Gavin Herlihy

Gavin Herlihy’s music has been a constant feature on some of underground house and techno’s most iconic labels since 2006. He opened his account for 2013 with a remix of house classic ‘Let Me Show You Love’ by Romanthony in collaboration with Laura Jones. Played on Pete Tong’s Radio 1 show and supported by DJs like Damian Lazarus, Mosca, Jamie Jones or Paul Woolford it was backed up by a track on hot underground house label Overall. Now based in the UK’s capital of house music, Leeds, Herlihy (pronounced Herl-i-hee) is an established feature on the global DJ circuit. He earned his place thanks to a two year stint learning his trade as an up-and-coming producer in Berlin at the end of the 2000s where he notched up gigs at the Panorama Bar, Watergate and Bar 25. As comfortable writing sublime deep house as he is at crafting no-nonsense future techno, few artists have achieved such a broad base of label support as this enigmatic Irishman. 2012 alone included releases on esteemed labels Culprit, Get Physical, Sunday Best and Leftroom. Crosstown Rebels single Witching Hour scored a Beatport Deep House Top Ten in February that year closely followed by another Leftroom bomb ‘Get Loose’, which became a Miami WMC and worldwide house anthem. All adding to an enviable discography which also includes previous outings on scene leaders like Cocoon, Cadenza and Buzzin Fly. It’s a long way from his debut single ‘Machine Ate My Homework’ in 2006, hailed by DJ Hell and Laurent Garnier as one of the tracks of the year. However, his roots in dance music lie much deeper than that. Herlihy’s teenage years were spent lost in the experimental rock of bands like Sonic Youth, Rage Against The Machine and Fugazi before uncovering electronic music during an eye opening festival pilgrimage to England at the tender age of 14. During this pivotal trip he remembers in particular hearing early drum ’n’ bass on a north London pirate radio station. “It sounded like the future being beamed down the radio waves,” he says. "And I've been chasing it ever since."