Rossko
A former footballer raised on London pirate radio, Rossko became a long-standing resident of FUSE and launched his own label, Late Night Skanking, in 2019.
- London DJ and producer, born in 1984, who grew up in the city’s outer suburbs on the Essex side.
- Former professional footballer; first residency with Lost Souls in Shoreditch from 2005 to 2008.
- Long-standing FUSE resident; launched Late Night Skanking in 2019.
Rossko came to DJing late, and from an unusual direction: professional football. Since the mid-2000s he has become a fixture of London’s afterhours scene and one of the resident DJs of FUSE, with a sound that leans deep, dubby and stripped back.
Pirate radio and football
Born in 1984 and raised in the outer suburbs of London, in Essex, Rossko started listening to electronic music at 14. Pirate radio was his school. “Pirate radio was the only place we could go to to find music,” he told Ibiza Spotlight in 2017. He taped tracks off the air, played them on his Walkman in local record shops to find out what they were, and MC’d on pirate stations.
Music ran alongside a football career. He played professionally until an injury ended it at 21, and he has said the discipline of sport carried over into DJing. In 2003 he spent six months in Madrid.
London afterhours
His first residency, from 2005 to 2008, was with Lost Souls, known for its Saturday daytime parties at Public Life in Shoreditch. By 2012 he was resident and promoter at Cerca Trova, an East London basement party, and at the afterhours night Found. He had played all three rooms at Fabric, along with The Key, The Cross, Egg and Turnmills, and shared bills with Loco Dice, Luciano, Josh Wink and Nick Curly.
A decade at FUSE
FUSE began as a collective of record collectors, MCs and producers, and Rossko became one of its leading figures. In London the party moved from 93 Feet East on Brick Lane to bigger rooms such as Village Underground; in Ibiza it went from Sankeys to Space and from Benimussa to Amnesia. By 2017 it had been running for ten years.
On record he has favoured quality over quantity. In 2019 he released the Conscious EP with Per Hammar on Infuse, then Blossom, his debut solo EP on FUSE, with “The Step Up”, “Cerca Trova” and a Burnski remix. The same year he launched Late Night Skanking as a label, a party and a fashion brand. The name had already appeared on his remix of Djebali’s “1984”, credited as Rossko’s Late Night Skanking Mix.
The sound
Space Ibiza described his style as raw and earthy, leaning towards deep, dubby techno-house and shaped by jungle, garage and hip-hop. DJ Mag has described his sets as a hypnotic mix of minimal house and techno. For more from the same London-to-Ibiza circuit, read about Jamie Jones.
FAQ
Who is Rossko?
A London house and techno DJ and producer, born in 1984, best known as a long-standing resident of the FUSE parties.
Was Rossko a professional footballer?
Yes. He played professionally and retired at 21 after an injury, before turning to DJing.
What is Late Night Skanking?
Rossko’s imprint, launched in 2019 as a record label, a party and a fashion brand.
