Impact: Denis Sulta

Impact is a new series dedicated to profiling raw talent that's about to turn dance music on its head. Up first: Denis Sulta

It's no secret that Glasgow has a rich dance music heritage. From Slam, Optimo and Harri & Domenic to Jackmaster, Jasper James and Bake, talent flows through numerous generations.

The name Denis Sulta has stood out in particular over the last 12 months and the 22 year old is on the cusp of becoming every house head's new favourite DJ.

His early productions on Dixon Avenue Basement Jams oozed cool and came with a rugged dancefloor sensibility. Seductive vocals, fierce basslines and venomous kicks were in abundance on the 'Sulta Selects Vol.1' EP and on his Mister Saturday Night release (as Atlus), he channeled his love for disco and gave it a spanky Scottish edge.

One tune however has crossed over and become bigger than anyone could have expected. 'It's Only Real' started trickling into sets last summer and in December last year Sulta's breakout tune finally saw release on UK institution and Glasgow-grown label Numbers. If you've been out partying over the last six months then we reckon you'll have heard this and we're equally as sure you'll have gone batshit crazy for it.

Take a banging break-out tune (and some serious EPs to back it out), some outrageous charisma behind the decks and a fistful of Glaswegian pride, and you've got Denis Sulta, one of the most exciting prospects in the game right now.

Are you in Glasgow?

Yeah I'm there now and I've just moved to the south side. It kind of feels like a different city because it’s a lot quieter than the west end. But yeah I’m from Glasgow and I don’t have any plans to move anywhere any time soon.

Can you briefly just tell me a little bit about your childhood? What it was like to growing up there?

I mean to be honest I was brought up well in a good family. I went to a nice school and I got to the stage where I started to realise that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth and I wanted to prove to everybody that I can stand on my own two feet. I feel like I got into music pretty much through a job in Rubadub.

How was it working there?

It's the best place in the world. It’s just a bunch of people that are really into it for the music, and I started working there with a very shallow music taste. I was quickly brought round to the new shit and the foundation of my knowledge has been based on and influenced by Rubadub, 100 per cent.

So is Rubadub where you met the people you needed to meet in terms of getting your music out there? How did you build from that?

Basically Dan, my boss at Rubadub, runs Dixon Avenue Basement Jams and I used to make music and bring it to the shop the next day and play it to my colleagues and I was hoping something would stick and then one day I made that Nite & Day mix of 'A.A.S' and Dan was like, “this is actually pretty fucking good. Hang on to that one, we'll keep that one for you”.

It’s the same in any industry: if you surround yourself with the right people and work hard, eventually you manage to get where you want to go as long as you focus and work hard. My dad always told me that If you want to be successful at something, you should surround yourself with the best, learn from people. So I surrounded myself with the best.