Growing up far north in Helsinki, Sampo aka Ocean People fell in love with hip hop and DJing at the age of 13. A decade later, as DJ Anonymous, he was sharing bills with De La Soul, The Roots & Common. He was also traveling to play cities across Europe. Tours later extended to North America & Asia. A childhood spent with hip hop stimulated a voracious appetite for adjacent sounds. By 2000, Sampo had partnered with friends to start Lifesaver, a specialist record shop. It was popular with locals and visitors alike. J-Dilla, Moodymann and countless others all dropped some hard-earned €€€ there. He was also falling deeper in love with disco, house and their intercontinental variants. This was a personal revelation, as it led to a full appreciation of collective dance floor joy. It is also the origin story of Ocean People. The idea existed dormant for years, as Sampo focused on business outside the DJ realm. In the isolation of the pandemic, inspiration struck hard. This resulted in a new course of musical action, under a new pseudonym. Since then, Ocean People has built a shared home base called HRD Underground Workshop. It's a purpose-built IRL space that explores co-operative action and high-fidelity sound. HRD also streams curated live recordings on its Soundcloud platform. In the booth, Ocean People aspires to always deliver timeless, emotive dance music, weaved into expansive narrative arches. No matter the setting, collective joy remains the singular goal.