Micky Finn came through South London’s acid-house scene in the late 1980s, carrying that rave background into breakbeat, jungle and drum and bass. His career has included DJing, production, record shops, labels and promoting, putting him close to several different parts of the culture as it developed.
Early productions included She’s Breaking Up under the Bitin’ Back name. He then joined Aphrodite and Claudio Giussani on Urban Shakedown’s Some Justice, one of the records linking the early rave sound with the breakbeat music that followed. The partnership with Aphrodite continued into Urban Takeover, with records such as Bad Ass ! / Drop Top Caddy becoming part of the duo’s jump-up catalogue.
As a DJ, Finn’s record bags filled with upfront dubplates and releases from across the scene. His own history places him travelling between large UK events as demand grew, then taking the music to audiences in Europe, the Americas and beyond. That life behind the decks ran alongside the studio work and the practical business of releasing other artists’ records.
The objects from those years still matter to him. His Tools of the Trade clothing project draws on equipment and media he kept, from turntables and mixers to DAT tapes and dubplates. They are a reminder that his story belongs as much to the working life of a rave DJ as to the tracks carrying his name.
