Stephen started playing drums at 13, chasing the energy of the punk, hardcore and hip-hop sounds from Chicago in the late 90s and early 2000s. By his late teens, he was drawn to the syncopation and softer soul of jazz, R&B, and blues. College in the mid 2000s introduced him to electronic music when bloghaus was thriving - and with it, the splashy, accessible sounds of disco house and nudisco. As the short-lived era ended, the raw, unfiltered sounds of electro stayed in his rotation. After a coming-of-age detour through electro house, moombahton and dubstep (ok.. it was brostep..) in the early 2010s, he landed in the grooves and darker sounds of deep house - coinciding with his move to NYC in January 2013. Seeking faster, punchier styles, he slowly gravitated toward tech house, which set him up for his introduction to the rave scene and techno by 2020. Today, Stephen plays energetic techno that pulls influence from decades of genre exploration, often landing in hardgroove, speed garage, and Latin techno - with deeper dives taking a grimy, hypnotic turn.