Paschalis Papamichail, better known as Pammi Pasqual, is a multifaceted DJ, Producer, and label founder originally from Greece. Starting his career at a young age in the mid-2000s, Pasqual quickly immersed himself in both radio presenting and live DJ performances, he first gained recognition as part of the duo BACK2BACKTM, whose tracks like ‘Somewhere’ and ‘Paradise’ racked up impressive view counts on YouTube. Moving to the UK in 2013 to further hone his craft, Pasqual graduated with a BA in Music and Audio Production, which kick-started his solo career. He’s since gone on to support household names like Jax Jones, Sigala, and Chase & Status, while also establishing his own label, Playdance Records. With a career spanning over a decade and a fresh focus on his solo artistry, Pasqual is on the brink of a resurgence with new music and collaborations ready to hit the airwaves.
We sat down with Pammi Pasqual to discuss his career beginnings, his unique musical style, and what’s in store for the future.
Hi Pammi Pasqual, how are you?
Hi, I am doing very well! Thanks for having me! I am actually feeling very excited and motivated these days since I am working on my ‘come back’ as an artist with various ongoing projects and music that I would like to share with you and the world!! I’ve been a bit quiet for a few years in terms of record releases. Although, I had been working a lot behind the scenes to refine my sound, improve my music business knowledge and save a bit for what’s coming next. I’ve recently quit my full-time day job in marketing for the events industry and I am going all-in with my music career as an artist DJ/producer/songwriter and label owner. I was dreaming for this moment to come and now it’s here. Every new beginning is difficult but I am ready for the challenge. Wish me luck!!
To begin, what initially drew you to Electronic Music, and how did you first get involved in the scene?
Before I even start collecting music and DJing, I was just a kid at primary school who was listening to music all day long. I used to sleep in a small bedroom with my brother and even when asleep, the radio was still on overnight, playing some chill-out and lounge tunes or classic rock ballads in the background. At secondary school, I first started scribbling some lyrics or rhymes while seated at the back seat of the classroom, that would keep me from falling asleep (most of the time.. haha) and straight after school I remember tuning in to my favourite local radio stations listening to my favourite radio presenters. I remember that I was always more excited with any new electronic sounds coming from the speakers, with any new club and dance tunes played on the commercial radio stations back then. Eventually, I started listening to some proper house sets that were hosted from local radio DJs, weekends only. These shows lightened up my first spark for house music, with which I eventually fell in love with.
Then, I would often go in the local record shops and listen to various new releases, from Ministry of Sound compilations and compilations made by Vassili Tsilichristos or other more underground compilations made by the record shop owners, introducing me to the underground electronic dance music scene and its various sub-genres. There were only a couple record shops in my hometown specialising in this music back then, but that was more than enough to introduce me properly to the sounds of the electronic dance music scene!
When I finally had my first hard-earned PC at around 16 years old, we finally installed internet connection at home and hallelujah!!! I discovered various online electronic music stations and I became a bit obsessed for a period of time with the French radio station FG. Then I discovered Beatport and Juno and this is when I’ve seen a whole new musical world in-front of me, a world that I was so much wanted to explore!! Although, back in my suburban hometown it was all about commercial music and Greek pop/folk music too, there was almost nothing related to the underground electronic dance music except from these few radio shows and some infamous small parties now and then.
I got involved with local commercial radio stations and I first started as a radio DJ around the age of 14/15 years old. A bit later, I got my first gigs at local bars and clubs playing commercial music and if I was lucky some commercial dance/house music. There were no venues that played strictly electronic dance music in the area, and the one venue that I remember at that time called ‘Sugar’, they had to shut it down, because of illegal drugs consumption. Not a great place anyway for a kid in my age! I am glad that I was never a part of a drugs culture and this is something that makes me a bit proud when thinking of it! I am here for the music and the candies!
A couple of years later and together with my best friends back then, we formed a team and started running our own parties in my hometown Serres, firstly house parties, then some illegal raves and then in various local venues. We had no budget at all, but after school we would run around the local shops and ask for sponsors. We would offer a placement in our event poster and flyer for 100€! I remember in one party, I was wearing a T-shirt with ‘Pammi Pasqual’ written on the back of it and ‘Souvlaki Taverna – Sotos’ written on the front, haha, that was so funny! Next party, we had a ‘Gym’ as main sponsor instead! That was much needed, after all that souvlaki I guess!! For those who don’t know what souvlaki is, let’s call it a Greek Style kebab/shish. You get the picture. Anyway, with these kind of sponsorships we would secure a budget for PA system rentals, lighting, merchandising, radio advertisement and even professional dancers for our shows! We started our first parties as ‘Unknown Group’, literally unknown. We introduced the Tecktonic dance fad to our small town. Tectonic, oh my god! That was hilarious, I remember a group of 10 youngsters, practicing the dance moves in a gym before one of our first shows. They were dancing like mad in that style and myself as the maestro of some lunatics, I was playing the Electo-House beats on a compact CD player.
Soon after all that, we split, and we formed a DJ duo called BACK2BACKTM with one member of that group, my dear friend Martin Levon. We started taking things a bit more seriously at that time, and as I was still in high school, we had our first packed shows and then our first gigs in various other cities away from my hometown. At this time, Martin had a small very basic home studio where we would spend hours and days producing and learning or learning producing on FL Studio. Personally speaking, I only had my PC and a set of DJ headphones but not even a MIDI keyboard or any monitors! I was typing on the actual PC keyboard to play some notes on the FL Studio. Martin helped me a lot with my first steps in music production and helped me become more familiar with other types of underground electronic dance music as well.
By the end of my high school era, I had developed an appreciation and appetite for underground house, deep house, progressive house, tech house and electronica. In 2012, when I had turned in my 20’s we had our first releases as BACK2BACKTM and that was so special! Nowadays, when I am listening back to our early releases, I have such good memories of our old friendship, my youth back home and my early days in the scene, remembering how it all started.
How would you describe your signature style? How would you say this has changed as you’ve matured as an artist?
I have a broad spectrum of influences in my songwriting, production and DJing from both the commercial world as well as the underground electronic scene. I keep an open mind with music, in a similar way that I do with my personal life. I am combining my favourite elements from both worlds and that is reflected in my music. I am not sure if I have a signature sound yet since I feel that I am still discovering and refining my sound but I am on a journey exploring my identity as an artist and as a person as well.
Although, I enjoy writing heavy baselines, dirty synth sounds and dark electronic soundscapes on a 4/4 beat pallet. Then I like to accompany these with melodic lyrics that come straight out of my heart, acoustic instruments such as pianos, guitars or brass instruments and a warm characteristic voice to glue everything together!
I can tell that I am in a new phase now as an artist. I am focusing more on the songwriting and I work harder on the song structure, the lyrics and the melodies way before I start with the production. Slowly but steadily that helped me define better my sound! I believe that this will be reflected in my upcoming releases.
Going back to your question about how my style has changed over the years, I can say quite a lot. In the 00’s I was a lot into electro-house, during the early 10’s I used to release music under the name BACK2BACKTM when our sound was more raw and influenced by the progressive house, house and deep house music of those days. A decade later, as a songwriter/producer I am feeling more inclined towards house, vocal house and deep house with strong influences from electronica, downtempo and even dance/electro pop music. These days, I am looking more for inspiration by listening to artists such as Monolink, Jan Blomqvist, Camelphat, NTO, Claptone, Youngr, Bicep and Bonobo just to name a few. Many of my upcoming songs draw influences from the above artists.
For the record, I am just 33 years old, yeah? The way that I’ve been talking about previous decades in my life suddenly makes me feel like a pensioner DJ (laughing..)
As a DJ I am even more diverse and I love mixing anything from deep house, house, tech house and electronica to afro-house, melodic/organic house and even Nu-disco and funky house. It often depends on the venue where I’m playing and the crowd. I enjoy improvising and floating smoothly from one genre of electronic music to another. I really enjoy playing longer sets where I can express all these influences and where I can tell a story through my music.
Growing up in Greece, what were some of your musical influences? How did those influences shape your early sound?
What had a major influence in my early days and inspired me to go into the EDM direction was David Guetta’s first major hits back in the early 00’s, ‘Just a Little More Love’, ‘Love Don’t Let Me Go’, ‘The World Is Mine’. On top of this, I will never forget Tiesto’s performance at the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. I believe that as a kid seeing DJs performing at this level or DJs making it to the radio as artists with their original songs and in various styles of EDM was so cool and inspiring, it was something very new and exciting back then!
As a kid and teenager I would listen to almost everything, from hit radio stations to house music, to Linkin Park, Evanescence and Placebo to Greek style hip hop and pop/rock music. I am still listening to a lot of different genres and I always like to explore new music. I am not sure how the above influenced my early sound but I am sure that the older I get the more my songwriting reminds me of 00’s pop/rock music. In the meantime, I am trying to bridge these pop/rock songs of mine with deep house, electronica and downtempo productions that I make in the studio. It doesn’t always work but is a challenge I am currently enjoying.
You began your journey in 2005. How has the music landscape changed since you started, and how would you say you have adapted to those changes?
The biggest changes I would say are the rise of social media and the birth of the streaming platforms creating new opportunities (and challenges as well) for independent artists.
When I first started as a radio DJ, YouTube wasn’t even a thing, Facebook neither. Myspace was the king in a digital world which I wouldn’t even understand at that time! Being played on the radio was a big deal back then! To promote our first events we were printing posters and flyers and distributing them all over the town, we had to network from one venue to another and we had to beg for our event ad to be played on the radio! Now the majority of the music marketing is online and this is great because it gives you access to bigger and targeted audiences from the comfort of your sofa!! Although, one thing that I think is a common struggle between artists is the fact that these days being a content creator on social media and having your numbers high unfortunately is a bigger factor than the music itself! I’ve been struggling with this myself and I am hoping to get over it soon and become more active on social media platforms hoping that my music will reach more people. I believe that with a solid social media content strategy and consistent hard work it can happen, but it takes time and energy! Finding the right balance between music production, DJing, social media and digital marketing, personal life and making a living is somehow challenging, but at the same time balance is the key for success! I am still working in this direction and fingers crossed I’ll find this balance soon!
In terms of music, the changes are big too. The electronic dance music genres and styles always change and evolve, when new things and trends are coming up while other styles die out! Personally speaking, this has influenced my first releases as BACK2BACKTM as well as my previous releases as Pammi Pasqual. I like change and I find it challenging and interesting at the same time. I embrace change instead of being afraid of it. I like trying new things and experimenting with new sounds and different influences while I am trying to find my sound identity as an artist. Although, I have huge respect to those who have an identity and consistency in their sound over the years without being very affected by the constant changes and the music trends.
What is it like to run your own label, Playdance Records? What challenges and rewards come with managing a record label in today’s music industry?
I started Playdance back in 2017 straight after my graduation from the SAE Institute with a degree in Audio Production. That gave me the freedom to release the songs I wanted, whenever I wanted and how I wanted! Which was great! I loved having total creative control and hands-on experience of all the processes. From the music creation, to the collaboration with various artists, to the digital design, to the marketing campaigns, the PR and even the boring stuff behind all these such as the accounts and other admin/legal stuff. I’ve learned so much while experiencing all this cycle.
Although, we did a few releases without any results and that was demotivating. I came to the realisation that without a decent budget for online marketing and a proper strategy things don’t move forward easily. Having the need to keep working on a full-time day job at the same time didn’t help. When COVID started things got worse, I lost my day-job as an events sound assistant back then, then I lost all my DJ income and then I had to leave London and go back to my hometown in Greece to live with my mam and dad at the age of 30! It was tough times as it was for everyone else! Although, I am still grateful for the time I spent with my family back then and for taking the decision to take a break and go back home for a while to reconnect with them. During this time I froze any releases and any operations related to the label.
From 2023 onwards, things started to improve rapidly with my DJing career. I was back to having regular weekly gigs in London, all year long. At the same time, I started curating background music as a contractor for a UK based bar chain called ALL BAR ONE. Recently, in July 2024, I quit my day job and for the first time, I am pursuing my dream as an artist DJ/producer/songwriter on a full-time basis. This is a big time for me and I am more excited than ever for this new start! Playdance Records is my vehicle in this journey. This is my home label where I can release my songs and collaborations with friends, musicians, and DJs as well as music from other talented artists with whom we meet along this journey. We are now accepting demos again and I am excited to say that after almost 4 years on ice, we are finally set to release more new songs very soon.
Your live performances have seen you support top names like Jax Jones, Sigala, Danny Howard, and Chase & Status. How have these experiences shaped your approach to DJing and production? What lessons have you taken from performing alongside such heavyweight talents?
I feel blessed for having the opportunity to meet such talented artists and perform before or straight after their sets.
First things first, being humble and professional, these are big characteristics for an artist who goes through this marathon in the music business! People like to work with people, and if someone is not professional or has such a big ego is not an easy person to work with. The most important lesson I’ve learned from supporting big artists on stage, is how they behave backstage, during their set and after their set. How they will speak to the staff and the DJ before or after them, their time-management, their team’s attitude and everyone’s work ethic behind the scenes. Small details like these helped me to improve as a professional and as a person as well.
On top of these, of course being backstage while they perform gives you a better understanding of how they have their DJ set prepared, their gear, their technical skills even the way they communicate with other performers on stage. Anytime I have the opportunity to support such an artist I am like a sponge, absorbing any piece of information possible. I have taken many ideas over time and I have certainly improved the way I perform on stage.
In terms of music production, I’ve learned some good lessons too, but you can also learn these by attending as many gigs of your favourite artists as possible. Reading the crowd and their reactions while listening carefully to what the DJs play on their sets, taught me a lot about what works better on the dancefloor.
Also, comparing what is the style that they are known for as producers with what they play live as DJs helped me with the production too. For example, when I produce/songwrite I am worried that sometimes what I release as an artist doesn’t reflect fully what I play live at events as a DJ and vice versa. I worry that my releases might sound a bit too commercial while I enjoy playing underground electronic dance music as a DJ. Observing such performances helped me understand that it’s okay to be diverse in my approach. I am okay now with the fact that as an artist I operate between the underground electronic dance music and the commercial dance music. I feel quite balanced in between those two and that gives me so much freedom of musical and creative expression.
Can you walk us through your creative process when starting a new track? Do you have any specific techniques that help guide your workflow, or does each track present a unique approach depending on the mood or inspiration?
I have various approaches. As you said, it depends on the mood or the inspiration. Most often I would start with the music production inspired by a random sound, a loop or a melody that gives me a vibe. Although, after taking some songwriting lessons during COVID, with my friend and artist George Gaudy, I switched to an approach that starts with the songwriting first. These days, I tend to write lyrical notes on my phone, lyrics that pop into my head during the day and I will sit down on a bus, train, bench, sofa, wherever, you name it! I will sit down anywhere and write the ideas down! Nothing worse than knowing that I have just forgotten a great idea! Then I do the same with melodies. I’ve got hundreds of voice memos on my phone! Again, I record anywhere and I don’t care if strangers think that I’m singing to a lover over the phone with this ugly voice of mine! By the way, have a backup! I’m just saying 😉 With all these ideas sitting in my phone, I have already a pool of inspiration in which I am diving when I sit down on my chair in my home studio.
At first, I finish off the lyrics, the main vocal melody, I dress it nicely with the chords and when I have the song and the structure ready, I move on to the production. I might have dozens of songs ready or almost ready in terms of songwriting but I only take it to the next step of the production when I am really feeling it and when I see potentials in the song.
Production wise, this is when I will start playing with the sounds, which is the most fun! I start with the instrumentation and then the sound design. After that, I will jump on the arrangement, arrangement is key, having things coming in and out of the songs every 16 beats keeps things flowing in a song or a track! Then I might go a bit back and forth between arrangement, composition, instrumentation, sound design, and repeat, but eventually at some point I am quite happy with the overall production. Days later and when this magic moment comes, it’s time to record the vocals with a singer and maybe some acoustic instruments if needed. Then it’s time for editing the recordings, timing corrections, pitch corrections etc. Very dull, but very necessary at the same time for a refined and cleaner sound. My experience as an intern at a recording studio called Westway Records, here in London, helped me a lot with paying attention to such details! Moises and the team had been super helpful and taught me a lot about sound engineering. I’ve also improved my coffee/tea making skills which is a necessary core skill for any assistant sound engineer.. if you know, you know.. haha!!
After the editing, I will move back to more fun and creative stuff such as mixing with levels, FX, stereo image, automation, etc. I love mixing as it’s such a creative art form. This is why I mix my records to the best of my ability. Although, before I burn my ears and before I start overthinking the mix and before I come to a mental breakdown and give up with the project, I tend to turn to a helping hand! We all need a helping hand from time to time, don’t we? We ain’t superheroes and I no longer insist that I can do everything myself! That’s why I handle my draft mix of the song to a trained audio engineer who hasn’t been listening to the same kick and bass malarkey to death. He/she has fresh ears and the knowledge to fine-tune it and dive into all these super technical details. Mixing and mastering are so important and I tend to leave it to somebody whom I trust and someone who specialises in this. Maybe if I was better at it, I would do this too. But for the time being I am trying to focus more on my songwriting and production duties.
How do you stay inspired when creating new music? Do you have any routines or practices that keep your creativity flowing?
It’s important to have the right space for this and limit the distractions as much as possible. Low lights, LED lights, all my music toys in front of me and a good cup of coffee. Listening to reference tunes and listening to my music ideas and/or what I’m going to be working on. That’s mood setting!! I have a dedicated space in my home which I use as my home studio and I love to be ‘working from home’ these days. Who doesn’t? At the same time I am going to external studios when needed for collaborations and recordings. These studios have better acoustics than my home studio at the moment which is super important for a good quality recording. Also working in such an environment with an artist that you don’t really know on a personal level, is a more professional approach I would say. I love my home studio set-up but at the same time I know its limitations. So, a combination of the above helps me to get better results.
Also, it’s important making time for music and sticking with it even if I am not feeling it. The first hour is the darkest hour when I might be doubting everything about the record and myself! But inspiration comes when you stick with it, and after this first hour things start to flow for me. Sometimes this might be just 15 minutes, sometimes just half an hour but anyway the beginning is always a bit hard. After this I feel concentrated on the project and things start flowing nicely.
Also, I plan what I want to do on each session and have a small goal for the day. For example, today I want to write these lead melodies, or today I want to finish with the drums production. That helps me so much to stay focused and not start drifting around random things and before I know it, to end up watching cat videos! By the way, we all do this, don’t we?? Procrastination is an enemy, keep your phone away at all times!
I will only grab my phone to remind me of some of the ideas that I’ve saved on my notes and voice memos. Because I often start with some draft lyrics that I have written. I like to become quickly inspired and carry on writing these lyrics in order to finish a song. Sometimes, playing a melodic house/techno tune that I like from NTO or Monolink or something similar on the background, helps me to visualise where my lyrics and the song are going. I am kind of top lining my draft lyrics and humming on top of another song that I really like (most often an instrumental). That gives me a good vibe and helps me to finish the lyrics and at the same time helps me to come up with a melodic line for the vocals. I do the same with my productions, if music comes first and the production is already there, I will go through various drafts with lyrics I’ve written and I will see which lyrics match better with a particular production in terms of feelings, sounds and melodies. That helps me to find the perfect match between my music productions which are sitting on my hard drive and my draft lyrics which are sitting on my phone’s voice memos. When I find this perfect match, I feel so much more motivated to carry on with the production and finish the project I’m working on.
Finally, what can we expect next from Pammi Pasqual? Are there any exciting collaborations or projects on the horizon that we should be looking out for?
Yes, I’ve got a new song coming out on the 11th of October. This song is a collaboration of mine with the talented singer from Southampton Luke Trundell called ‘Riders On The Storm’. We recorded this back in 2017. I was very concerned by the Syrian war at that time. The song has a strong antiwar message and is going to be released in very challenging times where we unfortunately still have serious conflicts taking place in Ukraine and Gaza. I know that electronic dance music is often created just for fun and entertainment but at the same time music and art are not only for fun. We, us artists, can give some strong messages from time to time through our music. Art needs to hold a mirror to society and speak some truth. This is a very emotional song with a few metaphors describing how our nations could invest in eliminating poverty and hunger instead of expanding their war machines.
In the meantime, I have a plan for more frequent releases in 2025. These are original tracks of mine collaborations with various local talented artists, mainly in the domains of dance and deep house. Recently, I’ve also been experimenting writing songs and producing, drawing influences from downtempo, electronica and indie. I haven’t released anything similar before and I am currently working on these projects with much joy. Hopefully, I will be able to share them with you soon.
Thanks for this interview EDM Joy, that was my first interview ever! It’s been a great opportunity for a self-reflection and I enjoyed the whole process. Have a great day 🙂
With a career that has spanned over a decade, Pammi Pasqual has demonstrated an unwavering passion for Electronic music. From his early days in Greece to performing at major UK events and supporting industry giants, his journey is one of dedication and continual growth. Now, with a renewed focus on his solo career and exciting projects in the pipeline, it’s clear that Pammi Pasqual is just getting started; and as he prepares for his next chapter, there’s no doubt that he’ll continue to push the boundaries of his sound while keeping his deep love for Electronic music at the core of his work.
Pammi Pasqual Online
