The Mix 097: Faster Horses

While the Chinese lunar calendar celebrates the year of the fire horse, the UK has its own equine-themed figure setting dancefloors ablaze in the dead of night. Having launched from the hard techno gate as a regular of Manchester behemoth party Teletech and now rearing up to becoming one of the nation’s brightest exports, North West speed savant Faster Horses is sprinting towards a new, genre-defiant sound ranging from soul-affirming piano bangers, buoyant UKG and fizzling bass — and mammoth crowds are packing in for the ride.

Hailing from Toxteth, Liverpool, Faster Horses, real name Joe Germains, was raised on a premium diet of house and garage, courtesy of his electronic music obsessed parents. While Disclosure's 'Latch' was the subject of his 12-year-old hyperfixation, he later happened upon another well-worn track of the same name. "It's from this guy called Scuba," the 23-year-old explains of his discovery of the Hotflush founder. "It's like a super-dark, Burial-esque broken beat track. I obviously didn't start digging for brazy IDM when I was 12, like that is sort of where it stopped for a bit, but I re-heard the tune when I was 16/17, and that sparked my love of weird sounds."

"I started going out and going to house parties when I was 15, and it was MK, Scouse house, piano bangers," he continues. "But it was like I'd realised there was this whole other realm of dance music out there, that's a little bit more tailored to what I like, as a person." At 19, Germains moved to Manchester to study music production at BIMM, quickly becoming enraptured within the city's varied offerings of underground dance music. While still in his teens, Germains assumed his Faster Horses alias, quickly going on to become embedded within the European tour circuit and dishing out atmosphere-heavy trance techno for crowds at Berlin's ÆDEN, London's FOLD, and Manchester's The Warehouse Project, as a regular fixture of breakneck purveyors Teletech. "I was a little more Scouse when I started touring," he admits. "Promoters in Europe would often struggle to understand me, and I think I kind of toned it down because of that. When you try hard enough it goes away, and It's sad. It feels like such a part of Liverpool to have a Scouse accent. It's such a part of your identity." Asking if it was intimidating to tour as a youngster with a thick Northern accent, he responds: "Yeah, and it was intimidating for all the other reasons as well."

Get tickets: The Mixmag Lab with Azyr & Friends 

While the accent may have (temporarily... hopefully) become diluted, Faster Horses made the decision to dig deep into his sonic identity instead, veering away from hard techno and into a more diverse mixture of UKG, house, breaks and bounce that raised him, both as a kid in Liverpool and a house party-regular in Manchester — all with a galloping tempo. While he admits his new sound "didn't always go off" at first, in December 2024 - at just 21-years-old - he sold-out his first all-night-long at Manchester's Hidden, followed just months later by a headline show at London's The Cause. Just as comfortable going toe-to-toe with fellow Scouse house aficionado Paige Tomlinson as he is loading up piano bangers alongside Kyle Starkey at Amnesia Ibiza's closing party, or joining nu trance steamroller Mika Heggemann behind the decks alongside his Korse duo-mate Kander for XXL at Drumsheds — Faster Horses is earning renown for his versatile approach to DJing; in our Breakthrough DJs of the Year 2025 list, we noted that "it isn’t genre, tempo, or even setting that specifically ties together Faster Horses’ sound", but instead the mission to "ensure you, the dancer, are having a fucking great time."

Next month he'll be bringing this irresistible sound to his debut at the Mixmag Lab with Azyr & Friends in London venue The Cause, playing alongside Azyr, NIKOLINA, Yasmin Gardezi, JOKESONYOU and The Muffin Man. To give us a teaser of what we can expect, Faster Horses has created a peak-time-destined hour in the saddle for The Mix. In the accompanying interview, he talks through finding his footing at Fallowfield house parties, getting angry at house vs techno TikToks, and why he still has internal dilemmas over curveball selections. Listen to the mix and read the Q&A below.

You’ll be undertaking your debut headline show at Manchester’s 2,000-capacity Albert Hall next month. How does it feel to be doing this in the “city where it all began”?

I only moved to Manchester, what, like, four years ago? I was buying tickets for The Warehouse Project three years ago, you know what I mean? More than anything, it's been pretty anxiety-inducing. I don't really see myself as a big DJ, and it’s always been this case of, like, things have levelled up, and things have happened — I'm not looking at it like, oh yeah, we'll definitely sell 2,000 tickets. It's more like, “wait... we sold 2,000 tickets?”. I just played in Paris and I did an all-night-long, and I was there like: “Oh, that'll be a write-off.” Then it's suddenly, "Oh shit, we've sold it out, and there are 500 people on the waiting list." It's quite surreal sometimes. I've been a bit sceptical with this one, then I see the home support, and It's like, maybe it is the right time. I am keen on it happening.

Is it still shocking then?

I mean, yeah, especially in the Albert Hall. You can become quite desensitised to stuff, but this one, I'm not. I'm seeing The Warehouse Project post about my headline show. I'm a very anxious person, because there's always potential for public humiliation. Imagine if no one comes? Then It's just me in this massive room and I'm like: “Shit, what I have done.”

When did the journey start for you with music? Had it always been about techno at first?

I think the moment I realised I liked dance music was probably when I went to Parklife when I was 16. I'd gone with all my school mates. I think I had to have fake ID to get in. We were at FISHER and it wasn't really doing it for me and  I just ended up going on a side quest to go and see Amelie Lens. I think I did my first-ever pill that day as well, so I was probably on a crazy vibe [laughs]. But yeah, It was Amelie Lens. I think that's where the techno thing started. 

Also, I didn't really have raving mates growing up, but then we'd go to free parties through lockdown, and I found people who liked the same sort of music as me, everyone was sort of on the same vibe — none of us took it too far with partying and stuff. In Liverpool, there was the whole Scouse house thing. I'd grown up around house music and garage. But techno just seemed so much cooler. When you're a 19-year-old, and you don't really feel like you fit in, techno is sick, because in those crowds it feels like no one is going to judge you. I became such a techno head, I was almost insistent on only listening to techno. 

You have mentioned that you moved to Manchester at 19, which signalled the beginning of Faster Horses – do you think there are still parts of your sets that are rooted in Fallowfield house parties?

It was funny. When I got to Manchester, my first-ever event was a Teletech party. But I was also an angsty 19-year-old. I found a lot of solace in the underground techno scene in Manchester, at White Hotel and Meat Free, stuff like that. I nearly became a little bit anti-Teletech, like “that's not my vibe”. I was almost exclusively going to The DBA. That really shaped me at the start. 

Living in Manchester, you're kind of forcibly exposed to other genres of music. I'd go to house parties in Fallowfield, and everyone's playing garage, and I'm surrounded by loads of posh people from the South. And I'm like: “This is cool. I think I like this.” A pretty formative moment for me was when I saw D.Dan play at White Hotel, and in the middle of his techno set, he played 'Back to Basics' (by Floating Points & Headie One ft. Skepta), and the room went mental. That made me realise you can play this stuff, even in techno sets. Because at the end of the day, we're all British, we're all Northern. I feel like it's ingrained in us to like that kind of stuff.

We love a good reference, right?

Northern crowds appreciate a curveball tune. When you listen to an hour of techno and all of a sudden a two-step garage tune gets dropped, it's just like: “Oh my god.” I used to work at YES in Manchester, and I was constantly exposed to such sick music. I was behind the bar for a club night where Skin On Skin played to about 100 people, and salute jumped on with him halfway through. I went up to them afterwards, and I was like: “What’s that? What are you playing?” They gave me some tunes, it was amazing. I think Manchester is the best city in the UK for dance music. I’m not sure if people agree with me. But, I really do.

Read this next: Manchester is the beating heart of new music in the UK

Is that why you often throw in curveballs in too?

It definitely influenced it. But then it became like my sets were the ultimate curveball. A lot of people say to me: “I never really know what you play.” And sometimes that worries me, because I don't want to be completely ambiguous. Like ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, for example, you go to one of his sets, and you have no idea what he's going to play. I didn't exactly want to be like that, but I do love curveballs. When I was still playing techno, I’d be playing somewhere in Europe and drop a garage track – nine times out of 10, it wouldn’t go off. But there’d always be one guy or girl in the crowd who would be going: “Oh my god... that's sick.”

Do you not find it advantageous to be unpredictable?

I do, yeah. I know I stress about it, but I'll be playing in Berlin 8:AM until 12:PM and I'm like: “I've got the bag for this.” You know what I mean? I hate music snobbery. I see these house vs. techno TikToks or whatever, and the techno guys are like: “You all have your phones up at every event.” And the house guys are like “Yeah, well you guys are all goths.” It's ridiculous. I'm just as happy to watch Josh Baker play as I am watching Cleric. It's all about what you make of it, isn't it? It's about what it does to you. I am definitely bringing that energy into my sets at the moment. I'm leaning more towards house and garage. I'm not playing as much techno anymore, but it's god to know I can.

We noticed you'll be playing at Baltic Weekender in Liverpool this summer. Is playing for hometown crowds still important to you?

It's weird actually. It's going to be my only date in Liverpool. I don't really know what's going on with the scene in the city. It's dominated by these hard techno parties, but you do see cool stuff popping up now and then. Like Meraki is always good. Baltic Weekender is sick. I think it's a really good idea.

Do you think maybe you're a prime example of why the scene in Liverpool can struggle? Essentially talent drain right?

It just seems like, for what I play, there was never much of a scene in Liverpool for it. It's cool, like, Silva Bumpa does his parties there, and they seem to sell out every time. I like that he focuses on Liverpool, because I think a lot of other artists would skip it — which is a shame, because the Liverpool crowd can be super sick. Baltic Weekender last year proved that there can be a space for that kind of stuff... even if a lot of people in the crowd were posh Southern students. It's so weird being from there and just having no idea how the scene works at all.

When you were included in our Breakthrough DJs of 2025, we saw your mum detailing how proud she was of you on Instagram – has she been a big influence over your journey in music?

Yeah to some degree. It's so funny with my mum, I think she's like infamous in Liverpool [laughs]. She was 19 when I was born, which is wild. She's one of those people who just knows everyone, and she's been a very big part of my musical upbringing. She's got excellent taste in music. She's also my number one fan. She'd probably laugh at you if you said that to her, she'd be like: “No i'm not, he's a gimp.” But yeah she always shares stuff. She's always ripping me, actually; she's so insistent on ripping me. My dad's the same as well, he's a music teacher and lecturer.

Makes a lot of sense as to why you studied music production then...

Yeah definitely. My dad was really formative when it comes to production; he showed me how to use Logic initially. But my mum has always been the driving force behind the other stuff. It's nice, because I've always had a degree of independence; she's never actually done anything particularly – she's just gassed me up. And that's so nice. She just gets it. Like, she’s been to Ibiza so many times in the past, and I'll be like: “Oh, I'm playing Amnesia again this week”, and she's like: “Do you have any idea how mental that is?”

You need to keep hold of her and go out with her as much as you can.

It's funny as well, cause she's never really been to a gig with me!

Really! Is she going to come to the Albert Hall?

Yeah, she's coming to that. She came to my show at Meraki two years ago, and it was a bit of a shit one – there were like 40 people there. Then, she came to see me at The Warehouse Project about a year ago, and I thought, this will be the big one. Disclosure was curating the line-up. I started playing to a full room in The Archive, and half an hour into my set, Disclosure came on and everyone left. I don't know why I thought that I was going to be able to compete with Disclosure at Disclosure's headline show [laughs]. But I had my mum, my dad and my stepdad there. It's really funny because they see videos of me playing to massive rooms all the time, but they've never really made it to one. So hopefully they can make it to a good show this year.

Read this next: A techno obsession: Inside the hard, fast rise of Teletech

How does it feel to be part of this crop of young Northern DJs taking over dance music?

It’s mad, isn’t it? I think something happened over the last few years that has inspired a wave of people to get into making music. Maybe it was lockdown? The North has obviously always been a source of amazing dance music, you know; Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield. But there has been this influx of amazing artists coming from here. It's amazing to be honest, because they are normally pretty sound, they aren't up themselves. And it's nice as well because we're all pals. It never feels like a rat race. There's not this mad competition. I see Kyle Starkey, for example, announcing some sick show, and it's not a case of like: “Aw, I wish I had that show.” It's like: “I am genuinely happy for my mate.” It's beautiful. Also, they are genuinely quite good [laughs]. Watching someone like Kyle playing to these huge crowds in Australia, or like Silva Bumpa taking over America right now. It's quite mental. I don't exactly know why it's happening, but it’s sick.

Do you feel any responsibility to educate kids who were your age when you moved to Manchester about good music?

I think with my sets, definitely. When I started changing my sound, there were a lot of people who didn't fuck with it. They were very insistent on just hearing hard techno. I sort of had a dip for a while with Teletech, where the crowd weren't really there. But then a lot of people stayed as well, they enjoyed the fact that I was playing niche stuff that they wouldn't normally hear. I probably wouldn't even go super niche at Teletech. I've got a pretty core fanbase in Manchester who have been coming to see me since I was playing hard trance at Teletech, and since then I've been watching them be put onto other stuff; some of them went down the bounce route, some of them garage and hard house. But it's nice being able to put people on, especially young people.

Also, I always try to help people out where I can, with advice and stuff, if people slide into my DMs. I do get quite a lot of messages from young lads being like, “Hey, I'm starting to DJ, I just bought my first set of decks, I'm wondering if you could give me any tips?”. Then sometimes me and my housemates will go on their profile and have a little laugh at them [laughs]. But I try to set people on the right path. I think it's always good to tell people, just make music, don't give a shit about what's popular. Make what you like. And, don't play hard techno because... I feel like it's dying.

With a near-constant tour schedule, visiting Asia, Australia and South America in the last year, has there been a pinch-me moment for you so far?

Yeah, but it never comes in the moments you expect. To be fair, Creamfields last year was a big moment because it's like, that's so many people. You know, being from Liverpool — that's what everyone was talking about when they were 15. “My big brother's going to Creamfields this year.... he's buying garys for it.” Then you go, and it's the craziest thing you've ever experienced. But the moments come when you don't expect them. I went to Thailand recently - I wasn't touring or anything - I was on a motorbike with this girl I’d just met on the back, and the sun was beating down. I was really happy. I was like, I'm really privileged that I get to do this because of my job. Also, when I was in China, I was completely terrified. I have no phone signal, I'm in Shenzhen Train Station, and I can't find my platform to get on my plane to Chongqing... again, it’s a moment of thinking: “God, I get myself into crazy situations! My life is nuts!”

More recently, I had this weekend where I played the Amnesia closing parties with Kyle Starkey back-to-back, and then I had to get straight on a plane from the club to go to Tomorrowland Brazil. And that was the most, like, 'DJ weekend' I've ever had. I felt like a real DJ for the first time. It was nuts. This is my life. That's the kind of schedule that Tiësto would have had back in the day. Except he probs did it on a private jet and I flew economy on Iberia [laughs]. Surreal.

Read this next: The Mix 095: Kyle Starkey

What is coming up next for you?

Well, I'm playing at the Mixmag Lab next month for Azyr & Friends at The Cause, which is super exciting.

I'll see you there!

Sick.

Can you tell us a bit about your Mix?

With this mix, I just wanted to capture what a proper peak-time mix means to me - no genre restrictions, just pumping tunes and pure euphoria. Featuring a bunch of unreleased tracks from friends and some classics.

Faster Horses will be appearing at The Mixmag Lab with Azyr & Friends on April 12, get your tickets here

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on X

Tracklist: 
Mall Grab - Long Season Intro Edit
ATRIP - Sinai Ray
The Trip - Feel 4 Me
Silva Bumpa, Riordan - Lifting
Anish Kumar - Reticular Groove
IDEMI - ?????
The Trip - Funky Q Nice
canary yellow - Angel Club (4x4 Mix)
Scruz, Pauly - ?????
KH - Looking at Your Pager (Chris Lake Remix)
OBLQ - ?????
Eloq, Talons - 4 Million
Zero - ?????
Sidney Charles - Carlitos 909
Precious - New Beginning
Ashee - Country Classic
Four Tet - Into Dust (Still Falling)