What prompted the decision to go solo and do this on your own?
I think it originally came
from the idea of being able to sit and write music for myself again and to get
away from a major label or writing as a group with the pressures of being
signed to a major label. I had built a new studio in March 2011 and started to
feel I wanted to collaborate with other artists and also to write some music
that was more me. I had an idea around November 2011 to step outside my own
comfort zone and see if I could experiment with different styles or genres by
working with other producers that I respected or I was actually a fan of. So
there was probably a spark of Sirkus Sirkuz back then from that.
Somewhere over this period of
time, I wrote “Rapier” and sent it out to a few labels, just to get some 3rd
party feedback, and everyone I sent it to really liked it. I had about five
different record labels offers to sign it, but of course, I was signed to EMI
and part of The Japanese Popstars, so there was a bit of red tape and formality
to release a track outside my normal world, as you could imagine.
Once I got the “blessing” from
the powers that be, the ball had started to roll and I had actually then done a
remix for an act called “Crossfaders”, now under this Sirkuz alias and had
chatted about a few collab ideas with some producers and I had taken some time
to write a few more of my own tracks. Everything started to get really positive
and exciting!
What is it like to be on
your own for the first time?
Well its not really my first
time. I had been releasing as Hedrock Valley Beats from the late 90s, it was
quite successful too. I even had a number 1 in Australia amongst various other
chart places in different countries! So writing as Sirkuz, to me, is sort of
like a return to my roots in a way.
Was this originally
something you were going to do as a side project from Japanese Pop Stars or
ultimately the reason you left?
Yeah, we all (The Japanese
Popstars) had an idea to have our own “silent side projects” over the last few
years, its an idea we all threw around to metaphorically let our hair down and
we had plans to individually release separately under pseudonyms without any
proper push behind them. It was all pretty casual. Just something where we
could release some music quietly and keep The Japanese Popstars completely
separate. When Sirkus Sirkuz started to kick off for me, I decided to focus my
time on building that up instead. It was quite refreshing and a massive change
from what I’ve been at for the last few years with the Popstars. Its allowed me
to take full control of what I’m doing and get my creative juices flowing.
Do you still keep in touch
with the other guys from Popstars?
Since we normally only really
saw each other when we played out or when we got into the studio to work
together on music (although that meant nearly every day and most weekends!),
nothing really has changed although I haven't seen them in a few months. As we
are all in different studios these days or touring and Gareth now lives 4 hours
drive from me in Dublin, we don’t get to spend time together anymore, as we are
all busy working on our own careers and not really getting a chance to catchup.
How did you end on the name
Sirkus Sirkuz?
Well I have a habit of coming
up with bizarre names that are hard to spell or basically make no sense e.g.
Hedrock Valley Beats and The Japanese Popstars! So, I randomly got to thinking
of different ways to spell “Circus” one evening and liked the nonsensical way
that it confused me trying to spell it at the beginning. Yep, I couldn’t
remember how to spell it properly for about 2 weeks after coming up with it but
it still fell off the tongue with ease, obviously because of the Las Vegas
casino with the same sounding name. So I kept it. Did you know, Sirkus is
actually the Norwegian spelling for “Circus”? And between you and me I was
originally thinking of calling it “Hot Beef”!
Why hide behind a name
instead of using your real name?
My real name is Declan
McLaughlin, which is probably one of the most common names where I’m from in
Derry– its not very adventurous and there are far too many of us called that
here in Ireland! Plus, there is actually another musician from Derry who goes
by his name Declan McLaughlin and people get us confused with each other. There
even was one time that I received some of his royalty cheques from the BBC when
he had played some shows for them, and the BBC had mistakenly sent me his
payment. But being an honest person, I sent them back and explained the confusion.
It was then I decided to nickname myself “Decky Hedrock”, as I was “Hedrock
Valley Beats” at the time, to try and break away from his name.
Anywho, as Sirkus Sirkuz
originally started off as a “silent side project” it was all just a bit of fun
at the beginning but then when it started to take off more, I thought I’d keep
it the name rather than change it.
We have seen EDM explode
over the last few years, as someone making EDM for a while, why the burst in
popularity?
That's a big thanks to David
Guetta in my book. Dance music has been pretty underground for years with
certain songs becoming more mainstream and some electronic artists making a
bigger splash than others. But America has never really embraced the dance
culture until recently, yet it has been around for the last 20 years and
probably even more “underground” in the US than anywhere else in the world. Its
strange when you see that the roots of house music come from Chicago and
Detroit but it was a tougher country to crack in terms of this style!
So, when David Guetta started
to work with the pop icons like the Black Eyed Peas, it opened people up and
made it accessible to the more commercial tastes of the general public.
Although to me, what David has done with BEP is still pop music and in reality
a lot of the music that has been tagged as EDM, is more pop music with some
underground house ideas threw in.
I also think that the EDM
movement just came a long at the right time, and then when America decided to
embraced it, it became a big event.
From my experience of playing
more shows in the USA over the last 4 years, I saw the scene grow and grow and
get more serious. In my eyes, my gigs got bigger and better, to the point that
lots more money was being invested in this “new” exciting scene that was taking
off in America. Production values where getting insane and more people wanted
to be part of these “audio and visual festivals of light and sound”. In fact, I
heard that now some DJs are getting paid more than the likes of Bon Jovi or Van
Halen where being paid at the height of their popularity in the 80s!
It is actually great to see
and amazing to be part of this movement, atm.
What is so different about your work that makes you proud to
be making it?
That's simple. Because its me.
I love making music. So to be able to get up everyday and switch on a studio to
make music, it feels like a perfect job.
What are you doing now is
loud and furious and thanks to you, Justice, Nero, Skream and Banga, we are
hearing EDM get stadium style sound. Is this where you think the genre is
headed?
Wow, where could it be headed?
I’m not sure. I was never a fan of the dubstep sound thats popular now but I am
more into the rave sound. These days I’m a big fan of the “Future Techno” or “Electro
Tech” sound. I really like what's coming out of Belgium, at the minute, nearly
every artists I’m hearing from there is amazing – it must be something in the
water!! Also artists like Turbo Turbo, Attaque, Mumbai Science, Loops Of Fury
are making incredible music!
What was it like crafting
the three EPs for your trilogy? Did each mean more than the last?
It was only after the tracks
where finished and when Projectzion delivered the artwork that the concept for
the Trilogy EP came together. It sort of all made sense once the artwork came
about. Projectzion had created these wonderful sleeves for the individual
releases but I realized that they would be going to waste, as the online stores
didn't allow multiple artworks for a single EP. So, I came up with the idea of
making 3 EPs released as one on the same day. It sort of is a homage to the
days of old when I would receive vinyl EPs that had 5 or 6 remixes of the main
track, and then a month later I would receive another EP full of new remixes of
the same track. I miss those days and this was a way to capture that feeling
but also do something that had never been done before by releasing the 3 EPs
together on the same day, from the same label, and linking all the artwork
together. Thanks to Jamie (Projectzion) and Kevin at 9G Records they were big
fans of this idea and we brainstormed various ways to make it work. Jamie
devised the motif idea for the sleeves too which acted like a glue that holds
it all together. It was then that it all seemed to fall in place. Plus I then
decided to call it the “Trilogy” EP because we are all Star Wars fans, which
you can see an influence in the motif, and funnily I had just booked my tickets
to goto Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, so I was buzzing on Star Wars at
the time!
Once we had a plan I asked
some artists that I to remix the various tracks and sent them the track I
thought they would work best on to hear. Luckily they agreed and every remix
was amamzing! Dollface Devereaux, Elektropusher, Galactus, McLennan, Kik Katz,
We Take Polariods, Alexander Technique and Superstringz all delivered
unbelievable music for this release. The package became even more diverse yet
still working great together as a whole package of 12 tracks and now appealed
to various different DJs. The feedback is coming through from promos and its
very exciting, atm. Many thanks to everyone involved!
When can we expect a full
album?
There are no plans for an
album yet. My plan is simply to release more Sirkuz tracks. I’m also working on
a some more collabs with artists like Shadow Dancer and Run Riot which should
be released very soon and I have some remixes coming out over the next 6 months
too. Touring as Sirkus Sirkuz is also my focus, so I’ll be putting together my
live show and DJing more over the next while. An album could be down the line -
yeah, thats still an option but I’d like to just get everything solid first
before thinking of a Sirkus Sirkuz Long Player but who knows!
Anyhow, hope to see you on the
dancefloor!