Born in Leeds, most at home behind the decks. That’s DJ Tom Zanetti for you. He couldn’t be much busier, with stacks of exciting plans on his agenda. He’s also a reality TV star, with top, platinum-selling tracks ‘Darlin’’ and ‘You Want Me’ too (not on your playlists? Get them on).

We reckon he’s the perfect partner for us here at VIBE. So, when he swung by our head office, suited and booted, we couldn’t wait to sit down and have a chat…

Hey Tom, how are you?

Really well thank you.

Are you excited to be working with VIBE?

Yeah, very excited, I think it’s a great collaboration.

What first made you want to get into music?

I used to write poems as a kid and 1 of the teachers liked 1 I’d written, so they asked me to perform it at assembly in primary school.

My Dad was a DJ, so as I got a bit older, he used to take me to watch him set up and he first showed me house and bassline music. I started rapping over it.

Then my Mum later took me to a studio to record a CD, when I was around 14. I made 4 or 5 copies and gave 1 to a friend who started selling them at school, which I didn’t know about. It got so massive that, every time I went somewhere, I could hear people playing my songs on Bluetooth on their phones.

There used to be a market stall in Leeds where you could buy music that people played in clubs – the stuff you couldn’t get in record stores. We used to go there every weekend to get music to listen to. I went 1 Sunday and the guy said, “You’re Tom Zanetti”. At this point, people knew of me, but they didn’t know me. I thought I was in trouble. He went, “Your CD’s been the best-selling here for god knows how long.”

So, the CD my mate had been burning and selling at school had got onto that really cool market stall. After that, it started getting widely known up north.

By the time I was 17, working on a building site, a friend rang me and said my music was massive and he wanted to throw a party, because he was a promoter. I ended up putting the party on and it was that big that it sold out and the police shut it down. We then set up our own event on a Thursday, before I was even old enough to get in the club, and it was selling out every week. It went from there – we knew we had an audience and a product, and we started building on it.

What are your fave summer tunes?

There’s a song I’m listening to over and over again at the minute, it’s called ‘Bodyworkin’ by Tapesh [and High Soundsystem]. It’s a really cool track.

There’s a number of songs though really. I listen to a lot of magic soul and older music. I like Patrick Topping, Michael Bibby, so many DJs I could mention that are all really cool.

Where do you like to holiday in summer?

I don’t really get to ‘holiday’ in summer. People think it looks really glamorous when Monday I’m in Ibiza, Tuesday I’m in Zante, Wednesday I’m in Majorca... But it’s literally non-stop. Fly out, check into the hotel, run down to the beach and get a selfie. Then we’ll go to the club and back to the airport and then off to the next place.

Every January, I go to Thailand for the full month [for an actual holiday], but I really enjoy Majorca as well.

Rooftop bars or beach clubs?

It depends on the vibe. I like to do beach clubs in the day, get a bit wavy and feel the sun on my face. Then in the evening, I’ll put a shirt on and head to a rooftop bar.

Chilling or exploring?

If I’m shattered, I like to chill and recharge. But then when I’m all charged, I go off and do all the crazy stuff and see what I can. I’ve been parasailing before and I like exploring and being adventurous too.

What’s your summer VIBE?

Electric, insane and wild.

Any other big partnerships in the pipeline that you can tease?

We’ve got other partnerships, music deals and new songs coming out. There’s the men’s clothing brand, plus the restaurant Playroom and Dollhouse the nightclub. I’m just trying to expand on everything really and see what markets we can tap into.