Native Instruments Maschine Master Class with Will Kinsella - March 1st

Intro: A 3 hour lecture on how to create a track from start to finish in Native Instruments Maschine delivered by Will Kinsella (Kombination Research) Date: Saturday March 1st Price: 30 euros Time: 18:30-22:00 Location: Twisted Pepper Basement Learner Outcomes: To understand how to progress from loop stage to final arrangement: Topics covered: - Rhythm Programming - Sequencing - Using FX - Arrangement - Mix Basics About the Lecturer: Techno and space enthusiast Will Kinsella is a full time producer with releases on the Advents Label Kombination Research, Sleaze Records and Globox. Listed in Dave Clarke’s top tracks of 2011 with Kongo. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/525606887553156/

About the Ceoltronic Bunker Parties

This Saturday I launch into a new project for Ceoltronic; the first of our Bunker Parties in the Academy Basement. When I thought of what I would like to achieve through this it actually took me some time to articulate. Here it goes.

Since the closure of Electric City, DEAF and Switch, Irish Techno has become completely reliant on international artists. The result is the same 10/15 names brought over every year and the same 3 or 4 people warming up for them. Pretty boring if you ask me. Where does that leave everyone else and where do people get experience and develop either as performers or artists? The answer? Risk your life savings bringing over a DJ yourself? Good luck. DJing for free at some party where the onus is on you to bring people to the party or you won't be invited back? You can play at the after party as well but don’t forget the cardinal rule, ten euros in, bring your mates and play for free.



This has left the Irish underground in tatters as far as I’m concerned. People are being used and exploited and this behaviour has become common place. Also by solely supporting international DJs the money just leaves the country.

 I want to deliver top quality music, in an underground setting, at an affordable entry fee where the money goes back towards supporting local talent. Bulk that up with the occasional international artist who we feel has a story to tell.



Fran Hartnett (February 8th), Eamonn Doyle (D1) and Chris Nez & the DSNT crew from Belfast (February 22nd) have all gotten involved. As well as DETROIT TECHNO MALITIA making their first ever appearance in Ireland this April.



This is what the Bunker parties are about. A good honest party amongst friends with absolutely no compromise in terms of the quality of music. It’s an open door policy. Everyone is welcome, just come down and enjoy yourself. Simple as. 

If you want to get involved just come down, say hello and meet everyone. You are all welcome.

There’s also scope to develop new skills as a producer as I have launched a Music Production Apprenticeship Program. It’s there if you need it.

If you have any other questions just come down to the Bunker and we can chat there.



Until then, thanks for reading.



Will

Will Kinsella Interview with DJ Mag Italia by Massimiliano Sfregola (January 2012)

Below is an interview I did for DJ Mag Italia about the Irish scene back in January 2012. The interview was conducted by Massimiliano Sfregola and was translated into Italian for publishing. I really enjoyed reading back over this as it brought be back to the Apocalypse Now Project and all the friends we made along the way. 

1. Can you describe us the clubbing scene in Ireland: which cities are the main hubs for the club culture and which styles have become more popular?

I haven’t been this excited about the electronic music scene in Ireland since the late 90’s. I think the country is in a very healthy place in terms of club nights, international guests and our own homegrown talent. Pretty much every city or large town has a scene of some description going on. Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Waterford have always had healthy scenes. There’s also lots going on down in Kilkenny, Carlow, Galway, Sligo, Donegal and there’s even a strong Dubstep scene in Wexford.

House music has always had a place in Ireland. Cork is arguably the Deep House capital of Ireland. Kerri Chandler pretty much has an honorary Cork passport at this stage!! Outside Dublin Trance has been very popular in towns/rural areas and up north for a long time. I think there is some movement towards Techno on that front. The Dubstep/Bass Music scene has blown up all over the island in a big way.

2. Can you name the most popular local clubs, radio shows and dj/producers among the irish clubbers?

In terms of clubs, Dublin’s main spots are the Button Factory, Pygmalion, POD, The Twisted Pepper and the Underground. The Button Factory has become the spot for big room parties in Dublin. Big Room, Big Sound System, nice location, perfect for my Apocalypse Now parties. Pygmalion and POD attract a nice house crowd although I’ve hammered out Techno in Pygmalion and it always went down a treat! Twisted Pepper is a multi purpose venue which caters for all walks of life in terms of electronic music. Their Friday shows have become the real spot for Bass music in Dublin. They’ve also got a bookshop, a barbers and a cafe. Venue 6 is a new Warehouse style club that is opening in the Docklands this year. That is looking impressive. Then for people out in North Dublin you have the Wright Venue which attracts a lot of big names and has a solid crowd. In terms of club nights we’ve got Apocalypse Now, Test, Mongo, Hidden Agenda, Big Dish Go, Release and Tenth Planet. DJs like Sunil Sharpe, Simon F, Fran Hartnett and Tuki have served the scene well over the years.

Down in Cork we have the Pavilion Club which was a theatre many years ago. I played there in November with ¨Click Cork¨and ended up staying for two days I had such a good time. Click push the minimal sound in a big way. Jamie Behan’s “Bastardo Electrico” night pushes the harder Techno end of things. For bigger acts such as Dave Clarke you have The Savoy. The Long Island is another nice venue. They’ve got the Frequency nights which are a lot of fun, Robyn Keys and John Barry are residents there. You’ve got club nights like ID by Chris Cashman and Liam Kearney, John Hennessy’s “Sunday Times”, Electric Underground and Dub Culture have provided an outlet for Bass Music in the city. You can’t talk about Cork though without mentioning Greg and Shane from Fish Go Deep. They made Cork the Deep House capital of Ireland with their legendary night “Go Deep” at Sir Henry’s club which is now sadly gone.

Limerick has a fantastic venue in Dolan’s Warehouse which houses big numbers and again hosts bigger acts. BSeven events are a new crew bringing over big names to Dolans. They also do the Bunga Bunga party’s at Bentley’s Courtyard. In Galway city Rory O’Donoghue and 110 Street have brought some great

acts over to the West Coast.

Up north of the border you’ve got the largest club on the Island which is Lush which caters predominantly for the Trance crowd. In Belfast Alan Simms runs Stiff Kitten and Shine which are both cracking venues with really good bookings. In terms of DJs you’ve got Space Dimension Controller, Fergie, Phil Kieran and Psycatron. In the North West you’ve got John O’Callaghan, Timmy Gibson & Tommy Conway driving the Trance scene in Donegal for many years.

Waterford’s House scene is really bubbling at the moment. The UNTZ Movement are doing some really cool stuff. They’re a group of friends that custom built a sound system, bought a van and pretty much started running these crazy parties around the South East. DJs with them include Petshop and Ikeaboy. Crystal Nightclub/Shorts Live Music Venue seems to be the main spot for parties. Their biggest club nights include House Tweekin, Just Groove with Enda Geoghan, Posh Funk by Will Power, Skelly and Nick Furlong, Niall Power’s Electric Circus, Re:publik and Re:tek. Local DJs worth mentioning there too are Sexshop (who used to run a sexshop) and Cailin Power. The Loft is a club worth mentioning as well.

In terms of Radio shows, RTE is our national broadcaster here and Mr Spring and Jenny Greene are popular across the country on 2FM. RTE Pulse (Digital Radio) is Ireland’s only 24/7 electronic music broadcaster which represents every form of electronic music. My show Ceoltronic broadcasts there every Thursday night which covers the Techno end of things. We’ve got others then like Orla Feeney (Vandit Records), Niall Redmond covers all things House and soulful, Adam Fogarty on Breaks, Karl Davis and John Kerrigan prop up the Hard Dance side of things. Other Dublin based radio presenters include Arveene, John Gibbons and Barry Redsetta. Then down the south east we have Ray Colclough broadcasting quality electronic music. Up North Paul Hamill's show “Across the Line” broadcasts on BBC North and has a solid following up there.

3. Is known that one of the main issue for the irish club scene is the strict licensing regulation and the “unfair” competition by many late pubs: in this situation has still been possible to offer the crowd big events and world famous names?

I think clubs have worked around it over the years. Ireland has always had a tradition of bringing over acts from the UK/Europe etc. A few years ago there was a small Thursday club night called Electric City who brought over international acts before they really hit the big time. I saw people like Magda and Luke Slater play there. Entry was 8 euros and the capacity was just over 100 people. Those nights were really special. Weekend clubbing is pretty much driven by international names. You’ve got a lot of promoters operating in Dublin at the moment so it is very competitive in terms of getting the acts you want at your night. I think the important thing here is to have a concept or a community ideology. Strictly profiteering promoters will find it difficult.

It is true that the licencing laws in Ireland really work against the night club industry. The word nightclub doesn´t technically exist in Irish legislation so each venue has to pay weekly licence fees. Its expensive to operate and there’s only small windows of trade each week. This also creates social and health and safety issues because everyone is thrown onto the street at the same time. Binge drinking is also an issue because people traditionally get to the club late and have to leave early. There has been a movement against this for many years called “Give Us The Night” but it has been ignored by the past three governments. They’re not interested.

The legislation or lack of has pushed the after hours scene underground. There´s a lot of after parties popping up now in underground locations such as warehouses, boats and restaurants. There´s also early houses legally allowed open from 7am such as the Dark Horse. We certainly don´t have anything on par with “El Row” though!

I think there´s still always opportunities to do cool stuff. If a promoter is hungry and creative enough, he or she can make something happen.

4. Which scene between underground and commercial gets more attention?

That’s a good question. Traditionally yes commercial music ran the roost here. The general public pretty much demanded the most commercial music possible on a night out which made it difficult for DJs and promoters here wishing to try different things. My only issue with a majority of this commercial music is that it is created a product for a young market, mainly 13 year old girls. To see grown adults shouting at you because you don’t have Britney Spears was pretty funny I have to say. I never took it personally. I think anyone who has rode out the past ten years in Ireland’s electronic music scene deserves credit. It was really tough here after the millennium. Now things have improved a great deal.

Dubstep has changed everything and I am very grateful for that. Kids are now listening to electronic music again. From Dubstep to House to Techno they are getting involved. There is a completely new generation of clubbers out there which is a breath of fresh air for the scene I have to say. People grow up and stop going out so much so the numbers for electronic music parties got quite small after a while. Now I think it’s getting more coverage and attention than ever.

Within electronic music media here in Ireland Trance took a lion’s share of the spot light. Again I think that isn’t feasible anymore given the growth in Dubstep, Techno and House Music.

5. Would you describe Irish electronic sound more oriented towards the Breakbeats from UK or to the techno and house from the “mainland”?

Bass or Beat music took off here in a big way. There are lots of club nights pushing this end of things and there´s a healthy community of DJs. I think it’s fair to say that it is definitely leading the way here in Ireland. It has brought in a whole new generation of people to electronic music from mainstream controlled media.

House and Techno has always had a good following in Ireland. The European Techno and house sound has been very prominent over the past few years with a lot of people making regular trips to Berlin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Barcelona. With the influx of new people into these club nights the energy has really lifted.

6. Could you name some local new talents?

In terms of Techno and House I think the main people to really take note of here are Matador, Sian and Chymera. Matador recently signed to Minus records, Sian who runs Octopus Records has had releases with Sci+Tec and Bedrock and Chymera who had a release with Cocoon. Donnacha Costello, Eamonn Doyle (D1), Fish Go Deep and John Daly have been doing it on the international stage for many years. These are the men of the moment down south. Up north Psycatron and Space Dimension Controller are doing great things.

In terms of new talent there’s a lot of people on the rise here too. I had my debut release with Sleaze Records last year and my next release is with Sasha Carassi’s Globox label (Italy). Al Keegan released on Sleaze last year too. Ian O’Donovan has been really busy. Mano le Tough is releasing with Buzzin Fly and has played in Panorama Bar. Dave Drokkr has been doing really well on the Dub step scene as has Lee Mcenery. Fran Hartnett has a Fabric mix on the way and Sunil Sharpe was a guest on Dave Clarke’s White Noise show last year.

Other producers on the up here include Shane Linehin, Glen Keohane, Diarmaid O’Meara, Jamie Power, Luke Creed, Adam Fogarty, Jamie Behan, Michael Lovatt, Dave Devalera, Joe Gould, Cian Frawley, Dan Sykes, John Hussey, TR-One. Ikeaboy, Gavin Boyce, Mark Flynn. Marq Walshe, Hypertic (Resopal Schalware), Rob Glennon, Daz & Martin, Brian Taffe, Orla Feeney, Bryan Kearney and Lorcan Mak.

7. If you had to recommend a “clubbing tour” in Dublin which dj bars/clubs and record shops deserve a visit?

Alright so a night out with me in Dublin would start on a Friday evening in All City/Earwiggle Records in Temple Bar. It’s one of the last record shops in Dublin. Then we´d have to pay a visit to my favorite Dublin pub McDaids for a pint of Guinness. This is a real old Irish boozer which first opened its doors in 1779. It’s a place where the great poets, thinkers and drinkers used to hang out in days gone by.

Around the corner from McDaid’s is Pygmalion where I’ve been a resident for the past 3 years. It has a nice atmosphere, people are nice there and you can have a cocktail if you wish. I will probably stick with Guinness for the time being. From there we’d take a stroll up Wexford Street towards the Bernard Shaw. The Shaw was an old Dublin pub taken over by Bodytonic. Now its a real hub for good music, art and food. So we could have a few beers, listen to good music and get something to eat if necessary.

From there we’d head down towards the Button Factory for one of my Apocalypse Now shows. Apocalypse Now is a series of monthly Big Room European Style parties counting down to the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012. So the idea is to host international artists like Jeff Mills, Sasha Carassi, Radioslave, Industrialyzer while centering the production around that theme. We will also be hosting themed art exhibitions beforehand in Filmbase. There’s always the possibility of an after party too!!

All in all there’s plenty to do!!

Thanks

Will

Will Kinsella - Plans for 2014 - Statement

Hi everyone

I’ve been working on my plans for the year ahead. This is what I've come up with so far. Your thoughts and input are always welcome and appreciated.

Production: First up, I have releases with Kombination Research, TMM and Patterns on the way shortly. That puts me on the same platforms as people like Ben Simms, The Advent, Gayle San, Industrialyzer and Cari Lekebusch. There's another ten or so unsigned tracks that I've been road testing too. That’s all grand but to be honest I feel like I could be doing more. I am looking forward to really pushing the boat out, exploring new sound scapes, challenges and generally becoming more prolific.

Equinox Dublin Free Parties in Pygmalion: This has grown a life of its own now at this point. There was a half hour queue to get in on Saturday which is really mind blowing. These parties seem to be getting wilder and wilder and the crowds are just getting more and more crazy. More of the same for the year ahead!

Ceoltronic Radio: Now in it’s 8 year of broadcasting and calls RTE 2FM and RTE Pulse it’s home. I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing and expand the project into new areas. I also have a huge back log of interviews to get up on Soundcloud; Jeff Mills etc. Must get on that! Ceoltronic - Will Kinsella

MPAP (Music Production Apprenticeship Program): I have started a tailored development program for electronic music producers. My idea was to take on 6 apprentices and show them the ropes of writing tracks from top to bottom. The response I got was crazy so I’m currently working on a way I can help everyone who has applied without excluding anyone. That will kick off shortly.

Ceoltronic Label: So I thought if I am training people up and I am already working with people like Jamais, Simon Foran and I taught Gavin Kenny and Mark Greene; wouldn’t it be cool to have a label where we develop our own talent? Im not sure there’s many labels like that out there but that’s what I’m going to do.

Ceoltronic Events @ The Academy 2: After a very enjoyable experience with the Ceoltronic 8th Birthday Party on New Years; I thought why not take things a step further again? Why not have a "Ceoltronic" incubator club night for Irish producers, DJs, emerging talent and more seasoned names alike? Bring over the occasional international act who I think has a story to tell. Possibly even do lectures beforehand.

So that’s what I’m doing. We have Dublin’s only Vinyl only night, I’ll be experimenting with new darker sounds and a host of really talented and energetic people have gotten involved. It’s also a space where people from the MPAP can hang out and meet other like minded heads. That kicks off on the 1st of February.

So that’s everything. A busy but exciting year on the cards. It's an open door policy so if you need advice or want to get involved get in touch and I will try my best to help.

Thanks for the support last year. I hope everyone has a great 2014

Will

Apocalypse Now #6 Presents Alan Fitzpatrick @ the Button Factory, Saturday 28th of July.

http://ping.fm/SVZpu

I've a little surprise 4 loyal Ceoltronic Radio listeners 2n. I'm airing the Post Apocalypse Now Interview wit Jeff Mills. Tks 4 ur support

Highlights from Ambivalent's Tour of India...

http://ping.fm/WFOtm