The first truly exciting thing to happen in dance music since the turn of the millennium, dubstep appears to be reaching a kind of critical mass in terms of the feverish media coverage afforded to it. At the epicentre of this swirling hype tornado is Skream. Working in Croydon record shop Big Apple at 15, Skream fully immersed himself in the bong-fried mutation of UK garage, yet to be dubbed dubstep, with the help of a cracked copy of music software program Fruityloops. “I reckon I’d definitely still be making music if it wasn’t for Fruityloops, but there would’ve been a bit of a delay while I saved up to buy all the equipment.” Standing on the brink of crossover success, Skream could soon find himself having to play the role of dubstep ambassador – just as Dizzee Rascal did for grime, and Goldie did for jungle. It’s a role he’s slowly but surely adjusting to. And if the box-fresh digital boogie of Skream’s debut long-player gives you an appetite for his unique sound, there’s plenty more where that came from – plenty more. “I did a search on my computer the other day, and it came up with 7,000 track files,” Skream laughs. “And that’s just from, like, 2003. I’ve got another old computer from before then that’s got about half as many files again on it. Right now though, I’ve got writer’s block. I get it every now and again for a month or so.”

Skream performs on Friday, 17th November in Von Krahl.