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Dave Armstrong was only 12 when he first touched a pair of turntables, spinning at his mate’s birthday party. He had memorised every track he was going to play, but forgot half the records for the gig. “I had to dig into my mum’s records, playing tracks from the Beach Boys,” Armstrong recalls, describing the debut as an unimpressive mash-up of dance, trance and oldies. “It was a far cry from Fierce Angel, but I would still love to see a video of it.”

Luckily Mark Doyle, the founder of Hed Kandi and Fierce Angel records, didn’t sign the kid based on his first performance. Since 2006, the Fierce Angel team has been pumping out house, electronic and disco tracks, and they now have 12 CD releases under their belt. The UK-based label has also taken their events worldwide with parties in the US, Ibiza, Moscow and more – fine tuning their tracks for every market.

Before being signed to the label as a DJ and producer of its radio show, Armstrong worked at Galaxy, a radio station in the north of England. The gig got him noticed by Doyle, who instantly recognised Armstrong’s superstar radio personality.

“It was the job interview from hell, though,” says Armstrong, referring to the fateful day he was signed. He waited in the reception area for more than an hour but was blown away once he met Doyle in person. “I was expecting someone serious, but Mark was really down to earth. He is full-on passionate and if the world were to end tomorrow he would be like, ‘Alright, well what do you have to get done today?’”

Out of the entire Fierce Angel catalogue, Armstrong feels the Fierce Disco albums suit Hong Kong best, even though he’s never been here before. Seeing as the city exudes flashy labels and adores bling, the crowd should eat up the Studio 54-ish electronic disco tracks. Fierce? You know it.

Tina Lee