Jole Richard Hughes (born 17 December 1981), better known by his stage name S3RL (pronounced "Serl"), is an Australian

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

DJ, record producer, singer and musician from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Career

S3RL, also known as DJ S3RL, began his music career in the early 2000s and has since become a prominent and influential figure in the

scene. The name "S3RL" originated from a childhood nickname, which began with his cousins calling him "arsehole". To avoid profanity, they would say "arserl" instead. According to S3RL, this new word stuck, so he decided to use it as his stage name. One of S3RL's most popular tracks is "Pretty Rave Girl" (2006), which uses the melody from "

Daddy DJ Daddy DJ is a French dance act consisting of David Le Roy and Jean-Christophe Belval. Musical career David Le Roy and Jean-Christophe Belval first met at the French sound engineering school in Paris, where Berval was a teacher while Le Roy was ...

" (November 1999) by the French dance act of the same name. S3RL has contributed tracks for several UK hardcore compilation series, including the ''Bonkers'' series. Some of his other works are "Fantasy Land", "Raver Dimension", "Rainbow Girl", "Friendzoned", "Sek C Raver", "Little Kandi Raver", "Pika Girl", "Keep on Raving Baby", "the Bass and the Melody", "Dopamine", "You Are Mine", "Wont Let You Go", "Bass Slut", "Feel the Melody", "All That I Need", "Shoulder Boulders" and "MTC" (also known as "Masturbate To Cartoons"). In October 2010, he appeared as a DJ at the inaugural Bam! Festival at Ivory's Rock in southeast

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Many of his songs reference different aspects of

Japanese pop culture Japanese popular culture includes Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, anime, manga, video games, music, and doujinshi, all of which retain older artistic and literary traditions; many of their themes and styles of presentation can be t ...

, such as

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

hentai Hentai () is a style of Pornography in Japan, Japanese pornographic anime and manga. In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exist in a variety of media, including artwork and video games (commonly known as ''eroge''). The developme ...

, and

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

. In 2011, he founded his own record label, EMFA Music, through which all of his works are released. In May 2012, the label released "Press Play Walk Away" as a single by S3RL and SynthWulf, a fellow hardcore DJ. As of February 2015, S3RL was ranked 1798 on the "Official Global DJ Rankings" page djrankings.org, which bases its rankings on a number of factors include chart rankings, DJ fees and radio airplay. During mid-2015, his single "Genre Police" (featuring Lexi), which had been issued in Australia in November the previous year, peaked at No. 10 on the

Norwegian singles chart VG-lista is the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from Norwegian and international artists. It is presented weekly in the newspaper '' VG''. The data is collected by Nielsen Soundscan International and based on the sale ...

. In January 2017, S3RL was announced as a featured artist for the

rhythm game Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to pres ...

, ''

osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a freeware rhythm game originally created and self-published by Australian developer Dean Herbert. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 16 September 2007, with later ports to macOS, Linux, Android (oper ...

''. In early 2018, S3RL announced that his 2018 tour would be his last, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. Though he advertised it as being his final shows, he clarified that he might be willing to return to the stage after at least two years: "After 2018 I will not do any shows for at least a couple of years, then re-assess the situation to do the occasional show here and there.... For example, if I was booked for a show in 2020 that I could bring my family along to I would consider it, but during the two years off I will not be doing any shows at home or away." He also stated that his music production would be unaffected. In February 2020, S3RL decided to hire contract partners to help him make his new music videos. He notably recruited Aurélien Dacher, a French beatmaker, and they have since created: You Are Mine, Nasty, Dopamine, Wanna Fight Huh, The Bass & The Melody, and S3RL Absolutely Presents. In May 2021, S3RL announced his new label, M4 Music, with the release of "Dance More (Atef Remix)" on 14 May 2021. In January 2025, S3RL played a set at HTID, marking his first live in person show since 2018.

Personal life

S3RL lives in

with his wife Jodie and their two sons.

Discography

Singles

S3RL Remix tracks

S3RL Mixes

References

External links

* * * on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

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S3RL
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Spotify
{{Authority control 1981 births 20th-century Australian musicians 21st-century Australian musicians Australian record producers Australian electronic dance music DJs Happy hardcore musicians Hardcore techno musicians Living people Media founders Musicians from Brisbane UK hardcore musicians Frenchcore musicians