Are you looking forward to returning to Cream?“I haven’t played Cream since I left to move on and do my own party Circus nearly four years ago.So it’s going to be the first time I’ve played for a bit. And certainly playing in the Courtyard, it’s the second time I’ve ever played in the Courtyard. "I’ve only done it once and I was resident there for four years, and I started that nearly eight years ago now which is unbelievable.” It’s Circus’s fourth birthday coming up as well.“It’s going incredibly well it’s our fourth birthday and I literally can’t wait for it. "It looks like its going to be a sell-out and considering it’s an underground line up its nice to see that quality music can still shine through.” How do you see the Liverpool clubbing scene at the moment?“It’s healthy and competitive shall we say?  | | Yousef at Cream |
"There are a lot of people who, like we were biting at Creams heels four years ago, there’s a lot of people biting at our heels now. “But at the same time we keep on, keep our heads down and just keep an eye on what’s going on the dance floor and obviously musically and try and avoid what happens in the national charts. "We still keep a forward eye on anything interesting and at the same time appealing because you can get too much up your own arse and you’ll just go out of business really soon.” How do you think the closure of Cream’s weekly nights affected Liverpool?“I think it was a good decision by Cream to kind of stop doing the weekly night and move on to concentrating on worldwide events and the music and cd’s. | "Overall my favourite night out in Cream was the first birthday. As a punter it was just incredible." | | Yousef |
“Obviously they still do regular events in Liverpool. I think that the club matured enough to be able to do things less frequently which give a chance to people like me to step in and try and do something a bit more underground. Not as high profile as Cream but on the other hand if I had 10% of Cream’s success at Circus I think I’d be doing well.” How is Circus going?“We’ve got our second album coming out real soon. But at the moment we’re quite happy. It’s a lot of work for me and it’s a lot of work for Rich, plus I’m running my record label and DJ-ing worldwide as well, so it’s not the only thing I do. “So it’s very time consuming. So for now great parties and we’ll see what happens. If we have this conversation this time next year I may have a completely different opinion on it, but it’s really a lot of fun right now and the parties are really great and every month it’s a really good gig. So that’s the most I can ask for personally.” What are you finding most enjoyable at the moment?“Obviously the DJ-ing The last couple of gigs have been really really good. Like I did Space for Carl Cox last week, I did a four hour set on the terrace and that was fantastic. And then I did a really small gig in Dublin which was again really really good. And then Circus, I love doing that.  | | Yousef |
“On the other hand I’ve been living in Ibiza all summer and I’ve come back and I’ve re-set up my studio and I’m just working on music and I really find that as enjoyable as I did when I first started DJ-ing. So maybe that’s what I’m going to end up doing over the next year. “I’ve got some good e.p.’s coming out and I’m getting a lot of support from the big DJ’s playing my music so that’s kind of encouraging.” What are your best memories of Cream?“There are plenty of them. Obviously before I was a DJ there I used to go literally every single week. Loved it. “I learnt all about house music in that club and all different varieties of music and made some great friends and had some of the best nights out of my life.” “But then as a DJ it was the same again, it was a different kettle of fish but I made a lot more contacts as I went along.” “Overall my favourite night out in Cream was the first birthday. As a punter it was just incredible. “And the tenth birthday which was just outrageous. It was a Friday and Saturday party and the Friday was classics and we all played cheesy records from the past ten years and that was great. Saturday was just out of control and I did both." When you went to Cream to begin with, did you dream of being a DJ?“Oh yes. I was obsessed. I literally used to dream about it and believe that I would.” Is it like a football supporter dreaming of playing for their heroes?“Yes. That’s definitely the analogy. Yeah definitely.” What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a DJ? Is a lot of it down to hard work?“Yes, it’s dedication. Obviously, don’t think DJ-ing is easy. The more high profile you get the harder it becomes, it’s not like you can sit back and be a DJ. I worked so hard to sustain what I’m doing and to progress I have to work even harder.” Yousef is in the line up for Cream's 14th Birthday at Nation on Saturday November 18th | 
