In the age of overexposure and algorithmic aesthetics, Mitch Wellings treads a quieter path — one lined with fog-kissed trails, the hum of analog warmth, and an ear attuned to the emotional frequencies between the beat. Based in the pastoral calm of Staffordshire, far from the throb of capital city nightlife, Wellings carves out his musical world with both care and conviction — a craftsman more than a curator, whose productions feel less like tracks and more like transmissions from a thoughtful parallel.
Over the past few years, his label Space Tours has charted its own orbit, drifting with elegant ease through dancefloor-ready rhythms and introspective motifs. Whether via his own imprint or sought-after slots on platforms like Nuances de Nuit, Planet Orange, and LockedIn, Wellings evokes a unique gravity: one that draws in listeners slowly, then holds them in its field. His music murmurs rather than shouts, and in doing so, speaks volumes — about patience, place, and the push-pull between solitude and scene.
But behind the head-nodding groove and celestial motifs lies a multidimensional artist whose reach extends far beyond the booth. A teacher, mentor, sound engineer, and community advocate, Wellings’ world is one of quiet impact and intentional movement. As he prepares to release “The Ritual EP” on Ste Roberts’ Private Parts label and orchestrate his Space Tours takeover at Little Fields Festival, we caught up with the Midlands-based artist to talk studio sanctuaries, fluffy exoplanets, and the eternal balancing act between doing it all — and doing it well.
Torture the Artist: Hey Mitch, where are you right now and what’s going on?
Mitch Wellings: I’m in Staffordshire, England, in my home studio, having just got back in from a big walk. I’m fortunate to have a nature reserve on my doorstep here which helps to keep my head clear.
Torture the Artist: You’ve had a great few years with your own Space Tours label picking up brilliant support, along with appearances on other quality imprints such as Nuances De Nuit, Planet Orange and LockedIn – you must be pretty chuffed with how it’s all going overall?
Mitch Wellings: Yeah, I’m always happy to get my music out into the world. It’s a great feeling knowing that there are people out there who appreciate it enough to buy it and play it. I’d still be doing it even if people never heard them though to be honest, as I genuinely just enjoy making tunes.
I’m bored of always being the one having to shout about my own tunes every time I self-release.
Torture the Artist: Next up, you’ve got “The Ritual” EP landing on Ste Roberts’ excellent Private Parts label; can you tell us how this coming together with Ste’s label and why did you decide to not release the EP on your own imprint?
Mitch Wellings: It started when Ste bought my album and played one of the tracks on his Rinse FM show. I then caught a bit of his set at Houghton, but never got to say hello properly. He reached out short notice to see if I’d be up for doing a mix for his Rinse FM show, something like 2 days before it went out. I already had a completely full diary of work stuff, but it was a great opportunity that I couldn’t say no to. Somehow, I managed to record something in one take, in the only spare hour I had before broadcasting.
There was a bit of back and forth of music after that and he asked me if I’d be up for releasing on Private Parts, which led to “The Ritual EP”. We’ve still actually never met, I guess it’s just a shared love of wonky tunes that has brought us together with this one. As for why I didn’t release the tracks myself, I guess I’m bored of always being the one having to shout about my own tunes every time I self-release, it’s nice to have someone else to back what you do. The support of Ste on this has been greatly welcomed, big respect to Ste.
Torture the Artist: Also when can we expect a new EP of yours on Space Tours and is the label going to be platform for yourself only or open for other artists’ music too?
Mitch Wellings: I have an EP ready, I’m just so busy at the moment, I’m trying to find a bit more time to breathe before I set another release in motion. It’s got some deeper stuff on too, so maybe more suited to club season rather than festival season anyway.
I’m definitely open to releasing the music of other artists on Space Tours, I’m just quite fussy and rarely get sent bits that I like. Hopefully this changes though and some quality stuff lands in the inbox. I’m also looking to start a podcast series, but again the quality will need to be high.
Torture the Artist: We see that you’re involved with the Little Fields Festival in Wales this May, can you give us a little more information on that and who you have on your stage?
Mitch Wellings: I played for Ali (Little Fields) at his event he ran in Birmingham prior to him entering the festival world. He kindly asked me if I’d be up for doing a Space Tours stage. It’s a collab with Little Fields so we’ve both had input. We’ve got his residents on warmup, Mini and Voyager. Jack D and The Darrs, who I’ve known for years but also lived in Birmingham so are tight with Ali as well. In the peak time slot is Alec Falconer b2b with Reeshy, which has big fun party vibes all over it. I’m really looking forward to playing, as well as a second set of more downtempo stuff the next day for the chillers. The site is a little slice of heaven. It’s going to be a great way to kick off the summer!
Anyone North of London, particularly working-class cities, are generally overlooked.
Torture the Artist: Will we find you at any other festivals over the summer and, if so, which ones?
Mitch Wellings: I’ll be at Dimensions and Houghton as a punter. Gig-wise I’m usually pretty quiet in festival season to be honest, just a couple of summer festival bookings each year. Unfortunately, we have an incredibly London-centric scene here in the UK, where all the festivals are generally booked by London based bookers, who book almost entirely London based artists (alongside international). Anyone North of London, particularly working-class cities, are generally overlooked. For example, I genuinely can’t name one artist living in my city that gets booked for festivals anywhere in the UK, so I do see it that I’m fortunate to get the bits I do, but it shows there’s a problem there.
Festivals are such a key place for the right people to actually get to see artists play. It would be really positive for the scene to see more open-minded bookers taking on that ‘tastemaker’ roll as far as UK artists are concerned. Respect to the few that do.
Torture the Artist: What’s actually a festival or event you would love to play but have not yet?
Mitch Wellings: Houghton would be a dream. Good set lengths, great sound, perfect settings, switched on crowd.
I wanted to provide something that gives people everything I wish I had when first starting out as a sound engineer.
Torture the Artist: Away from the labels and gigs, you’ve launched a course on the processes of mixing and mastering. Can you fill us in on this and where people can find details?
Mitch Wellings: Yes, I wanted to provide something that gives people everything I wish I had when first starting out as a sound engineer. The Mixing and Mastering Electronic Music course has over eleven hours of content. It’s an all in one resource of good information for electronic music. There is even a full start to finish mix and master, with every step explained in detail.
Mixing and mastering is a real passion of mine and I’m fortunate to do this for some of my favourite labels. The course is perfect for anyone who wants to make every creative decision in their tracks and put out pro sounding productions. It’s also reasonably priced at just 35 euro a month. The new website is thesoundkitchen.podia.com
Torture the Artist: Will you be looking to expand into other areas of production via the courses?
Mitch Wellings: Yes, I’ve been teaching both Logic and Ableton for a decade now, so I will keep adding new courses onto the site, as well as track breakdowns. Time is a big one for me though. I do every aspect of everything involved with running the two businesses, The Sound Kitchen and Space Tours, plus making my own music, digging for records, as well as some freelance music workshops through a few different organisations. That can be anywhere from autistic children’s charities to men’s mental health hospitals, or refugee charities. I even have one 16 year old student with some unique learning needs who comes to my house two days a week as college, just to do music. I’m currently trying to find some balance in my life though, so I‘m looking to grow the team working with me on The Sound Kitchen stuff, as I can’t continue to do everything myself.
Torture the Artist: You released your double-album, “Space Tours: The Legacy Of Phoenix” in 2023 to great acclaim; how did it feel to release a full solo artist album and also can you advise how the concept for this came about, including the use of the voice actors?
Mitch Wellings: It was great to get this one out there. I guess it was brought about by the lockdown madness of the pandemic. Clubs were shut. I wasn’t focussed on making strictly dancefloor stuff, so went for something a bit more avant-garde.
Working with the voice actors helped me tell the story outside of just the music, while creating or emphasising different emotions along the way. Using multilingual voice actors with different accents from around the world gave it a global feel, as I wanted it to seem like an internationally recognised event was taking place, akin to the first moon landings. Certain tones of voice gave it a futuristic yet corporate feel, where I wanted to achieve that. Other tones created an empathetic feel where I was looking for connection. I worked with seven voice actors in total across four continents. I’m actually going to release this album digitally for the first time soon.
Torture the Artist: Release-wise, what else do you have in the pipeline for 2025?
Mitch Wellings: One release is coming on an artist’s label who I booked for a club night I used to run around 12 years ago. They reached out recently to ask, so it’s kind of a full circle moment there. Space Tours 007 should be this year. I’m still considering releasing some of my downtempo stuff also. I’d like to do some more stuff with Private Parts in the future too.
I could pop out there to check if it was indeed just a very large toasted marshmallow and report back.
Torture the Artist: Finally, we have to ask; if you were to indeed put on a Space Tour, what planet would you head to and why?
Mitch Wellings: There’s an exoplanet with the catchy moniker WASP-107 b, which is often described as appearing fluffy, like a toasted marshmallow. It seems to defy the planet formation norms, having an incredibly low density for its gigantic size. I could pop out there to check if it was indeed just a very large toasted marshmallow and report back.
Words by Al Bradley
Pictures by Luke Anton White
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