Introducing….Anthony Watkins

4 min readNov 24, 2021

Anthony Watkins is a Welsh techno DJ and producer. His latest release ‘Satellite EP’ is coming out on At Swim’s electronic music imprint Punch Up Records on the 13th December.

Anthony began djing vinyl at the age of thirteen. He’s had a few musical transitions since then, eventually finding a passion for house, techno and progressive. Anthony has held multiple residencies, playing alongside acts such as Slam, Nic Fanciulli, Guy J, Reset Robot, Rebekah, Chrisian Burkhardt to name a few.

Anthony’s productions convey a story through sound, combining intricate percussion and driving beats with melodic elements. He often focuses on a theme for each track, weaving samples of everyday sounds, archive recordings and field recordings from his travels into them.

Hi Anthony! How’s it going?

“Fantastic.”

Where did you grow up?

“Pontardawe, South Wales, UK”

Does that influence your music?

“I suppose so, by default more than anything else. My music is mainly influenced by my experiences, weather, human interactions, certain places, travels, nature, science etc. I spent some time in Asia & Oceania back in 2015 and took field recordings of each location I visited. It’s a bit of a cliche but I found a great inspiration from my time in these places. A few of these field recordings have made their way into my productions and continue to inspire me.”

Are you from a musical family?

“My mother was a singer and did it full time for many years. I was often being taken to recording studios, music shops, gigs, meetings etc. My mother got me my first pair of decks on my 13th birthday. Not sure I would be doing music if it wasn’t for her. Thanks Mam.”

As a DJ and producer, who would you say are your biggest influences?

“Starting from the teenage years: Judge Jules, Sasha, Max Cooper, Richie Hawtin, Loco Dice, Delano Smith to name a few.”

What was your first gig/club night?

“Escape, Anne Savage 16 years old. Many raves prior to that in the surrounding countryside of the village where I grew up.”

Satellite EP is coming out on Monday 13th December! Tell us what inspired you to make the EP.

“I tend to try something a little new with each production, I’d not made an industrial leaning Techno track. I’d recently sampled my Hario pour over kettled, the raw metal sound reminded me of Tresor in Berlin, couple that with my obsession with the cosmos? This lead me down a cold war / space race era theme for the EP. Sputnik being more raw industrial sounding, reminiscing the soviet unions early industrial feats. Explorer being softer, brighter and a slow burner reminiscing on Nasa’s late arrival in space race success. Pulsar just kind of happened, I came across a synth sound I liked, created a bass which reminded me of the pulse cycle of a pulsar.”

Is that typical of how you make music?

“Yes I guess so. I either go into production with a preconceived idea or I will get inspiration from just jamming.”