Irish Producers - Fresh Blood On The Bank [PT 2]
Photo: Omar O' Reilly
We return to our feature on upcoming producers from Ireland after Part 1 last week. In part 2 we catch up with artists who have flown the nest to London and Berlin in pursuit of their music career.
Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into the techno scene? Where did you learn how to DJ & Produce etc
I got into Crawdaddy in Dublin when I was about 16 and that exposed me to a lot of flavours of dance music. I was big into dubstep at the time so the mix of that in the Chocolate Bar and house and techno in the main room really made an impression on me. I started doing photography in clubs when I was 19 and I ended up being behind the DJ booth and in the green room quite frequently. Being in a position to observe the DJ’s doing their thing and getting to know the artists gave me a new craving for music.
I worked closely with The Building Society for a few years and ended up DJing at some of the parties they ran and playing at festivals with the Techno & Cans family. From there I started focusing more on producing and being a DJ. I’ve taught myself how to produce up to this point with some guidance from friends. A few Youtube tutorials here and there yeno yourself...
Where did the inspiration for your name come from?
Pretty much from being at home stoned on my laptop looking for a name that was dark and mysterious, like my soul.
What is your favourite release so far & why?
My latest release with Ceili Collective ‘Nucifora’ has made me really happy! I was really unsure about how the track would be received by everyone else, when I wrote it last summer I had a lot of stuff on my mind so I really wanted to try translate how I was feeling at the time into a song.
How long does it usually take for you to produce a track and what is your process?
When I started making music I worked quite quickly, writing straight into the arrangement view using mainly samples. But this last year I slowed down with finishing tracks and focused a lot on making my own sounds. Often I worked off field recordings taken from a mic or my iPhone, or grabbing samples from videos off youtube and processing them into something ‘musical’. These days I’m using some additional hardware to run it through, such as the Patchblock mini modular block. Just to give it some texture and noise really.
The last month or so I’ve gone back to my old ways of just getting straight into it and
recording/building the track straight away. I got a bit fed up of not finishing stuff and decide to change my workflow up. But I don’t really have a template for producing, I just start a new project and see what happens.
What labels would you like to work with in the future and why?
My main aim with releasing music is to work with people I trust and have a good relationship with, friends basically. I plan on giving more stuff to Ceili in the future, but I’d love to give something to my homies at Patruin and maybe the likes Opal Tapes, VLF and Hyperdub. Who knows what direction the music will go :)
Would you ever consider running your own label? Why, why not?
Not right now anyway, my main focus label wise is my contribution to Ceili Collective and Sciatic. There’s a very busy year ahead and moving forward I am working on fewer projects, giving each one the attention it deserves.
Who are your biggest influences?
To be honest I get inspired the most by the music my friends put out. But I was a big Burial fan growing up, still am. I listen to a lot of new music on Soundcloud and try go record shopping every Friday so I find a lot of old and new tracks that really excite me.
So, what’s next? Upcoming releases, gigs, plans for the future etc.
I’m doing a mini tour of London with Ceili over the next month throwing some parties with some really cool artists. We just played last night at Rye Wax in Peckham with Altar last night. The collectives 1st birthday is coming up and we’ve programmed a very fun night in The Glove That Fits. Not to mention playing at Griessmuhle for the first time with Ceili next month :) I’ve also recently joined forces with Ôneyra's Sciatic label which we're planning some cool things for. Doing bits!
Upcoming dates:
Mar 13 - Level Delta X Ceili Collective @ Griessmuhle (DE)
Mar 17 - Ceili Takeover @ Jaded (UK)
Tell us a bit about your background. Where you're from, where you’re living now and your musical background.
I’m from Dublin and at the moment I live in South East London. My musical background is a bit of a weird one. I learnt violin in secondary school but when my sister gave me The Prodigy’s ‘Their Law’ album when I was 16, my ears discovered real ‘rave’ music for the first time. At the same time, I was learning how to play classical music on the violin, so there was a serious musical contrast going on in my brain with The Prodigy ripping my CD player to shreds, and then me trying to learn classical music on the violin. My dad played a lot of world music in the house as well like Manu Chao, Buena Vista Social Club, Bob Marley and basically every other artist not related to dance music, so I was lucky to hear loads of different styles of music quite early on.
When did you first realise that techno was your thing and when did you decide to follow through with DJing and producing?
When I was 19, I signed up for DJ lessons in the Twisted Pepper with Aaron Costelloe because I was always fascinated with DJIing and what exactly a DJ does behind the decks. Basically like 'what do all those buttons do' etc. So while I was doing the lessons, I saved up for a pair of second hand Pioneer 800’s. I began to practise mixing on my own and with friends using deep house tunes. I was mad into Julio Bashmore, Duke Dumont, Dusky, Shadow Child and Ben Pearce, all those guys at the time. No shame in that! But my taste changed when I went to Life festival back in 2013. I remember my friend Emily said ‘you have to see this guy Sunil Sharpe tonight’. I had no idea who he was but as soon as I stepped into his tent, my brain was fully blown to smithereens. I had never heard anything like it. He was going B2B with Blawan who I wasn't too familiar with either. The tent was dense with smoke, lit up all red inside with loads of sweaty young lads on yokes, it was madness. I just remember the silhouette of a head, maybe Sunils, nodding away like a maniac in the distance up on the stage, and that was it for me. It was real techno and just hooked me, beckoning me further into a very mouldy abyss.
I moved to London after about a week after Life Festival where I worked in Topshop for 3 years, an accidental plan after I failed my first and last attempt at college (shoutout to NCAD). After slowly losing my mind retail, I moved back to Dublin to save up for a production course which would start back in London 6 months afterwards. In the meantime, I did weekly production lessons with Doug Cooney of RLSD at D-light Studios between my new job as the World’s Worst Barista, which would later fund my production course back in the UK.
Once I saved up as planned and moved back to London, I did the 3 month production course. When it ended, I felt I needed to build on my existing knowledge, particularly with hardware like drum machines etc. as I only learnt how to make tracks using a keyboard on the course. So I emailed Mantas from On The 5th Day who I've known for a long time and taught me how to use different gear in his studio.
Do you have an alias and if not, would you consider one?
I had an alias ‘Mink’ a few years ago because this guy told me no one would be able to pronounce ‘Niamh’ and ‘Niamh O’ Connor’ doesn’t sound cool enough. Little did I know that it’s best not to listen to anyone when it comes to deciding an alias, or deciding anything for that matter. I wouldn’t consider an alias now because I like to keep things simple. I’m just Niamh, I like crusty bangers and that’s it.
When are you releasing your new EP and where can we listen?
The EP is coming out on Mantas’s label called Kombinat. He does his own stuff on On The 5th Day’s label but set up Kombinat as a platform for his students to release their sounds. I sent my tunes to 123 labels (love a spreadsheet), about 3 of them said they would release but in the end, my instinct said to go with Kombinat. Probably because it’s London-based and I trust Mantas a lot so why not really. And Ireen Amnes (who is an extremely consistent and dedicated producer) released the first EP on there so yeah. It's coming out on 7th March and 6AM Group have just premiered one of them! There's a few things happening at the moment so I set up an artist page which I was initially paro about but sure look. All my music will be posted there.
What’s your most memorable experience to date in your music career and why was it so special for you?
I played at our MOTZ night back in January, I was insanely nervous as usual but it was pretty gas to see my friends from Ireland come over for the night and absolutely going 90 in Room 2 before it was even 11pm. I don't do warm up kind of techno because I get bored so I decided to just bang it out, it was just my friends in the room at that point and they were so enthusiastic, it was just reassuring to see that I hadn't scared them off lol.
How has your experience been as a women in the industry? Do you think there’s this huge divide that everyone bangs on about?
I don’t feel there is a massive divide, there’s now platforms like Rhythm Sister in London and Gash Collective in Dublin which encourage women to get involved and learn how to DJ in a comfortable space. These kind of collectives weren’t around when I first started DJing, you just had to go for it and feel like an oddball but stick with it and break out of your shell. So I don’t see as much of a ‘divide' compared to a few years ago. These new outlets which encourage female artists to learn and get involved with electronic music really make a difference, particularly the FB groups etc. which are one big community.
I meet lots of women on a daily basis in music through my job at Egg LDN like label A&R’s, managers, agents, event curators, PR agents, writers, editors, sound and lighting engineers - lots of women who keep the cogs turning. So I don’t feel there’s a huge lack of women in the industry at this moment to be completely honest but that's just me.
Since moving to London have you noticed a difference in club culture in comparison to Dublin?
Yeah everything stays open until approx 7am so there’s no rush to find an afterparty and dance your sins away. The good thing about the early club closure in Dublin is the sense of community if you make it to an illegal afterparty but that’s the only positive thing. I think it’s utter madness that a night has to shut at 3am in Dublin.
In London there’s a ridiculous amount of decent techno parties on offer every weekend whereas Dublin might have one solid party every 2 weeks maybe? I could be wrong though. Index and Mutate are great for booking lairy techno artists in Dublin like Regis, FJAAK, Blawan, Surgeon, Stephanie Sykes and loads more. London is cool and all but I prefer a rave in the motherland.
Where would be your dream venue to play?
I had a very fun time at Radion during ADE. Peter Van Hoesen was playing and the set up of the room was just great, there was loads of room to dance and be weird. I saw Volvox in Warehouse Elementenstraat as well which is another really cool spot in Amsterdam. She had such a presence behind the booth and played a mad set. There’s so many places I want to play but Radion and Warehouse Elementenstraat were very impressive.
What’s next for you? Upcoming gigs, releases, plans for the future etc.
I'm playing Jaded in Room 2 on March 10th for Jasmine's Room 2 takeover with Jasmine, Proteus, Alva and GiGi FM. Then our MOTZ party on 22nd June, yeooooow.
My EP is out on 7th March, here's the pre-order. One of the tracks may have slipped into a DJ mix from a kind of big artist which comes out on March 15th, but I'm still shook about that and can't say more haha. In the future I want to make jungley techno and general mad stuff. Mumdance kind of, but not Mumdance. I'd like to DJ as much as I can as well, confidence and all that. See what happens really! Be grand.
First up, what does your moniker of Ôneyra mean?
Oneirataxia is the inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. When I was younger I used to struggle with having extremely vivid dreams to the point where it felt like I just dreamed throughout the whole night and lost out on actual sleep. The dreams were very intense at one point that I actually had to be medicated to feel like I could get a decent night’s rest. Fortunately, I don’t experience this anymore but the dream world is always something I’ve been interested in. I remember my Mam used to have a book about dream interpretation which we’d check out in the mornings if we’d have a close encounter with dream reality. From Oneirataxia I just shorted the word and changed the spelling a tad, and thus, Ôneyra was born.
You’ve just moved to Berlin after living in Dublin for quite some time, how are you finding it over there?
I’m going to be completely honest and say that I’ve definitely had my ups and downs with the move. Moving to any new country can be daunting and coupled with starting a new college course, it’s safe to say anxiety at times has been at an all time high. I guess the move meant a lot to me and so I’ve put the stakes high and the pressure on, but this is what I wanted to do. I took the leap of faith and followed my gut to Berlin and now I’m trying to make the most of it and soak it all in. Berlin has to be one of the most creative, liberating and pulsating cities in the world. I am constantly meeting like-minded people who have come to this city to make a future for themselves. The grey dull skies against the even greyer (is that even a word?) buildings are concerning at the moment but what lies beneath the exterior of this greyscale world is a vibrant nightlife full to the brim of people dancing to the same beat as me. There is endless opportunities here and I can’t wait to delve a little deeper into Berlin as time goes on. As for Dublin, I miss it, but it’s not going anywhere and I felt I would become stagnant if I was to stay.
There’s a video doing the rounds online of Mad Mike from Underground Resistance saying that DJs and producers shouldn’t necessarily leave their native city in order to make a name for themselves and progress, and he’s particularly critical of artists who move to Berlin. What would you say to Mad Mike to sway his opinion on this as you must have felt your move was necessary…
I would tell Mad Mike that it’s 2018 and not the 80s anymore and people move to follow opportunity and that’s exactly what I did. I would also tell him to let go of the past and get with the times and maybe he wouldn’t be in financial difficulties with his label at the minute (too far?) Detroit has also become a urban wasteland, maybe it’s time for him to jump ship and start making moves in the industry again. By moving to Berlin I wanted to be inspired and I wanted to be around creativity as much as I could, and I wasn’t getting that at home anymore. I felt my time there was stale, I had done all the things I wanted to achieve in Dublin and it was time to go. Yes, I could have stayed and still progressed but I feel it would have happened at a much slower rate. Also with the closure of many clubs around the city I felt a lack of hope for the Dublin underground scene at one point.
Producing takes a certain amount of drive and motivation, how do you stay focused on the end product and decent studio time when it’s easy to get distracted with the fun side of techno like staying out for days on end, especially in a city like Berlin?
I guess when I start producing something and it starts to take shape and sound good I get seriously excited about it and that feeling is my motivation. At the moment it takes me a few days or even a week or two to really finish a track but that could be hours of sculpting even just one particular sound. But I really love audio editing and I'm starting to build up my own little studio which is a lot of fun. My friends also have their own studio which they're still adding to and building on so it's nice to have a space where I can mix business with pleasure. Of course I do get distracted at times but I think it’s good to let loose every once in awhile as it gets the creative juices flowing again. I really enjoy making music. It’s not something I have to escape from. For me right now the blinkers are on and the only way I'm looking is forward.
Recently I dropped out of college from the music production course at BIMM as I felt it wasn’t really doing anything for me. I feel like this has made me so much more motivated and I'm enjoying finding my feet again. It honestly felt like I had just arrived to Berlin when I decided to leave BIMM. To anyone in two minds of whether to drop out or stay for a course you're not growing from I highly recommend not hanging around. Since then I’ve been really getting to know the city, making the right contacts and working towards my label and upcoming EP.
You ran a night called Altered States in Dublin, what did you learn from running these events and what was the vision behind Altered States?
Altered States was my backbone. It was where it all started for me. And I’m hugely thankful to the people who got behind me and concept from the get go, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. Looking back on it all now it was quite successful until I dropped the ball with it when I went back to finish my final year of Nursing. I definitely made some big mistakes along the way but that has really added to my knowledge on how to run a club night and how to juggle 50 things at a time! I learned how to market and promote an event properly, how to deal with venue managers and how deal with the ins and outs of the industry. The vision behind Altered States was to create a space for different genres of electronic music in different venues around the city which is exactly what we did.
What about Berlin, would ever consider doing your own night over there?
Yes! We plan on throwing label parties as soon as we’re up and running. The one thing I don’t want to do is rush.
A party on Mayday is on the cards but I’ll keep the deets hush hush for now.
Looking to this year, what have you got planned production and gig wise?
I’ll have a few EPs dropping this year. My first EP - Vacillation will be released on Sciatic on the 14th of April followed by a VA on the label coming May 14th.
Here are some dates you can catch me playing over the next few months:
6th March - AVA (DE)
7th March - Diskothek Melancholie (DE)
13th March - AVA (DE)
17th March - Jaded (LDN)
5th Apr - DDR (DUB)
Can you tell us a bit about your background, where you come from, why and how you got into techno and why the move to Berlin?
So right now I’m producing under the alias Obmal which was created by reversing my nickname (Lambo). I got into electronic music at a very young age, as I couldn’t be arsed paying attention to the lyrics in all other types of music! Techno especially since about 2012 and since I moved to Berlin back in 2015, my addiction to this music has only solidified. I moved here straight after I finished college back home in Dublin, as the Business diploma course I was thrown into was of no interest to me.
Since the move to Berlin, has your sound changed and do you feel the culture has shaped your musical preference?
For sure my sound has changed, it wasn’t quite concrete in any sense of style while I was producing back home as I was being influenced by so many different genres which wasn’t a bad thing! Since I moved here though, I’ve quite easily been able to select very decent lineups to see and experience music in very unique ways due to the various pumping clubs over here. This exposes you to be out of your comfort zone at certain times but it has inevitably influenced my sound. I hope to think that my sound will also forever change as it's boring for me when things seem stagnant.
Tell us a bit about your upcoming label ‘Think Fast!’. Where did the name come from and who do you have working on the label with you?
THINK FAST! The name says it all really. It's a fast-paced techno and electronic music label with heavy percussion and hard-hitting sounds to get your heart racing away. I was stuck on the name of this label for a while and to be perfectly honest I was sitting at home one day and I was pissed off at myself for taking so long to decide so I told myself I must think faster. Awful story I know but to be honest, this is a music label not a story or a poem and there’s only so much relevance the name can have! I’m going to let the music talk for itself and I’m extremely excited for the future of the label. We have some great things in the pipeline so keep your ears peeled Larry.
Now that you’ve been living in Berlin a while, you surely have an outsider perspective on Irish club culture. What’s your opinion on it all?
I most certainly do, it’s not good by any means to see nightclubs and Irish club nights being put out of business and closed down. Our outdated and unjust laws and regulations alongside the ever-rising price of the property market is truly squashing a lot of our youths hopes for being able to get out and dance every weekend. Saying that, there’s no shortage of up-and-coming producers and DJs, with many getting their names well known on an international level!
I’ve been living abroad for a few years now and I’ve been able to quite clearly see how things are a lot better with less strict laws. I don’t why the Irish government think it’s a good idea to have thousands of piss-drunk people all leave every bar and every club at the same time to scatter on the streets with awful transport and overpriced taxis. I saw countless scraps on D’olier street waiting to get the night link home as all these groups of lads were waiting for their ride home. Would it not make more sense to lift the curfew that’s on our nightlife right now? For anyone reading this, you have to check out Give Us The Night which is a project trying to pitch to our government that we should lift off this outrageous curfew.
How long have you been producing and where did you learn? Can you shed some light on your workflow and what inspires you to write tracks?
Started when I was about 15 years old when I built my own computer with a friend of mine and decided to torrent every bit of software I could get my hands on. Fruity loops was the first DAW and I only learned the very basics with that. When I was about 19 I got a MacBook and a copy of Ableton and I haven’t stopped working on music since then, to be honest. I went to study electronic music production at a college in Berlin at DBs Music. Although I dropped out after my 2nd year there, I learned a lot and was surrounded by some other producers which was a big stepping stone in terms of getting to where I am today, in terms of my own production.
In terms of things that inspire me to make music, there’s a lot I could talk about. It all started by buzzing as a DJ and watching people dance to the music I was playing. I then just got it in my head that it would be an even better buzz if I was playing music that I had made myself. Which is going to be happening very soon as I haven’t played many gigs at all in the last couple of years as I was more focused on my production.
For my workflow, I usually start with the kick! Once the kick and low end is in place, I find it very easy to get some heavy percussion and atmosphere in place. I process a lot of my sounds and I love working with arpeggiators, gates and lfos!
Software or hardware? Choose wisely.. !
I’m going to have to say software, for now anyway! All I own right now is a Korg Monopoly and a Korg EMX. It is in my plans to get hardware and build a pumping live set with it but right now I’m broke!
Are you working with any labels at the moment? Can you tell us about some upcoming releases and where can we catch you banging these out?
Right now I have no releases coming up with any label and honestly I’m quite content focusing on my own label at the moment so I can really show everyone what my style is all about. You can expect to see the name pop up over the next year as I finally start exposing my work though!
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