“Any nightclub or party you expect me to have been at, I have, and then some…!”

Grace Sands began DJing as one half of the partnership Digs and Woosh, both veterans of the U.K.’s first deep house sound system — DiY Sound System — set up in Nottingham in the late ’80s, peaking in popularity during the free party heyday of the ’90s at the infamous Castlemorton Free Festival.

With Castlemorton a globally recognised phenomenon, Digs & Woosh travelled the world — playing in San Francisco, Atlanta, throughout the US, South East Asia and the Antipodes, and in Europe regularly at The Rex, Queen and Respect in Paris — making friends with youthful French DJs Jef K, Jerome Pacman, Dan Ghenacia & Ivan Smagghe.

The collective debuted in ’91 with Jose Padilla in Ibiza, successfully playing Amnesia, Pacha and Space Terrace in its outdoor heyday.

The duo started out playing their shared love of hip hop, funk, post-punk, disco & jazz — diverging into the world of ambient with the infamous ‘Serve Chilled’ show on Nottingham pirate Rave FM, later becoming “only a few people who could actually play the Cafe Del Mar sunset” (Jose).

After years at the deep house coalface together, Grace moved to London for fresh pastures in 2003, continuing to play together and to develop her own DJ career.

She became a mainstay of Glastonbury’s iconic queer venue NYC Downlow — she is, according to Luke Howard of Horse Meat Disco, “a child of the Downlow” — meeting Shay Malt of London’s queer night Adonis when playing there in 2016.

From this came her ADONIS residency. She also runs her party Sands of Time, writes and produces, and is a joint host of the ADONIS NTS show, guesting on London’s Rinse & Foundation FM alongside Netil Radio and Nottingham’s Swingdash.