Music, Style & Culture

Gavin Herlihy: Sweat, Stress, Hard Work, Honesty And Tea

Jasmine Phull talks to Irish-born producer, Gavin Herlihy.

"The fan has the power now not the record companies and that’s amazing", gushes Irish-born producer Gavin Herlihy. Amazing not just for the fans but also for the producers who no longer have to work to the beat of the wrong tune. The Internet has brought the fan and musican closer and the musical landscape ahead certainly has a wide-scope. Though he released accalimed techno debut ‘Machine Ate My Homework’ in 2006 and only a year later remixed the opening track for Unkle’s ‘War Stories’ the Leeds-based producer speaks with the veneration of someone who’s glad they’re still learning. But before creating music to be written about, he was in fact the one writing about it.

Jasmine Phull talks to Gavin Herlihy the once music journalist who counts London as the only place, forget Berlin, where techno electronica is really going off. Readily dismissing any moronic statements about the dance world and its connection to hedonistic drug use he instead gives us an insight into the ‘bastions of electronic music’.

Did your hometown in Ireland help shape your love for tech-house? What was the music ‘scene’ like when you were growing up?
Put it like this. Bon Jovi was about as contemporary as it got in the only music store where I did work experience in my hometown. This was the early 90s. Finding electronic music was almost impossible as a kid in small town Ireland and looking back on it now it shows how different life was before the Internet. Back then the UK had record shops in every major town and national radio stations like Radio 1 were playing dance music but in my small town in Ireland we had nothing. Now no matter where you live in the world as long as you’ve got an Internet connection you’re good to go. Luckily my nose for trouble as a 14 year old saved the day . It was only through going raving in the UK and then at free parties in Ireland that I became obsessed by futuristic music.

You’ve also lived in London how do you compare the way it fosters the development of techno music to places like Berlin?
There are few places as inspiring as London and if ever you think raving there has lost it’s touch, it’s usually a sign you’re stale, not other way round. Living away from London has only confirmed how much I love it even more. And it’s no surprise that people like my former neighbours in Berlin Seth Troxler, Ryan Crosson and Shaun Reeves are so keen to move there. It’s on fire right now. Whether you’re going to Fabric and hearing the cream of the scene or going to a warehouse in east London or a roof top in Vauxhall it has always continued to mutate and thrive. Just look at how many genres of dance music it’s given birth to for proof.
The obvious downside is it’s so expensive to live so it’s not easy to begin life as an artist in London. I had to move to Berlin (where the rents where half the price) to get my own career off the ground which is a shame but if you can manage to survive without getting strangled by your rent then London is the city with it’s finger most firmly on the pulse.

Did you have to experience ‘struggle’ to get to where you are today? Is that an important factor in making a ‘great’ artist?
Everyone walks their own path in life obviously so struggle is a subjective word. Some DJs grow up next door to Moodymann and inherit their dad’s disco collection and vintage synths and maybe a trust fund so I definitely wasn’t that lucky! Living in Berlin was probably my biggest struggle. I had to start from the bottom of the ladder and the Autumn I moved was just when the recession hit Europe as illegal downloading was really starting to hurt the industry. I was living week to week, grinding out tunes to pay the bills in a pretty grim area of the city full of pissed off punks and anarchists. So I had a view of the city that’s probably totally different to most people’s weekend raving experience. And not only that but I was about as rookie as a producer as you can get. I’d only been making tunes in my spare time less than two years before I moved so I definitely wouldn’t advise taking the plunge like that to new producers.

What’s the most expensive thing you ever bid on on eBay?
I’m not big on eBay and I’m not minted by any means so probably a set of desert goggles to go to Burning Man festival.

Were you a music journalist before becoming a musician or did you always practice both?
Musician first. I played piano as a kid and then taught myself guitar and played in a succession of bands as a teenager. Sadly my bands weren’t really doing the do (I wrote tons of songs but the group dynamic of a band is not for me) so I had to have a real career to fall back on. Writing was always my other strong point so journalism was a natural choice.

Do they share similarities in thought process or are they completely different?
DJs share a lot of similarities to journalists in that as a DJ it’s your job to research and discover new music and then present it to an audience. But it stops there as what most dance music journalists especially forget is writing about music is about documenting what’s happening in a scene not necessarily just presenting your own tastes on a pedestal. Very few reviewers get that balance right and very few DJs like to think outside of their own particular musical box.

Is there something that’s missing in the music industry that was there 10-15 years ago?
Money! Here’s a secret :unless you’re running in the very very top flight of the DJing game, surviving solely as an underground electronic artist is almost impossible.

Is there something in the music industry now that didn’t used to be there?
The rules of the music industry are currently being rewritten. The fan has the power now not the record companies and that’s amazing. Twenty years ago as a punter you were served what ever the plat du jour was by a major record label and unless you were in a very elite cool gang you just had to take it. Now you define the musical landscape. You determine what is top of a sales chart by pure punter power. Music of all shades no matter how extreme or underground is at your fingertips you just need the desire to find it.

One track that makes you feels elated? Why did you choose that particular song?
Aleem 'Release Yourself’. Like most people who weren’t raving in the 80s I discovered this via the documentary film ’Maestro.’ It pretty much sums up everything I love about dance music all in one six minute bundle. A lot of people look down on DJing and electronic music as being this drug fuelled world of clichéd moronic music and it’s total nonsense. For me the dancefloor is one of the few places in life where people can truly release themselves from the stress and grime of life. Sadly for most people on this Earth life is hard work and raving helps you get through it. That’s why tough places like Detroit, Berlin or the North of England have always been bastions of electronic music and great DJs. A master DJ should be able to take you through every human emotion from fear and frustration to elation in one night.. Even the most sinister techno provides people with a release for their emotions or frustrations. It’s therapy for the soul and ‘Release Yourself’ for me is a commandment for our music.

Which do you prefer: studio or stage time? Why?
Depends on what day you ask me. On a Tuesday evening when I’m deep into a tune in my studio and a loop’s being going for hours and I’m still dancing like an idiot round the room, then of course: studio. But ask me while I’m playing a gig.. even if there’s only seven people left at the end of the night intent on keeping the dancefloor going then it’s the DJ booth every time.

What should the crowd expect from your gigs?
That a lot of sweat, stress, hard work, honesty and tea has gone into bringing them the music they’re hearing.

One great - recently deceased - artist?
There are plenty we’re all aware of course but one who today’s current crop of music owes a lot to is James Stinson. He was one half of the amazing techno duo Drexciya which is a whole wormhole of goodness should you wish to dive in and research them but it’s his Other People Place alias that’s currently very interesting. His one and only album under that alias pre-empted the current musical trend being lead by guys like the Art Department by almost a decade.

Your New Year’s resolution?
It’s the same as it is every year: discover, learn and love and have a good time doing it.