Interviews

We sit down with Southbound Sounds to chat about their upcoming release "Whiplash" on Deeper Groove, their musical roots and whats next.

Hey Guys, congratulations on releasing 'Whiplash'. How does it feel?

Cheers, Alan here, (Greg is working on Balmr material) feels good, thanks. The fact that I run the label makes me extra busy at this time as friends get in touch for pre-booked advanced copies of the record. The same happened with Educator. Perks of the job.

Winter is usually slow here in Ireland, so the timing is perfect.

Talk us through the release, are there any standout tracks you're particularly excited about?

It's a 4-track EP; the lead track is Whiplash with Glenn Davis remix, Vortex, and Beacon. I made the latter, as the rest was finished by the time I got involved in production. To answer your question, I'll select Beacon :). Vortex was meant to be on Educator, and Keep it Moving was meant to be on Whiplash, but we are very flexible. Glenn's remix was meant for a later release, but me and Greg pulled it forward, and sent the demo to our buddy David James at Prime Direct in London. Ant of Generic People did the cover, and we have our 2nd vinyl release, and 5th Deeper Groove release.

The EP features a remix from Glenn Davis, how did that collaboration come about?

Glenn is a good mate, I was introduced to him in 2014 by Waterford's, Get Down Edits, Daz, and Martin. Greg had mentioned that he would love Glenn to remix one of his tracks, so I reached out and asked Glenn. He had just completed 3 releases for Deeper Groove, and we had remixed his Hold tight for him, on the "Make it Happen" digital release.

He asked for a playlist; we sent him about 6 tracks, off Greg’s hard drive, and he picked Whiplash straight away, after one listen. So, Glenn heard some magic in the track.

We sent him the stems, and commissioned him to complete a remix, with no deadline, no release date, and no label. It wasn’t planned for Deeper Groove.

It was another leap of faith, nothing we haven’t done before. If you get it right, it just means you’re prepared for the opportunities as they arise. Plus, you’re working on music with your mates, and helping them out along the way, so it's win-win. If this doesn’t work out, you have lived and learned.

Can you describe the connection between your music and your Cork roots and how they continue to influence your music today?‍

Greg is from Cork, so he will naturally have that dreamy Cork sound (excuse the pun), if you listen to his production and DJ sets, it won’t take long to hear a Detroit sound. I am from a small town called Deep South in Tipperary, which borders Cork and Waterford.

As for the Cork sound, it’s basically a low-slung gritty sound, influenced by US mid-west regions. Detroit / Chicago, with a splash of New York. When I work with Greg, I know where he is coming from, I will adjust myself, to his sound without even thinking about it.

Cork has a great history in Ireland’s music scene, and, more importantly, in house music. Greg & Shane, aka Fish Go Deep, were legendary when I started in 98; they must be godlike by now, if not, they should be.

You should watch Shane Johnson’s latest interview with Andy Ward, where Shane talks about the early Dub Reggae scene during the 80’s. This was a big thing where I grew up, as a kid, I would see teenagers having out-door reggae parties in the summer.

I got into west coast hip hop (Ice Cube, Dre & Snoop) and grunge (Nirvana) as a teenager, and later got into house music. Glen Underground's “Jazz Love 2” still stands out, as a track that got me hooked.

For me, Sweat in Henry’s and Sweat birthday parties were very important to my DJ sets and productions, as they were playing the best music from each year, then each decade. I was lucky enough to attend the last Sweat party in Cork, with my buddies Demo & Darrer.

Fish Go Deep remixed a track from Deeper Grooves 1st release, I Need You by Glenn Davis ft. Lady T. That was a personal highlight, Shane has played for us a few times now, and they play our releases on their biweekly radio show. So, they are still representing.

Cork also had some great record shops over the years, currently, Plugged Records and the bunker vinyl are the places selling the good stuff.

Oh yeah, Golden Disc Cork will have Deeper Grooves, full catalogue very soon.

I remember going to the vinyl rooms record shop with Darrer, and picking up Mood to Swing, Kerri Chandler, and Next Evidence in the late 90’s. Cork just oozed that house culture; I think it still does.

What has been the highlight of your career so far? Can you talk about a specific moment or accomplishment that stands out as particularly meaningful to you?

I think Educator is the best track to date, Greg really did produce some magic, which he was unsure of at the time. He sent it to Glenn and myself while we were all working on A Place for You. I remember talking to Glenn about it, and we were both blown away by it.

That led to me producing Upstairs on the same release, and Downstairs and Cool Down, on our Take it Back release on Nordic Trax. Then John Daly and Bloody G completed excellent remixes. Finest Wear remixed Upstairs. John’s remix, inspired me with some sections of Beacon, which is on Whiplash B side.

Stuart Patterson played Educator on his Faith 25th anniversary show. Also, Glenn named dropped both Greg and myself on his Faith magazine interview. I didn’t see that coming.

This was the main reason for bringing his remix forward, it’s nice to be nice, and it’s not every day you open a legendary house magazine, and see your name mentioned in it, by Ireland's finest house export.

I don’t really see it as a career, it’s more of a long-standing hobby for me, that I never gave up, and I continue to learn about. I just bought the new Akai Pro 37 keys, and am looking forward to using the new stems technology on it.

Which other artists have had a big influence on your sound?

We have mentioned our inspiration on the back of all 5 Deeper Groove records, make sure you check them out.

Kerri Chandler used to tour Ireland, we would see him play in Cork, Waterford, and Galway and over time, he made a name for himself in Dublin.

Glenn Underground was banging out quality house music, and still is, Jazz Love 2 was a big one for me

Fish Go Deep were playing weekly in Sir Henrys, bringing in international guests like Boo Williams, DJ Deep, Solar House to name a few.

Gavin Boyce was releasing music on Nordic Trax, I saw him warm up for an international guest in Waterford with Paul McCarthy

Tr One was releasing records on Pogo, this was the start of Irelands vinyl revolution

Glenn Davis - Body & Soul, this was the spark for Deeper Groove Recordings

Balmr – Paths Unknown, I’ve seen this record blow up in Dublin / Ireland. Make sure you check out his forthcoming EP on Selections Label

Can you share some insight into your creative process when producing music? Do you have any particular rituals or methods that help you stay inspired?‍

It changes, at the moment Greg has taken the lead on the last 2 or 3 releases, Educator, Take It back and Whiplash, and I have taken the B-sides. Which have been strongly inspired by his A side. I will make a play list of his tracks, per release, and if the remix is available, I will include it.

Then I will listen to it on repeat, on different speakers at different times. I might go for a walk, with noise-cancelling headphones on, and bop along to the playlist.

I will also mix down his lead track, so I get right into it, which usually doesn’t get used. Lucky enough, we were able to use my Whiplash mix down on this occasion, but most of the time, it doesn’t get used, but I will still do it.

Then I will open a blank page on logic, and start from scratch. For Upstairs, I made a very simple 3 min loop, with drums, bass and strings. I sent it to Greg, and keep working on it. When he listened back, my track had changed, but he preferred the original loop, so I went back and fixed it.

The same thing happened with Beacon, but it happened at the end of the process, luckily enough, I had a copy of the early version saved on my laptop, and I submitted that file.

On Beacon, I singled out Greg’s fx channel on whiplash, it is just pops, crashes and risers. That was the spark for Beacon.

I still rely on samples and loops, for me it's drums, then bass, once I am happy with them, I move up the music spectrum, building layers on top of layer. Once I get a nice chord progression, I will use Detroit sounding pre-set, via logics stock plug ins when I am working with Greg. Then I break it out over 3 or 4 channels, and set different delays on each channel so I can work in the gaps, this stops each note clashing with the same delay, top tip from Carl Craig.

For Beacon, I used a modulated delay, which changes as the track progresses. There will always be a bit of grit in the background, to catch the listener's ear, I think we both do this naturally.

I also used a single shot vocal sample, pitched it down and dragged it out, top tip from Doug Cooney. I added a snare roll, inspired by John Daly’s educator remix. When I was listening back to Beacon on my headphones, my son was watching Spiderman – Across the Spier Verse and I heard a NYC police siren and it sounded good, so I added one in.

To stay inspired, keep busy, it can be anything, production, mixing down, remixing, DJ sets, buying new music, play new music. I would also set my social media feed to show music related content, and try to keep it positive.

I am currently reading Lenny Kravitz book, I just watched Rick Rubin’s YouTube interviews, recently listen to Get down edits radio on Spotify. Basically, I set up my own inputs, I find it helps my outputs.

I study sound engineering in my spare time. I also get sent a lot of demos for feedback and promos for playing out, one of the highlights of what I do.

Can you tell us about any challenges you have faced in your career and how you overcame them? Have there been any specific obstacles or difficulties you've had to navigate as an electronic musician?

I have been a DJ since 1998, and started production in 2009, I started a digital label in 2012, and a vinyl label in 2020. It’s more of an evolving musical journey than a career, which I am enjoying. I have a small bit of tinnitus in my left ear, which I need to manage. I have to pick and choose my DJ and production projects.

I have started wearing ear plugs to help manage the sound levels in clubs and long studio sessions. Currently, looking at the next 25 years, not really looking back, we’re not going that way. Hopefully, my ears will hold up.

I think you need to keep up with technology as recorded music has been at the forefront of change since its inception, I don’t see that changing any time soon. The digital revolution was the biggest thing for me, and I have just about kept up. I still play vinyl, and I really enjoy the whole culture around them and turntables.

However, I have learned all my production skills from working in the box on a laptop and DAW.

I did struggle with Ableton at the start, and switched to logic early, and haven’t looked back. I still dip in and out of Ableton, as it really is a great DAW.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians trying to make it in the industry? Are there any particular tips or strategies you've found to be particularly effective in building a career as an electronic musician?

You’re going to have to put in the hours, nobody is going to do it for you? I started as a DJ, and was constantly keeping up with technology, going from Vinyl to CD, to Wav. Recording to tape, mini disc, CD then Wav. I did that for 10 years, then I dipped my toe into production. I quickly released that Ableton wasn’t for me, and Gavin Boyce recommended Logic. I got the lite version of Logic 6 or 7, and soon got the Pro Version. I took the plunge and bought a Mac Book and a pair of Beats Studio headphones and a Sample Magic book, the secret to dance music, from Attack magazine. Over the years, I have kept up with the Logic versions; I think it’s at 11 now, upgraded my laptop twice (both second-hand computers), bought 2 or 3 books from Attack magazine, and got the latest Beats Studio. If it works, roll with it, take your time. If it’s not working, try something else, ask for help or advice from someone who has done it before.

Now I have a small studio out the back with monitors, a mixing desk, synths and drum machines etc.

Once you find the correct set up, then you need to learn your software (or hardware) take time out of your day-to-day life, to sit with your equipment of choice. One hour a day will go a long way over a long period of time. I used to bring my laptop, book and headphones with me on holidays, and while many people would read a book by the pool, I taught myself how to produce house music on my laptop.

I remember going on holiday to Turkey, and came back with my 1st EP, Wayne Duggan told me to submit it to Wet Suits Records, and they released it. I couldn’t believe it, I had finally done, what I set out to do. I would also say to people starting out, learn to walk before you can run, Even if you’re a vinyl DJ, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a vinyl producer straight away, use stepping stones to get to your overall goal, break it down into manageable chunks. If a small digital label digs your stuff, go with it, start to build a back catalogue that you can be proud of, Bandcamp is another good option.

Who’s one artist we should be listening to right now?

Felipe Gordon is on Fire, everyone should be listening to him. He’s on all the best underground labels and runs his own. He plays his own instruments, recorded in, he uses vintage synth, which he treats like members of his family. Check out his latest HOER set, and his back catalogue of vinyl releases.

What's next for you?

We are looking at a possible Balmr release for Deeper Groove D006, with a strong international remixer, so Greg will take the lead on the music, and I will be in the background putting the package together as Deeper Groove, I need to talk to our London partners, Prime Direct (Distribution & Press).

We also have a Deeper Groove v Sofa Movement party in Corks Liberty Bar, in June. Greg has released on both. Paul Allen, Darren Guildea, Ant o Generic People, Robert Tomcik, and myself will play a vinyl-only gig.

I have a Deep Excavations release on Spiritualized Music ft. Precious James, with Barney Osborn and MiNNt remixes, due out at the end of May.

We have Felipe Gordon playing for us in Dublin this September, which should be cracker, I don’t think too far ahead. You never know what’s going to happen.

I have to get whiplash digital pack ready, this will include additional remixes, and hopefully Gavin Boyce and The Robinson can get involved.

We are looking at setting up a sister label called Digital Grooves, very soon, with an EP from “The Robinson” followed by an EP from “Finest Wear”

I have 4 half-finished tracks on my hard drive, that need a bit of work, they might make the foundation of a Southbound Sounds EP, I need to talk to Greg about them., and I will be in the background putting the package together as Deeper Groove, I need to talk to our London partners Prime direct (Distribution & Press).

We also have a Deeper Groove v Sofa Movement party in Corks Liberty Bar, in June. Greg has released on both. Paul Allen Darren Guildea, Ant o Generic People, Robert Tomcik and myself will play a vinyl only gig.

I have a Deep Excavations release on Spiritualized Music ft Precious James, with Barney Osborn and MiNNt remixes, due out end of May.

We have Felipe Gordon playing for us in Dublin this September, which should be cracker, I Don’t think too far ahead. You never know what’s going to happen.

I have to get whiplash digital pack ready, this will include additional remixes, hopefully Gavin Boyce and The Robinson can get involved.

We are looking at setting up a sister label called Digital Grooves, very soon, with an EP from “The Robinson” followed by an EP from “Finest Wear”

I have 4 half-finished tracks on my hard drive, which need a bit of work, they might make the foundation of a Southbound Sounds EP, I need to talk to Greg about them.

Check out the latest release from Southbound Sounds.