- Interview with DJ Eoin Long
- Wednesday, July 23, 2008
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I got to sit down with one of Dublin’s hottest DJs and Producers, Eoin Long, to hopefully gain an insight into how he made it from an enthusiastic teenage DJ into a full-blown pro. Eoin is currently a resident DJ with 515@tripod every Friday and is also a resident in PoD lobby bar every Saturday. Every 2nd Saturday of the month, he holds audiblepleasure parties in Tripod, where Dublin’s hottest DJ’s & musicians collide for a musical experience sure to leave a mark (expect live house music of the very highest calibre).
You are a music producer and currently a resident DJ in Tripod, one of Ireland’s biggest and best nightclubs, but where was your first gig and how did you go about getting yourself booked?
My first gig was through a friend, but it was only playing at the old Chocolate Bar (formally in the Redbox, Dublin) on a Monday night for an hour, but my first real proper gig was over in New York and it was through friends who I knew over there and they let me warm-up for them. They then all proceeded to run out of the club and left me to DJ for 6 hours and I had about 5 hours worth of music.
And did you make any mistakes?
Oh Yeah, sure I could barely mix at the time. I went over to the manager of the club and said to him “My hour and an half is done, where are the rest of the lads?”, and the manager turned around and was like “Your playing for the whole night, I thought you knew that”. So I went back to the decks shaking thinking “Oh my God, Oh my God”, but it ended up being grand, everyone had a good time and I ended up getting a residency from it.
And at that stage were you practicing much?
Yeah, well I had gotten decks when I was in Ireland and I use to practice in my room all the time. I went over to New York when I was 21 and I had only gotten my first set of decks when I was 16, but never really took it overly seriously, as like I could do this as a job, it was more like I would love to this for a job, but you know when you’re 16 to 21 you don’t really think where you can go with it, all you want to do is play music at parties and have a laugh.
What inspired you to become a DJ and producer and what were your first musical influences.
I think the first thing that inspired me to want to become a DJ was an event called the “Love is Energy” dance boat that use to happen. I was 16 at the time and it was a small boat for 162 people and was run by Tommy Stewart, an old Dublin DJ, Ronan O and Robbie Wheatman and it was savage. 162 people sailing out to Dublin Bay, the party was pumping until about 4 in the morning and everyone on the boat was about 30 to 35. We only got to go because one of our mates knew the DJs and brought us along and after that I was hooked.
And what kind of music were you listening to back then or did you have any kind of person that influenced your style?
Em No, back then I don’t know if it was the Energy dance boat, but it was all the music that was popular at the time like Ala and Binary Finery and all that kind of stuff and then at the opposite end of the spectrum, you would have songs like Alison Limerick’s “Where Loves Lives”, but I didn’t get into that until I was about 19 when I met a crew of lads which were mad into that style of house music and we all got on the same buzz. Before that I was into heavier and deeper house until I met all them.
You were saying you were DJing in New York and you’re currently a resident in Tripod, I was wondering what’s been the biggest crowd you have every DJed to?
I’m not sure what the biggest crowd would be, I’d be DJing to crowds in the hundreds, I wouldn’t be DJing to thousands yet. Like doing the Hed Kandi gigs, the Electric Picnic Festivals and warming up for Roger Sanchez get big crowds but I don’t know if you can really put a figure on it. Unless with something like Roger Sanchez on September 12th, you will be able to say it’s 1,300 people guaranteed on a Saturday night, but with the rest of them they have either been outdoors or full bars with 800/900 people like at Electric Picnic and Hed Kandi. Anyway, I’d sooner do a party with 300 people, that’s a full room and everyone having a great time, than a party of 1,500 people where everyone is half subdued
You are now starting to produce your own music and remixes for other artists, did you see this as a natural progression for you?
Yeah definitely, you always have to have something else; you can’t always just be a DJ. At the end of the day, you’ll get to the stage where you will get so good at mixing that your like, I got minutes in-between these songs, that I already know how to mix and you’ll want to be able to add extra material onto them or edit the song live. That’s just a form of remixing and re-editing the material that your adding on to it or cutting up the song with the new technology with CD decks, so it was definitely a progression that I saw myself doing.
When starting out, what kind of equipment were you using and do you feel, with the advent of mixing software, it gives novices a real opportunity to enjoy making and mixing music?
Yeah, when I started out, even when I was 16 when I got my decks, I had a laptop with a production programme on it called “eJay”. eJay is pretty much something you can buy for twenty quid and there’s techno, hip-hop, house eJay, etc, I pretty much had all of them. But from that though you can learn the very basics on constructing music and nowadays the amount of software programmes out there, any kid who wants to get into music and says they can’t or it’s too hard, simply doesn’t have the drive in him. There’s nothing you can’t do if you’re willing to work hard for it.
You probably hear tons of music from established and aspiring musicians all the time, but who are the main Producers and DJ’s you admire and do these artists play an important role in your production process and tune selection?
Well, the person I most admire in music is Quincy Jones. He is God, he is a scaled down version of God, and you don’t get better than Quincy. However, he wouldn’t inspire my music selection because his music is so diverse, like it’s orchestral, samba, big band, jazz, etc. I wouldn’t play much of it, although the construction of his music helps you in different dimensions and when you’re making other types of music, you know what I mean, you can draw on that to arrange music in different ways. But when it comes to dance music, the people who I would most be impressed by would be Francois K. He would probably be top of the list and David Morales would be one of the best producers out there.
I love Dave Morales and Frankie Knuckles’ arrangement of music and the way they make their songs is second to none. Same with Masters at Work, I would be a big fan of the New York style of house music from my time over there. I wouldn’t be a huge fan of the new electro stuff, it’s good but I would be more into the instruments making the music. From this side of the water, you have people like Fatboy Slim who is another genius, Tom Novy from Germany, Jamie Lewis is making some quality house music and there’s a couple of Irish guys, like LRB, one of the guys I DJ with at 515, his new tracks are going to be massive and he’s an amazing DJ and has a quality producer with him.
And is there any new Producers/DJ’s in the business that excites you and users should look out for?
Well, producers/DJs users should look out for nowadays, would be Chromeo, who are savage and making really good funky house music. The Swedish House Mafia, with Steve Angello, Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso, are also making quality tunes at the moment with the most energy in it. MoD, Calvin Harris & The Martinez Brothers are also making quality tunes at the moment. A band I came across recently called “Fat Freddy’s Drop” are the dog’s. When it comes to bands playing cool reggae music Fat Freddy’s Drop are numero uno.
In the years you have been a DJ and music Producer, what has been your greatest achievement?
That’s a hard one to answer, because now if I’m looking forward I’m like I want this to be my goal but when I achieve that goal, you enjoy for a minute and then you’re like I achieved that. It’s the same with everything, it always seem better in your mind then when you actually achieve it, so once you achieve that goal your like I want something better again and then you focus on that. But I would say getting my studio would be a huge one and becoming a resident with 515 in Tripod, which is the best club in Dublin, would probably be the two best.
You have set up your own Record Label ‘one2manyrecords’, do feel its important for aspiring DJ’s, producers and musicians to understand all aspects of the music business?
Yeah 100%, unless you want to get ripped off. You need to know everything, you can be intelligent and know one aspect of the business but there’s going to be somebody else out there who knows all aspects and therefore going to be better than you and make better deals. If you want to be the best you need to know all areas.
With your knowledge of the music business, what would be the main tips or hints you could give to the novice and aspiring Producers/Musicians and DJ’s?
Work hard and never give up! If you work hard and believe you can achieve your goals you will do it. Even if you slightly go “Oh I can’t do it or just because they can do it and I can’t, you’re going to come second”. Just believe in yourself and you can do it, it’s as simply as that. Don’t be a person who is like its 10 O’Clock on a Tuesday night, I’m tired I’ll go to bed, stay up and put in the practice because that’s what it takes. You know at the end of the day, it is the dream job; I’d rather do this than be a professional footballer or sportsman. I get to party, I get paid to play music in a big nightclub, I work at the weekends and they all have strict diets ha ha, and their careers only last about 10 years and that’s it. You can DJ until your 50 or 60 or go deaf. If it’s a good life, there should be nothing you won’t do to achieve it.
What are your plans the future?
I’m moving to Ibiza in November and going to take it from there. I’m just going to move there, studio is paid off now so I want to know what it’s like to live on a Mediterranean Island and write music there. I have a nice little house that I’m going to rent out which is pretty much sorted, I just have to go over in September to finalise it and probably go over in mid-November and have Christmas dinner over there. Then pretty much gig and hopefully by next summer, I would have other gigs, which through Tim Sheridan who lives over there and is a huge DJ, has already told me that he can sort me out. Again, I’ll be living over there getting to know the locals, giving out CD’s so I have no doubts that I’ll get DJ work. I would also love to get into the BBC Vadermay studio over there and do editing with ProTools on their radio shows.
And finally, what was the first song you ever bought?
Nikolai – “Are You Ready To Flow”
And your favourite song at the moment?
Sweet Mercy – “Reach Out”
To find out dates when you can see Eoin Long, please CLICK HERE
cant beleve you were 16 you could of got me closed down . best of luck tommy