Of all the nights Steve Maydwell played in Asia, the one he still thinks about is New Year’s Eve at Gōng, where he played the headline set. “It was an unbelievable atmosphere,” he says. “The room was packed with people who were there for good music.”
Maydwell is from Nuneaton, in Warwickshire. He produces under the name Skey Drive and plays as one half of The Maydwell Brothers. From 2017 to 2022 he worked as a professional DJ in China, based in Chengdu, and played underground music venues in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Jinan, Rizhao and Chengdu. His sets move through house, tech house, progressive house, funky house, melodic techno and minimal.
01 — The cameraA photographer first
Before the records, there was the camera. By 2014 Maydwell was shooting live gigs and studio portraits, and that year he completed a certificate in advanced Photoshop at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. Matt Page, director of AREA 51, recommended him the same year for his “brilliant live work”, noting that wide-angle shots were a speciality.
In September 2015 one of his images was published in Creative Portrait Magazine, and in March 2017 That’s Beijing ran a restaurant review he wrote. He still photographs under the name Maydwell Photography. The festival crowd in the gallery below is one of his own pictures.
02 — ChinaNearly five years underground
Maydwell turned professional in August 2017, in Chengdu. What Asia gave him, he says, was chances the UK never did: promoters there, as he tells it, wanted DJs with great music rather than DJs with big social media followings.
Without the language, the records had to carry every conversation. “When you can’t speak the language you completely rely on communication via the tracks you pick,” he says. “That’s how you control the dance floor and the tempo of the night.”
“They wanted DJs with great music, not DJs with big social media following.”
The pandemic did not stop him playing. In June 2020 he posted a run of hour-long sets to YouTube under titles such as Corona Cast and Saturday Sanitizer, each marked Beijing: progressive house, techno, tech house and melodic techno, one of them recorded as a bedroom mix.
His own photograph. A festival crowd at night, shot by Maydwell, who still works as a photographer.Photo: Steve MaydwellClub set. Sharing the decks, and a laugh, at a club set.Photo: courtesy of Steve MaydwellThe Maydwell Brothers. Maydwell’s duo, which plays open-air festivals and garden parties.Photo: courtesy of Steve Maydwell
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His own photograph. A festival crowd at night, shot by Maydwell, who still works as a photographer.Photo: Steve Maydwell
03 — HomeSkey Drive and The Maydwell Brothers
Maydwell has been back in the UK since 2022. As Skey Drive he has released two demos, Katie and Tavishi, in March 2024; a mix titled Ibiza 2025 Sunset Boat Mix in September 2025; Soul Dance in December 2025; and SOUNDWAVES in January 2026. All five are on his SoundCloud.
With The Maydwell Brothers he plays open-air festivals and garden parties closer to home. This summer the duo were billed for the 17:00 to 18:00 slot on the Funky House Stage at ELEV8 Open Air Festival in Nuneaton on 4 July, and for INTAKE’s Summer Garden Party at the Royal Oak in Hartshill on 1 August. A 70-minute Maydwell Brothers set from April 2022, HotBox At Home #2, is on his YouTube channel.
The two trades now feed each other. When he photographs a gig before his own set, he spends that time on the dance floor, listening to the DJs who play before him and watching what the crowd responds to. By the time he reaches the decks, he says, the track list he planned may have changed completely.
04 — In his wordsThree questions
Which Asia gig do you still think about, and what did it teach you?
I often still think about playing the headline set at Gōng on New Year’s Eve. It was an unbelievable atmosphere. The room was packed with people who were there for good music. Asia gave me chances that the UK never have. They wanted DJs with great music, not DJs with big social media following like the UK seems to put emphasis on. When you can’t speak the language you completely rely on communication via the tracks you pick. That’s how you control the dance floor and the tempo of the night.
You shoot photos and play records. Does one change the other?
Taking photos at a [gig] before I play gives me more time to read the room and see what the crowd are reacting well to. My planned track list might end up being completely changed by the time I get behind the decks, based on what I have heard the other DJs play before me while I’m on the dance floor with my camera.
What did a promoter or venue do that made you feel respected?
As I said before: when promoters choose you because of your music, not your social media following. That’s what makes you feel respected as an artist!
Steve Maydwell is on GigDay as a DJ and producer. What he wants from the people who book him is simple, and he said it twice in three answers: to be chosen for the music.
On GigDay
Meet Steve Maydwell
House, tech house and melodic techno for your gig, from a DJ who spent nearly five years in China’s underground clubs. Booked, briefed and paid through GigDay.
