Mr. Lynam, welcome to the ON THE SESH hot seat! Tell us about yourself !
Hi OTS, my name, is Ed, I’m 35, I’m 1/2 English and 1/2 Irish and I currently live in Dublin. My hobbies outside of music would probably be motor racing and hiking.
Here at OTS we like to tackle the important topics… are you any relation to elderly sports pundit Des Lynam ?
Haha. Oh if I had a pound for every time I was asked that!! Sadly we’re not related, I’m also not related in any way to another Edward Lynam who is a successful horse racing trainer or Rory Lynam who is also a DJ in Northern Ireland! Lynam is a more common name than you would think!! Well in Ireland at least.
The question on everyone’s lips… the shades, is there a reason you wear them whilst performing?
Another good question!! Well when I started raving in Ibiza; Sunglasses were everywhere, even if it was dark. The Sunglasses I had at the time were a pair of Oakleys, so I started raving with them on. When I took up DJ’ing I figured I’d continue wearing them to show that I was a raver to the crowd, but also to stick out a little bit and to be remembered. Similar to how Judge Jules is with his Glasses. Plus Roger Sanchez and Matt Darey also wear shades when they play, so I’m not the only one who does it! I lost my original pair last year, and sadly Oakley don’t make that pair anymore! I couldn’t find any on eBay so I then got a slightly different more modern pair, which I use now.
Tell us how you got into DJ’ing, what was your first gig and how did it go?
It was a friend of mine when I was working in Ibiza in 2005 who suggested I take it up. So at the start of 2006 I joined this DJ course in Newcastle, I was taught on Vinyl, bought myself a pair of 1210s (Regretfully I sold them later) and just kept practising. My 1st gig was at the end of the course and it was in the famous Digital Nightclub. The club had only just opened, so I actually was the 1st ever trance DJ to play there! I imagine my set was a bit shite though. Seem to remember fluffing one or 2 transitions. Wasn’t the busiest of nights either, but fun none the less.
What’s been your favourite ever event to play?
I’d say making my main room debut for the Gallery at Ministry of Sound on my 32nd Birthday would have to be the top so far. The prestige and the history of that booth, just gave me this extra boost and I was able to pull a set out the bag that really got the place jumping. The Gallery and Ministry of Sound have had a fair bit of stick in recent times, some of them are quite legitimate concerns, but there is an atmosphere in the box that is very hard to beat! And it’s nice to still be asked to play on the odd occasion. Click here to listen to that set
In all the times you’ve been behind the decks, what’s the craziest / weirdest thing you’ve seen happen on the dance floor?
I’ve earned a reputation as a late or closing DJ so you would think I would see maximum weirdness more than most, but surprisingly I’ve seen very little. Most of the crowd I have are pretty much zombies raving at various speeds by the time I’m on!! hahaha. So I think they got all their weirdness out of the way before I come on. And now just want to rave to a hard fast beat to the finish line! As a raver though, the craziest thing I saw was in DC10 Ibiza, when I saw a group of 5 guys wearing nothing but matching pink hot pants, crowd surfing in a rubber dinghy! And the fact that everyone there just accepted it as a perfectly normal thing, was what made it for me!
Do you think the trance crowd has changed much since you started out?
I’d say in general we’re a little older. That’s not a bad thing, it’s part of life. And it’s refreshing to see that raving is now more socially acceptable for people of all ages than perhaps it use to be. And that’s it’s also not just confined to nighttime but in daytime too. But I do think we’re starting to lack appeal to the youngsters who’ve just started, or at least less so than other genres such as techno, EDM or house. I’m not sure how that can be solved, but perhaps being less critical of other genres and the people who enjoy them would be a good place to start!
What about trance in General, do you think the sound has changed over the years?
It’s certainly more dynamic, with more sub-genres of trance than ever. Which is always a good thing as new producers establish a new sound to keep the scene fresh. It’s healthy. But I would say to those who like their harder sounds to try progressive as well and vice versa. Trance events should always be about the journey and not 140 from start to finish. I was not too keen when Armin van Buuren started the WAO138 theme, as he effectively split the scene in 2, to a certain extent. Mind you in Dublin when you only have 4 or 5 hours of club time, it’s quite tricky to provide the clubbers with a proper journey.
Talk us through how you got residency at Trance Sanctuary and how long you’ve been doing that now!
Well the 1st Trance Sanctuary After party was straight after their 4th birthday, so I’ve been doing it for 4 years. The idea came about when I suggested to Mark [Landragin] about having a hard stage, as most of the support acts back then were in the garden required to play progressive. And a lot of them were capable of playing much more energetic trance. Mark also wanted to allow more DJs to perform, and an After Party seemed the perfect solution. So on the 4th birthday the day event had a hard stage and also an After party, he asked if I would like to help run it, as well as close the night, which meant I could go full blast, no restrictions!! The 1st After Party sold out, so a couple of weeks later Mark asked me if I would like to continue running the After Party as well as be closing resident! And 4 years later we’re still keeping them going and I have a great relationship with Mark, Alex, Arianna and the rest of the TS team in ensuring the After Party goes smoothly. I’m very proud of how it’s gone and hope we can keep them going for a long time to come!
You also produce your own tracks, how and when did you get into that side of things?
I didn’t get into production till 2010 where I was actually just making mashups under my Dirty Chef alias to start with, then finally did my 1st single in 2014. Slowly but surely I’ve grown in confidence with getting more tracks out there, and collaborating with more people as well, it’s still and I think always is a learning curve, but I’m enjoying it a lot more now than when I started. I’ve also started producing techno under another alias, 6GR.
Would you say it’s now vital to make tracks in order to DJ bigger gigs?
The last DJ in the trance scene who got quite far without producing was Eddie Halliwell, and he started the best part of 20 years ago, with DJ skills not really anyone else has been able to replicate. With DJing as a craft becoming easier with technology, and more and more people taking it up; I’d say it’s as vital as it’s ever been. Even then it’s actually about getting your tunes on the right label and still a little bit of luck and good marketing. The stakes have never been higher really.
What’s been your own personal favourite from your back catalogue?
Depends on my mood really, “Endorphins” on FSOE Clandestine has certainly been the most successful commercially and I’m proud of how far that one went. “Steroids” has had decent feedback from a few DJs and ravers. And people have also enjoyed my collab with Paul Webster with “Intimate Soul”! All 3 very different tracks. I try not to make my tracks all sound the same and have a bit of variance in them. It would be nice to have a track that defines me, such as Underworld with “Born Slippy” or Paul van Dyk with “For An Angel”, where they are pretty much expected to play their signature tune every time they perform, but making a track with that kind of success is very hard to do, even more so now with the ever increasing size of music coming out, but you never know!
Who’s been your favourite person to work with on a track?
Renegade System, the guy is a machine!! Always fun to work with and he knows where the best burger place is ever!!
What’s your production set up at the minute?
I run my productions off a MacBook Pro, attached to a 27″ screen and wireless keyboard and Mouse (Always like having 2 screens) with 2x Rokit G5s as my monitors and a Focusrite 2i2 Amp. My DAW is Abelton Live and my synths largely come from Sylenth or Nexus. Plus a tiny portable M-Audio keyboard which I really need to upgrade, but space is a factor at the moment!
Are you going to let us in on what future releases you’ve got coming up?
I have a new collab with Renegade System out on FSOE Clandestine end of April, which you heard in the mix. We’ve also planning to work on another collab later this year. Also got a collab with Costa Pantazis out in early Summer. Plus 2 original solo projects that I’m submitting to my preferred labels at the moment. Not a massive amount but enough to keep things rolling. Also hoping to get my 1st ever vocal trance remix done by end of this year.
You were also involved with elevation audio which recently came to an end, can you tell us a little about the journey start to finish and why you called time on It?
Lewis [Duggleby] and I have been friends since 2010 and we started the label and brand in 2013.. We started our promotions at the Baby Box for The Gallery at Ministry of Sound and then went on to do solo events at Fire, Lightbox, Protocol, Rhythm Factory, Club414 and Urban Bar. As well as international events in Ibiza at Play2, @night Playa D’en Bossa and Tropi and also Poema RAW in Utrecht Holland for the ASOT Pre parties and After Parties. At the same time we then had over 100 releases on our label, many of the producers who started their production journey with us went on to become big stars such as Dan Thompson and AVAO.
We decided to end it as we felt the London scene (Where our base is) was a little too crowded with events from other promoters, the fact that I no longer lived in the country and that both Lewis and I wanted to focus more on our own productions and get them on to the bigger labels. We had a great 6 years and I think with 70 events and 100 releases, it has been time very well spent and made both Lewis and I the best of buddies and a friendship that will continue always.
We believe Adrenalin Sessions is holding an event shortly, can you tell us more about that and how do we get involved ?
Well Adrenalin Sessions is my radio show that I’ve hosted since 2011 and in 2016 I had an event celebrating 100 episodes of the show, hosted by Elevation Audio. Once moving to Dublin I decided that I would start to venture into promoting Adrenalin Sessions as an event again as well as a radio show. We had our 1st one last December with Paul Denton and Madwave headlining, and the night went well. We have our 2nd event on Saturday 27th April, where we have Paul Skelton playing classics on the piano, The Space Brothers for 2 hours and myself closing the show for the final hour. Tickets are 15 euro plus booking fee from Eventbrite and it takes place at The Sound House in Dublin. So yea if anyone fancies a weekend over in Dublin, this is actually the perfect weekend to do it as Aly & Fila are doing an open to close set at The Button Factory the night before! If you can’t make it to that the sets will be recorded and Adrenalin Sessions as a radio show still continues every month on AH.FM. And there are more events in the pipeline for this year. ** CLICK TO BUY TICKETS **
Who do you think would win in a fight.. Tiesto or David Guetta.. and why?
Tiesto. The guy is pretty big!
Would you lick a fully charged car battery if it meant you got to play your dream gig.. and what is your dream gig?
Haha. I don’t think I would go to that length! I suppose my dream gig would be closing the Main stage at Luminiosity Beach Festival, that would be something pretty special. Obviously ASOT Utrecht and perhaps playing in some large scale events in places like USA and Argentina would be high on my list too. I’m happy I’ve been able to play at some pretty decent places already in Europe and Asia, but I’m hungry for more. Also quite keen on perhaps doing an Open to Close event myself in the future, but I’ll wait and see what comes my way.
What’s your wildest sesh memory ?
Club 172! It’s not actually a club, but was actually my home for 2 years in London. The house got it’s name for hosting insanely long carry on’s after nights out. The way the house was laid out allowed us to have a nightclub, complete with DJ decks (you would often see me spinning some tunes!), visuals (Our TV using Windows Media Player Visuals), lasers, lights, surround speakers with a pretty powerful amp in our massive open plan living room! How we got away with having 50 odd people back on multiple occasions, some of who would keep going on the sesh for nearly 3 days!! And not have a single fatality, injury, arrest, complaint or any significant damage to the house is quite frankly an insane miracle!! Even more of a miracle is how the 4 housemates, including myself, got any sleep!! It was some fun house alright, and I really have some fond, if slightly hazy, memories of that place!
AND NOW FOR THE EXCLUSIVE ON THE SESH GUEST MIX !
