. Talk about fate!
Yeah! So I applied, six weeks later the event comes round. I was shaking. I was so nervous. I had to play a 25 minute set at a silent disco. I was the red deck, my opposition was the blue and I could see a sea of red out there. It was a surreal experience. That was the first round, then my name was read out as the finalist! My mind was blown and it was like an out of body experience. I went up and played the same set and I ended up winning it. I couldn’t believe it. All the doubt and imposter syndrome disappeared. I had the validation I needed. It gave me the confidence I needed to move forward in my career.
That’s amazing and hopefully it got rid of the horrible voice in your head?
Oh yes! And off the back of that I finally decided that I had doubt because I was trying to fit in the crowd and I needed to step away from that. So for example, the whole thing about how many tunes you can smash in an hour and all the four deck drops and things. I felt I had to do them to get booked but it’s not authentic to me. I had the validation and confidence that I needed and craved so if I drive people away with my own style then so be it.
They’re not meant to be! That resonates with me, that resonates with Mixmas! Gotta be nice to tell that story now?
Hell yeah. I went back and judged the competition the next year too.
Oh it gets better and better!
Yeah. I ended up playing a gig at Dream Machine in Bali. I played in this amphitheater with the stage right in the middle. People are on top of you and it’s awesome. I played at sunset and it was just incredible.
Wow. So surely the productions are en route by this stage?
Yeah. I was dabbling before when life was miserable. I was unhappy, I was in a miserable relationship and the only thing that gave me joy was music. That was my shining light, my “Kiss Of Life” so that’s what I called my first ever track. When Sola were touring Australia I played it to them and they signed it which was so cool. I want to remix it and bring it up to date because I’ve come on so much but that meant the world to me.
That’s great. I guess you’re finding your own sound now? We’ve gone from finding yourself to finding yourself as an artist…
Yeah absolutely. This has been a very transformative year for me. It’s been free of a lot of stresses I’ve had in my life. I’m giving myself what I need to be the best version of myself I can be and my sound changes depending on environment a lot, I’m listing to a lot of different genres, I’m trying a lot of different sounds. I’m in an experimental phase at the minute and I think from that I’ll have a solid foundation of what my sound will be.
Are you staying in Asia or Australia or back here?
I’m happy here but I think it’s time for me to come back. So spring next year I’ll be coming back, laying foundations and growing the brand in the UK. I’ve done some good work in Australia and South East Asia so now it’s time to spread the word of Filthy Philp and Trigga Fingaz in the UK.
YES. What are your hopes for 2025?
I guess just give more back to the scene. We’ve got releases dropping from Jan and we want to raise the profile of Australian artists in EU. Nico is in Chile doing Trigga Fingaz things there and we’ve got a team in Australia too so we’ve covering all spots.
Worldwide! What releases can we expect?
We’re going in with a bang. We’ve got huge releases planned – Data Roaming and Ceadie in Jan, Klue in Feb, Conrad Subs in March, Dope Ammo in April, Paul T & Edward Oberon in May, A Sides, Ben Soundscape & Collette Warren and a VA with a load of Australian artists. I’m really excited what the future holds…