MICHAEL Hutcheson is a name which is synonymous with the Glasgow dance music scene.

The veteran DJ has been an integral part of the city club scene since 2000, providing warm-up sets for some of dance music's biggest stars.

And at 32, he shows no signs of slowing down as he prepares to entertain the crowds at this year's Coloursfest dance music festival at the Braehead Arena on Saturday, August 5.

"I used to go to Coloursfest as a punter," Michael recalled.

He continued: "It became an annual thing for me and my friends to go to Coloursfest.

"There was the outdoor terrace where people like Judge Jules would do his Radio One broadcast.

"Indoors, you would have your A-list artists from Tiesto to Armin Van Buuren.

"It blew me away when I first went and it has been a love affair since then.

"I wanted to become involved and perform on the stages, and I think naturally that is when I took my Djing a bit more seriously."

Since he focused on his Djing, the crowds have followed Michael and he is more often than not a part of some of the city's biggest trance nights.

The DJ, who is originally from Erskine but now lives in Bishopton, took to the decks as a teenager when he was just 17.

Having built a reputation for pleasing the crowds on the dancefloors of commercial clubs, he then took over the underground scene earning slots at classic trance nights including Inside Out.

Now he has become a firm favourite with dance promoters Colours, and despite the explosion of Electric Dance Music (EDM) in the last few years, Michael believes trance is on its way back.

He said: "Trance did go through a tough period and the crowds did dip.

"But there are DJs who kept with the sound and now the numbers are starting to go back up."

He added: "We persevered with it and if you have the right bookings, date and concept for the show, people are going to paying attention to it.

"Even Will Atkinson who is on Radio One is in the main arena this year. So we actually have trance represented in the main arena for the first time in four years.

"EDM didn’t last as long and now the audience is looking at what else is on."

Through his warm-up sets, Michael has also discovered that the crowds in Scotland are willing to give other styles of dance music a chance – including progressive.

He explained: “It has surprised me how well the crowd has taken to progressive music as there used to be a generation of clubbers that wanted stuff banging from the word go but you can’t always do that.

“I tend to play progressive music during my warm-ups so that I am not take anything away from the headline acts.

“I am just there to wind the crowd up so they are ready to let go when the main artists comes on.”

He added: "The Scottish audience are just absolute lunatics, they bounce of you and vice versa. It goes right through you and it is a really good experience. I played different places in Scotland but a festival show is really different, people are just up for it from the word go. It is just great."

Despite over a decade as a DJ, Michael has not lost love for what he does. The industry has its ups and down but for Michael, performing and playing the music he loves will always keep him passionate about Djing.

He said: “Sometimes you can fall in and out of love with music especially with people’s comments.

“There is a lot of politics involved and you can get scunnered with it but the one thing that brings it all back around is just getting out there and playing.”

And playing at a festival such as Colourfest is one of the thing that Michael looks forward to the most.

He said: “If you didn’t have a festival, your clubbing calendar is missing a focal point.

“This is the one thing that comes around and people will wait on it every year.”

He added: “You need that one big show that everyone can relate to and all the club shows that are around Colourfest lead towards this.

“This is because you are pulling all these artists from the club shows to make Colourfest the crème of the crop – that is what Colours do every year.”

Catch Michael Hutcheson at Coloursfest 2017 which takes over Braehead Arena Glasgow on August 5.

Thousands of party people right next to the River Clyde, with over 60 artists playing across six arenas, it’s the dance music event of the summer.

Tickets are on sale now via Skiddle, Tickets Scotland and Ticketmaster plus local outlets across Scotland.

Check the Colours Facebook page for a full list of outlets.