On a saturated summers night The Disconauts sheltered from a day of Limerick rain to muse on various musical manifestos under the guise of a short interview with cheebah.
The Galway based band with Djs Keith and Padraic on decks underpinned with live drums by Mark and augmented with Ben on brass have been a consistent live draw over the last 7 years. They are particularly well known and respected amongst the tenacious tribe that grew out of the house music movement from the early 90s. The Disconauts consistency as selectors and musicians is rooted in a deep commitment to knowing the craft of delivering Disco music in its true sense combined with a responsible mission to gather a new crop of space travellers to their cause each year.
Cheebah: Theres a great relationship between yourselves and Limerick and i know i should know this but how long - in what ever line up you care to mention - have you been playing here?(Mark) We toured when we had a 12’’ out and our Limerick date was in Costelloes,11 years ago! I dont know was there even electricity then. i think we used footpumps.
Cheebah: You're as strong as ever, Can i ask is this a testimony to deep houses Irish longevity or is that a narrow definition of your sound ?
(Padraic) Its a case of not ’just’ deep house as such but its us playing and being interested in proper un- cheesy dance music, House, Disco, etc. When we DJ in Limerick for example we have played funk and Hiphop in Mickey Martins and then played a live set of house in the Trinity Rooms then theres different stuff on the menu again when we play in Bakers and the Wicked Chicken....
(Mark) Good music becomes a genre because it stands the test of time and thats whats all about .
Cheebah: Looking back at a time when the idea of Dance music in irish venues became established as an entity in its own right and not just a substitute for live / show band gigs (in the 90s ) people like yourselves with the likes of Greg and shane in Cork were on the ground ready and willing to put the work in to maintain a scene. A scene which is possibly taken for granted sometimes today.
(Padraic) Right, Well, theres people all over the country who were there from the start and who are still active today and thats important . People like Billy Scurry, Declan Cominisky, all those guys in Dublin for instance. Also if you care about the music you need to play and promote it properly . We did care from the beginning and worked many jobs to support it. it is possible to be that committed its not just a fly by night ‘oh im just a dj ‘for as long as the trend lasts thing. You might not make a sole living from it but its do- able.
Cheebah: You cant take any scene for granted, as obvious as it appears the promotion is equally as important as the sound.
(Padraic/ Keith) No,you cant take anything for granted. Theres so many music trends currently circulating that could just take over the space if you stop what your doing, and some of those trends are not necessarily good. In accessing music these days every thing is instant, so if you take your eye of the ball its gone!
Cheebah: Thats taking responsibility, Quality control. On the instantaneous thing, everyone seems to be making accelerated ‘Tunes’ these days.
(keith) There are some terrible things out there!
Cheebah: Can i expand on this. With access to, say an influential DJ's current playlist on a specialist net radio show combined with affordable deck technology and beatport for example, it sometimes happens that any guy (and its always a guy) can decide to play for a crowd as an approximation of say Sven Vath or Joey Negro .
(Mark) Superficial acceleration. What that means is that someone is replicating what the source dj has done and then when they play themselves they are not in any way replicating what they have done themselves.
(Padraic) Or spent the time in researching the music and culture. For example DJ's who were seriously into the Detroit experiment, people like DJ Deep,when he was a kid he actually went to Detriot to live with Derrick May. He went there to totally immerse himself in it. Kids who now download a set or parts of it just to think ‘I'm as good as him’ should know that's not the way it goes. I was a judge at a DJ competition 2 years ago and 4 out of 5 guys played almost identical sets, all downloaded it just became boring.
(Mark) Of course what they are not downloading is the vibe in the room on the night or what the crowd were like with the ebbs and flows of the dancefloor .The whole package.
(Keith) The whole experience. Its something as a DJ you are constantly learning. Your best record in a club one night may be the same one that clears the floor in the same place the following week! Its all about timing as well learning to read bodies on the dancefloor.
Cheebah: Keith, myself and yourself were Judges at a competition about 9 years ago. This guy stepped up and for his 15 minutes on the decks he just stuck in (and hid behind) a Richie Hatwin live cd!
(Keith) Yeah! And when i spotted it he begged us not to tell his friends who couldn't believe that he wasn't the winner! Hilarious.
Cheebah: I think in some warped way there is a link between those accelerated examples and your own comments on understanding the crowd. A contrast. The guy who cheated with the cd was fully aware of the importance of music in a specific environment but only on a superficial level. He didn't see it as an amoral problem hyping the crowd by any means necessary with whatever kudos coming his way as either a bonus or a desire. His concept of the idea of the Dj was of himself as a one dimensional figurehead delivering only one dimension for himself and (in fairness) his own particular crowd where he substituted materialism for mentality. It is the total opposite to the Disconauts approach and that behaviour has many guises in the instant culture. The monitoring/respect themes the whole enterprise continuously brings up never goes away.
NOTE. (Richie Hawtins doppelgänger on the night in question was flagging a chemical agenda which may excuse some of his behaviour but the agenda of the ‘instant history DJ's’ and the whole download thing in light of how it is properly delivered is more of an ongoing concern, particularly the irish venue / Irish Crowd paradigm.
There will be more instant guys telescoping the scene as the whole downloading tech scenario achieves critical mass. I find it interesting in the context of the Disconauts having played /developed so many venues in Ireland and down play it if you will but having seen them over the years there was more than one occasion where there's a little bit of musical history thrown in to the mix when new crowds didn't expect it and that compounded with their promotion work over the years does count for a lot.
At the risk of labouring the point, any commentary on the organic respectful approach v the instant gratification approach in regard to djing has been a recurring one every 10 years.
In 1978 a New York magazine called ‘Disco Bible’ was the first trade magazine to review records with bpms listed allowing Djs to organise dance records according to their similarity and ease of mixing. This became Instantly popular because it saved time and money in having to do the ‘knowledge’.Consequently this development homogenised the scene as popular ( easy to mix 4/4 ) records became more and more formulaic and the feedback loop that resulted between what DJs played and what the record companies rushed to capitalise on, in retrospect led to Discos diluted demise.
The direct consequence of the Disco Bibles charts was that There was a line drawn in the sand between what DJs like David Mancusco and the original NY DJs developed (cultivating a specific sound in an specific environment ) to capitalistically legitimising dance musics commercial status where records (and spaces) ceased to be celebrated as discoverys but instead became logged as product to be manipulated materially.
Cheebah: The Disconauts have never been trend led or equally precious about what you play.
(Padraic) No, never. Theres just so much out there, old and new. We don't differentiate between eras but Its hard to fit everything you like into one set. The better labels for me at the moment are the ones releasing actual records. Some sell both download and vinyl and lately I've gone back to buying vinyl again as there seems to be more care and thought put into certain releases. Not just in the sound quality but the packaging and promotion shows a lot of care so i respect that they cost more than the download option.
We care about whats new out there and check the sites. We dont miss tunes we're aware of it all, but after 7 years of working in this line up we know what to get that will fit the specifics of where we end up playing whether its a bar or a club. Also in the act of physically going to a music shop and asking for records or say, being in certain spots on holidays means you meet likeminded folk and share more than just music information in some weird communal way.
(Mark) I was in this fantastic beach bar in Perth watching a big match and when it finished the Dj stuck on the Blue Six record ‘Music and wine’ one of our favorites and everytime we play it I'm right back at that beach. So each record has its time, its moment and its place and these things will always stand the test of time.
Cheebah: Ok to Wrap up, apart from your well loved base in Galway Whats your trail round the country at the moment?
(Padraic) Solas bar in Dublin. Its very cool with an open crowd you can play anything you want.
(Mark) We just played Cork as Guests of Fish Go Deep in the spectacular Pavillion...Fantastic place.
(keith) Lots going on in Galway though. Lots of crews with everybodys scratching everybody elses back.
(Padraic) Yeah, theres a very healthy Underground scene now. A serious Dubstep crew, Jungle nights, Electronica and the likes of the Vince mc Mahon crew putting out some mad good music. Everyones tight.
(Mark) Now i dont go out as much as i used to but what I've noticed these days with all the different crews being so tight is that the pressure to fill places with big numbers - for a music night to be ‘sucessfull’ - is not there any more. Instead theres 150 people in a place seriously into their music which is great.
(Padraic) Good crowds, quailty productions with soundsystems, online stuff, proper flyers. Its gone back to the Mancuso Loft style ethos and thats great to see. The guests we get love coming down at the moment because of the buzz . Its just a nice family vibe.
Cheebah: You gotta go, its the Art schools fashion show down in the Trinity rooms and you need to soundcheck.
The Disconauts left as perfect ambassadors for both The City of the tribes and the spirit of New York citys classic Loft scene. This summer sees them in Croatia for the Airbound festival in August and also hosting their famous annual boat party up the Corrib in July.
Paul Tarpey
Disconauts are scheduled back at Trinity Rooms Courtyard with their Full Live Show on the August Bank Holiday Saturday. Always one of the high points of the summer !
Posted by: Trinity rooms | May 23, 2009 at 10:17 AM