“You just don’t know what life is going to throw at you.”

When Dublin-born Therese Mullan, DJ, blogger and label coordinator at Alabama 3’s label Hostage Music, decided to up sticks and move to London back in 2010, she had her whole future mapped out. After completing a degree in Acting and Costume design, the ambitious 27-year-old dreamed of living the “London lifestyle”, unexpectedly re-locating to Brixton with her friends after originally planning to live in Clapton. It was this change of plan that landed her the admirable job she has today, proving the truth of the notion that everything happens for a reason.

“This was not what I had in mind for myself at all. I spent ages fighting with myself that I had slipped into a career I hadn’t studied for. I felt like the world was trying to change my ambition. I felt so out of my depth.” she explains.

Originally hired merely as a bartender at Brixton Jamm, a venue at the heart of Brixton’s lively music scene, Mullan never expected what was to come. Though acting and costume design was her original career of choice, she had always worked as a DJ and writer for various publications, giving her the experience needed for the job she has today.

“My manager noticed on my CV that I used to write for that guide ‘Le Cool’. At the bar one day he asked me to send him over some of my work. When I did, he said ‘we need somebody to do event copy for us in the club, so he moved me up into the office 3 days a week.”

“I got to know Johnny, the owner, who’s also Irish, and we just got on so well, and because he’s Alabama 3’s manager I just got to know the band and it went from there. I guess it’s just from me being quite personable, really.” She’s probably right. Her happy-go-lucky, bubbly and gregarious nature makes her a real pleasure be around. She couldn’t be more suitable for the job.

As label coordinator, amongst a variety of jobs, Mullan is in charge of sending out copies of promotional CDs of bands she works with to various magazines and radio stations, writing the newsletters for the venue, Alabama 3 and the record label itself, looking after artists before or after gigs and events, and other PR work. “I think you have to be really brave in press, and not be afraid to say things that are going to rock the boat a little bit, because that’s actually how you get responses from people.”

The most rewarding aspect of her work­­, she claims, is how her mind is constantly stimulated by all of the fascinating people she gets to meet and work with. “I’m collaborating with really creative and open-minded individuals. There are people you wouldn’t assume are intellects that are so intelligent and interesting.”

Her face beams as she begins to talk about those whom she now considers close friends. “If you dig into Alabama 3, for example, Jake, one of the lead singers, he’s really into socialism and Trotsky and stuff and he’s an amazing writer. Then Rob the other lead singer, he’s a trained lawyer. You wouldn’t expect it all, it really shocks you sometimes.”

Mullan gushes about the time she has spent with Libertines and Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty, describing him as “so lovely” and claiming that he isn’t at all how people would expect him to be. “He’s really vulnerable and so, so intelligent. I’ve grown to really love him. He plays at the Jamm a few times a year now.”

So many artists in the industry are known to be so egotistic, ‘diva’-like and full of conceit that you almost feel sorry for those who have to spend their time tediously interviewing such self-absorbed beings. Mullan, however, shares a refreshing fact about Pete Doherty. “You do tend to meet a lot of narcissists, but one thing that is quite surprising about Pete is the fact that he’s just as interested in you as you are him when you’re interviewing him. He asks you for your opinions as well and wants to know about you. It’s really nice.”

“I’ve also had so many experiences with bands here when they were in their early stages that have now gone on to get much bigger. Adele did one of her first gigs here, actually.”

One might wonder if working with such high-profile artists can sometimes leave you slightly daunted and, in some cases, starstruck, but Mullan’s got that covered. Her down-to-earth attitude towards working with a whole host of names at the Brit Awards afterparty at the venue is truly admirable. “You’d go into one room and Bastille were all there sitting with AlunaGeorge and disclosure, and in the other room you had James Newman’s people and they’ve all just won these awards for songwriting and they’re all about my age! John Newman writes for Rudimental and he had just won the Brit for that song ‘Waiting All Night’. I just thought ‘how do even come up with something so catchy like that’, so much talent and he’s just this really nice and ordinary-looking curly-haired guy. It’s crazy.”

If she herself and her job weren’t cool enough, she has some pretty impressive personal achievements under her belt, too. Being able to say “I was there” when someone mentions an iconic gig for years to come would leave anyone feeling complacent. She raves about her love for David Bowie, in particular, enthusing her perpetual sense of gratification at getting a last-minute chance to see him perform in her hometown at the age of 16. “I didn’t even have a ticket, I just cried at the door and explained that I was on a plane back from America when they were released and the doorman just let me in. I’m very lucky to have seen him, I know. What a gentleman of the music industry.”

So what’s coming up at Brixton Jamm in the near future? Anything worth checking out for a first-timer or an avid attendee of the venue?

“Well Jah Wobble who used to be in John Lydon’s band PiL, his band Invaders of the Heart, they’re playing here soon which will be pretty good because they’ve got this weird take on a mix of reggae and jazz, and he’s collaborated with Sinead O’Connor before, which is such a weird combination but it really worked.”

A self-proclaimed ‘beacon of musical creativity’, Brixton Jamm is a real must to check out for every kind of music fan. The mix of genres and atmospheres you’ll find showcased across their listings make the Jamm everything that is good about the less commercialized and more independent side of London’s music scene, representing exactly what Therese Mullan moved there for. You never know whether you just might be watching the next big thing play a small show, in the midst of the humble beginnings of an extensive career in future. You, too, might be able to share the thrill of saying “I was there.”