Welshy | 5 Minutes With – noctismag.com

Since his debut single, ‘Haiti’, pricked up ears across the airwaves, dynamic DJ and producer Welshy has earned serious critical and commercial attention, earning gold record status in Ireland. Now signed to Insanity Records, Welshy is keeping the momentum going with ‘All For You’—a hypnotic sun-drenched anthem that is on course for big success.

From infant DJ aspirations to musical inspiration, songwriting advice Ed Sheeran-style, and beyond, we caught up with Welshy to see what makes him tick, his creative process, and more.

Hi Welshy, tell us a little about your sound and what inspires you?

Hey, the best way I can describe my sound is feel-good house music with a little twist. My sound is heavily inspired by “world music”, which I try to incorporate into house music.

When did you first get into music and was there a DJ or artist that changed everything for you?

“Ever since I was extremely young, I always wanted to become a DJ.

I’m still unsure where that initial spark derived from, but as far back as I can remember, DJing has always been for me. What made me want to pursue music and produce music to become a DJ was when Avicii dropped “Seek Bromance”. I was captivated by the sounds and melodies of “Seek Bromance”, and it was like a switch went off in my brain—it made me realise I want to do this. I have a fond memory of searching on Google, “how does Avicii make music?” and it all stemmed from there.”

How’s life been since signing to Insanity Records?

Life since signing with Insanity has been incredible, and I can’t praise the guys enough.

I’m very fortunate to now have an amazing team of people around me who are equally as ambitious and driven as I am.

My favourite thing about signing with Insanity has been the sense of community within the label that everyone is part of this big team; I grew up and still play a lot of hurling which is a team sport. To win matches, you need a good team of players around you, and it’s seldom an individual that will win a match for you. I think I’m on a winning team at the minute!

Many of your songs are driven by powerful vocals and infectious hooks. What’s your process when collaborating with vocalists or arranging your songs? Or is there a specific process at all?

That’s a really tough question, and if I’m being completely honest, every track is kind of different. It depends on the day and who I’m in a session with. Personally, I find that once I have an idea and direction for the track, nine times out of 10, everything else just seems to fall into place after that.

What would you say is the highlight of your musical journey so far?

It definitely has to be “Haiti” going GOLD in my home country of Ireland. This was something I never thought was possible. I still need to pinch myself every time I see the plaque.

Do you have any pearls of wisdom to offer aspiring DJs and producers?

One of the best pieces of advice I got was from watching a talk by Ed Sheeran.

In the talk, Ed says to view your songwriting as a dirty tap: when you switch the dirty tap on lots of dirty water will come out until the clean water comes. Now and then, you’ll get some dirty water, but as long as it gets out of you, it’s fine!

It’s important to realise you’re not going to produce a hit song the second you begin producing music; same with DJing—you’re not going to be the most technical DJ the second you touch a set of decks. It goes with everything in life…the more you practice, the better you will become.

Who would you like to work with in the future?

That’s something that changes quite regularly with me. I would, of course, love to produce some music with Calvin Harris. I think that would be the peak for me. London Grammar, Koffee and Dermot Kennedy are all on the wish-list, too.

And last but certainly not least, what projects have you got up your sleeve for the near future?

To answer in short, I have so much new music in the works that I cannot wait to share. I don’t want to give anything away as I always like to keep listeners guessing! Watch this space.