Day In The Life: Ben Watt of EBTG and now label boss of Buzzin' Fly Records

7.45am

I am woken by the alarm clock. I make a cuppa for Tracey and check some overnight e-mails: a demo from a Russian deep house producer, a photo of an Icelandic songwriter I have been courting and some Viagra and mortgage advice.

8.45am

I head for the gym, more out of guilt than love. I accept that I spend huge amounts of time glued to my laptop or hunched over my DJ mixer or mixing desk (nice posture), and because I once had my knee ruined in a football match on Hampstead Heath with Irish indie band, Microdisney in 1986, I am forced to walk on the treadmill rather than run. I take three magazines to hide the screen so I don't have to watch the minutes crawl by – Wire, MusicWeek and Practical Fishkeeping. I read this last one partly because I secretly keep fish (bought for the kids but now nurtured by me) but also because it actually outsells DJ Magazine, so is a salutory reminder of what a small pond I often swim in.

I spent 20 years with Tracey Thorn in Everything But The Girl (now garaged awaiting an MOT) but for the past 10 years I have been a DJ and for the last five I have run an independent label specialising in house and techno called Buzzin' Fly, and for the last two, a sister label focusing on alt-pop called Strange Feeling. I say small pond because taxi drivers still occasionally recognise me from Everything But The Girl but I have yet to meet any taxi driver who even kindly pretends to have heard of either label. No matter. The underground, as we all know, is tomorrow's underground, and that is as it should be.

10.20am

I have a home office and studio up under the roof of our house. It is a cocoon I have to be reminded to leave sometimes. I've made all my electronic tracks in this studio (in part, moved from our old house) from EBTG's 1996 Walking Wounded album, through the Sade and "Tracey In My Room" remixes back in my days fronting the West London Sunday club Lazy Dog (1998-2003) to my most recent club track "Guinea Pig" which comes out on Buzzin' Fly in October. Broadband, especially mobile broadband, is utterly liberating in many ways but encourages you to live in isolation and work in a bubble. Group office bonding is not one of its benefits. I spend an hour contentedly alone downloading music promos for my weekly radio show on Kiss and sifting through demos, MySpace and The Hype Machine in the hope of finding new raw talent, before I remember to head to the office, and do the bonding thing.

12pm

I make myself a bagel sandwich and walk the 20 minutes to the Buzzin' Fly office at Camden Lock. I like Camden. Beneath the surface Euro-trance and tourist-punk paraphernalia there still lies a proper scene based round the pubs and backrooms of Chalk Farm Road. I have a round table catch-up with my label manager, Marianne, and Lizzi, our press and promotions queen. There are artwork designs and a test pressing to approve, and a few cheques to sign. We have a clutch of releases out in September and October – debut albums from Brooklyn's Tigercity and Budapest's The Unbending Trees on Strange Feeling, and the second mix compilation from San Francisco's DJ-producer, Justin Martin, plus a couple of vinyl 12" singles on Buzzin' Fly. We are a small office. Everyone does three or four jobs. I mix the traditional if sometimes cumbersome strategies I learnt from being on a major for 20 years with the more nimble and leading edge techniques that independence enables: sharp-end e-promotion, near-instant releases, personal contact and online communities.

4pm

I jump on the bus back home and pack an overnight bag. I have mastered hand-luggage travel. I can do a week's DJ trip with hand luggage only (including records), compressing my wardrobe into a selection of rolled-up T-shirts and flip flops. Hotels can always provide things such as toothbrushes and shampoo, so why worry.

6pm

After an hour playing with the kids in the garden, I head for St Pancras. On the Eurostar, I skim read bits of Michael Bracewell's brilliant Roxy Music bio [Re-make/Re-model], eat a fruit salad and some Maltesers, while drinking some nasty warm lager. The journey also allows me time to lay down the soundbed for the radio show on my laptop. I use a programme called Ableton Live and can splice together the music I want to use for the show, listening to it on my headphones. I practise my French on the guard who smiles painfully, then answers me in English.

10pm

I arrive in Paris. At the station I meet Mademoiselle Caro, a wonderful Paris DJ and recording artist for Buzzin' Fly, and promoter of tonight's gig. We have a Buzzin' Fly party tonight at the famous Rex club. We drive to a small café near the venue to eat.

1.00am

I walk to the venue. Caro is already playing the warm-up set. I loiter at the back of the DJ booth watching the crowd arrive and gauging the vibe of the room.

1.45am

It is my turn to DJ. I mix upcoming Buzzin' Fly tunes with new tracks, deep house and techno classics plus occasional wild cards. In London we have successfully managed to merge our regular club nights on Saturdays at The End with the releases, radio show and online community so the label stays visible, but abroad it's tougher. Without regular return visits or residencies, we have less presence, so club nights draw a less committed crowd. Even so, by the middle of the night, the crowd is locked into our sound.

4am

I hand over to the next DJ, our London resident Chris Woodward, and sense the party will run and run. I could stay the distance or quit now. Deciding later is always a bad move and nursing the remains of a sinus infection, I decide to cut my losses and get my head down. Caro helps me hail a cab. The taxi driver is playing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here".

5am

I exchange some iChat with a couple of other DJs who I spot online. Like me they will be in hotel rooms somewhere in the world. Tracks and ideas and camaraderie are always traded electronically in the small hours across continents. It is like a secret community. I brush my teeth with the hotel toothbrush, take two paracetamol and settle down in another unfamiliar bed. I always think of the kids waking up in a couple of hours time.

www.buzzinfly.com / www.strangefeelingrecords.com / www.totalkiss.com/buzzinfly

Buzzin' Fly: 5 Golden Years In The Wilderness, Unmixed and Selected by Ben Watt (Buzzin' Fly) is out now