Magazine Sixty Interview with Jonny Mac (Warriors of the Dystotheque) talking about their acclaimed, brilliant new album – It’s A Beautiful Thing, music culture, and the art of songwriting, plus more, in this in-depth dive into the artist’s psyche.
Welcome to Magazine Sixty, Jonny. How did you get introduced to music growing up? Are there any particular artists who have been lifelong loves?
Hi thanks for having me along. So, the usual really, with music being played at home in Ireland as a kid, but it didn’t awaken the inner wannabe DJ in me. I was born in the early 70’s so cousins & teenagers around me were playing punk, ska & New Romantic sounds. It was a bit of a shit show here in the North of Ireland growing up as I was right bang in the middle of the troubles. I was going to the youth club as all kids were and was fascinated by the discos, the music, lights & energy. I wanted to be the DJ and before secondary school, I was DJ’n at those discos. I was a little rude boy, the first single I bought was Ghost Town by The Specials & the album was All The Best by Belfast punks SLF. But by DJ’n as a kid I’d access to all sorts of 80’s music, which we all know now is where some of the best Balearic gems come from. Then via my good friend Maxi I got introduced to New Order via his uncle Kieran. I was hooked & fell in love with everything New Order, Factory Records, everything Tony Wilson, as for Hooky’s basslines they still blow me away. This was all happening before I was even 11, but then disaster struck and I lost my mum who died suddenly. My life changed from a loving and caring one to a having to find a way to just survive as there was no family from then really. From that day on, it was an uphill struggle, the troubles were getting worse, people shot, killed, blown up every day, and those around me were getting involved. I was so close to getting sucked in, more out of belonging to something than wanting to actually be a part of it.
Thankfully a few weeks after my mum passed away Depeche Mode were in Belfast for the Black Celebration Tour. Initially, I wasn’t allowed to go as Belfast was getting blown up on a daily basis, but I cried and begged to go so much I was bought a ticket by my aunt and went with the youth club. Gerry who was like 10 years older and a Goth worked at the youth club, he took a mini bus and looked after me. I came out of the gig and said “I’m gonna have a career in music” Pipe dream really but I’ve been involved in the industry professionally since 98. I bought a bass shortly after the DM gig, which I play badly, I saw The Smiths & Big Country all within a few months of DM and I was on the right path. Cliche, but music saved my life as plenty of others ended up in prison or dead. I thankfully joined several bands playing bass or drums and never looked back. I’d like to add Portishead, Massive Attack and The Chemical Brothers to that list as they let me see that things could be done differently be it in the studio or as a DJ. Another major player was Jose Padilla and Cafe del Mar, back in 95 when I bought my technics about a week later I was in my house and my good friends Steky & Ken (brother of DJ Fergie) were there, we had the Essential Selection on and the question was asked where’s your ultimate gig. Ken said Ministry, Steky said Cream & I said Cafe del Mar. A few weeks back in Ibiza I was sitting on the rocks having a joint just after having DJ’d sunset at Kumharas with Steky and he said “it’s time to make another wish”
It’s A Beautiful Thing is the third Warriors Of The Dystotheque album. Do you find it easier to compose music the more you do it?
I’d say yes and I guess that’s true with this album. For instance, we did it in under a year (usually 2/4), it’s the first album we actually got together and wrote as opposed to 8 years of everything being done online. We seemed to just write a load of tracks and release albums over 8 years, but no great thought went into them, we self-released and it was just fun really. Just before the second album and Lockdown we won an award and during lockdown wrote Anthropause which Howie B produced, it had 2 Jazz FM playlists & 4 premieres on BBC 6 Music and led me to DJ’n at Pikes, Cafe del Mar and writing On The Balcony At Sunrise to play at sunset. I figured you may never get to DJ sunset at Cafe del Mar again so write something special, it got Chris’s attention and led to this album. So, we got the feels and this was always going to be “Balearic” and with it being written for Chris Coco on his DSPPR label it kept us focused.
Sometimes I don’t remember the process that much as I get totally lost in it, it literally consumes me. It’s only when it’s over I come back out of that bubble. It’s like I’m guided through the whole process and we / WotD step up and we get into the zone and get the grooves, the vibes and I guess the results, it feels natural. But during the whole process, I’m oblivious to everything else musically, like no radio, DJ’s, or albums get my attention, I often come out of the process and listen to loads of DJ shows and think wow this tracks amazing only to discover I received it 3 months earlier on promo and haven’t even downloaded it. I guess it’s staying in my lane, keeping the WotD sound true, we don’t wanna sound “Generic Balearic” not that it’s a bad thing at all, obviously we absorb influences in every minute of every day and anyone who says they don’t has a major god complex cause none of us are, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis and the like, let’s be honest there’s not much that’s not been done before. But that doesn’t mean your sounds weak or a total rip off. In the words of the Beastie Boys on Pass the Mic “So this is what I got to say to you all, be true to yourself and you will never fall”
Talk us through the collaborative process Warriors Of The Dystotheque goes through when making music? And can you describe each member of the band’s place within it?
I usually get a spark. It’s like an awakening. I sort of expected to be a bit burnt out because we’ve spent 2 years on this album with edits etc, this was off the back of 2 years writing & recording the 2nd album. But we’re literally writing for fun, still to come this summer we have an EP for Phil on NuNorthern Soul in August as well as a release for Shades of Sound next month as well. Then an extended version of the album & several remixes. So, I was really surprised but last week I opened a note on my phone with the title Album 4 and had several ideas written down. Last night, I was watching a series on Netflix and stopped to write down some of the script. Warriors Sean and Kevin are already firing over little rough sound sketches. We’re fully in the zone atm so things are healthy with everyone brimming with ideas already which as we all know isn’t the case all the time. To date, 90% of WotD starts at HQ here in Derry where I lay down some ideas, be that pads & a beat, a sample, or sometimes a whole track, more or less. I then send it to Sean in Coventry and we work it up between us, then I arrange it till I’m pretty happy before sending it to the Florida Warrior twins Mike & Nick overdub live strings, bass, guitar, brass and add any live drums we might have decided on, synth work from the Juno, Rhodes etc, this adds the live elements which gives us or sound.
On this album we’ve a new member Kevin Sharkey, he’s a drummer and also from Derry but lives in England, he drums live for The Undertones. I wanted Timpani on a track and put a call out on Fakebook to which Sean Johnston (ALFOS) replied and hooked us up, we got on really well and Kevin shared some ideas he had and it was exactly the path we were heading on this album, so it was a no brainer, he got his WotD patch and was in the band, it has always been about sharing the love and working with friends, like minded and good genuine people. Dial it back to November 22, this time the process changed, I went to Coventry for a long weekend and Sean and myself started 2 tracks, the plan was a new EP for DSPPR. I’d known Sean Graham since 99 when I moved to Cov and we studied music together, I also ran a club night called Frequency in Cov, Birmingham & Leicester and he DJ’d for me so we knew each other well. But I’d moved home to Ireland from Cov in 2011 after losing my way and going down the wrong path into the dark, messy lonely drug world, further than before, I lost my best friend, finding him dead in our home, it was time to sort it out, clean up my act or be the next person checking out early. It took me 11 years to go back to Cov but this process sped things up and I was already more focused, by this time I was 11 years clean and pretty much had a reset in life so felt stable, we’d 9 years of WotD, 2 albums and love from 6 music and Jazz FM since 2016 so this helped massively keeping me on track. I got back to Ireland and called Chris at the label to update him and came off the phone with the album deal in place. Things had shifted and it felt like the 1st proper test, Chris was taking on the executive producer role & it wasn’t a self-release. We needed to prove we could step up, everything we’d done and all the love, awards etc for almost a decade didn’t matter it was what happened next that would be where we get judged.
The “Balearic” scene in nature has the older more musically mature ears listening so it’s in my opinion a tougher crowd. With a buzz about us and lots of ideas between Sean, Kevin and myself we’d 9 tracks ready to overdub by Mike & Nick in Florida, this is usually where the time passes as it’s a lengthy process, it was mid-January ‘23 and I decided to book a flight to Florida, take a hard drive out and get into the studio with the twins. The funny thing was up till this point we’d never spoken on the phone, FaceTime or anything and that remained the case until I collected my baggage at Orlando airport and Mike and Nick met me. Thankfully we got on in person and spent a week over dubbing, writing 3 new tracks , batching 6 new ideas for going forward. I think the time in Florida comes through on the album, and Beachside Drive is the standout Florida moment as we drove upstate to Cocoa Beach for dinner along the coast on the A1A road. Mike and Nick are twins, very heavily Jazz and Psyche Funk rooted, they literally write and play for fun as one, it’s insane in those sessions a sight to behold. Sean, Kevin & myself, just fire ideas off each other and if they stick they move forward. I think we’re all old enough to realise not everything works and to trust the vision, with this album I had a vision and Chris also had a vision we weren’t too far apart in the end, which was healthy as well, it never felt like hard work or box ticking, like I’ve said we have our own lane and weren’t coming out of it.
The downtempo nature of the music lends itself to certain situations. What are the most important attributes music can have for you?
The music has got to feel real, organic, never forced. We never set out to write the next summer hit, sell out, conform or please anyone outside of what we do. If you don’t like it maybe you don’t get it and if you do like it, well thanks for sharing your ears with us. The main thing is that people remember the songs down the line and can stick the vinyl on 7 years later and still feel lost in the moment like they did that 1st few times they heard it. We’re a band of DJ’s, producers, musicians and musical misfits with a vast catalogue of influences – not a bunch of producers with a formula we repeat every time we enter the studio by shuffling the midi around every season, we hope people can hear and appreciate that.
Ashley Slater’s vocals are an inspired part of the picture. How do you feel about the quality of contemporary songwriting? Do songs still have the power to effect change?
Ashley’s vocal tone and range is one that has always stood out for me since I first heard it. On the plane home from Florida, I’d all the references of the over dubbed tracks on my phone, I was listening to Beachside Drive on the plane and was singing badly to myself, I was hearing Ashley’s tone, so I contacted him while I was in the air and had sent him the track by the time I landed in Dublin airport…
He went on to sing on a few tracks and totally transformed them.
As for contemporary song writing it’s real, from the heart, poetic and present, it’s as important today as it always was, “it’s a beautiful thing”.
Look at bands like Idles with their no-nonsense messages, then look back at Rage Against The Machine, it’s a much-needed platform, especially in today’s world.
We’ve had our say over the years with Thou Shalt Not Follow, aimed directly at the Tories, No Borders which is self-explanatory and more recently Fear of an Equal Planet.
It’s a part of song writing that’s not going away any time soon, I hope.
You recently played for Ibiza Sonica Radio and at Pikes in Ibiza. Tell us about your relationship with the island. Do you feel the island has been adversely affected or in more positive ways through its popularity?
I’ve a long, fabulous and reaffirming relationship with the island. I’ve been going almost every year for 30 years. I had my first residency there in 2003 at Eden alongside Leeroy from the Prodigy. We’d been together on the Nu School Breaks circuit and were offered to bring the sound to Ibiza, we did every Wednesday that season, pre-parties at Bar M, I did Sunsets at Coastline and also Savannah.
Back then Tony still owned Pikes and we’d be up there, out of the way relaxing, although that rarely worked out as Brandon & Alex P would come up and we would hangout round the pool and Tony would tell us stories, looking back moments like that are priceless in the whole history of Ibiza.
I’ve done several seasons in the later part of that decade as well.
I took a few years out when I moved home to Ireland in 2011 and spent time on my mental health, basically rewiring and getting the frequency right again. This was when I started the WotD project. There had always been an element of jazzy downtempo in our sound from the very 1st track Hashtag, by the second album I was in a good place and Pikes came calling after hearing the more Jazz vibes on Anthropause.
I’ve been lucky enough to play at Pikes a few times a season for the last few years and held an all-day party last July there “Everything’s Gone Green” for my 50th birthday with my good friends DJ’n and having fun.
I’m 51 now and have seen major change, more commercialisation and I guess more greed. But it’s the world we live in. I just cut through the noise and go where I wanna be, see who I wanna see and enjoy myself.
It’s Ibiza though so there’s still a lot of bitching going on right now and it will never change, and from those early days it’s been full of egos, fakes and pretenders alongside those with proven records of consistently getting it right. I’m happy to let my music speak for me, which at this moment seems to be a success with the likes of Pikes, Sunset for Ibiza Sonica at Kumharas, Word of Mouth and a guest mix for Huey’s Block Party on BBC 6 Music, we’ve even got our own beer out with Twisted Barrel in Coventry, all this in the last month alongside this album, add 9 years of solid support for every single we released getting premieres and plays all across 6 music and loads of other major stations, as well as years spent DJ’n all across the globe. but it’s not about earning your place, though some think it is, WotD have been a thing for 10 years and throughout we’ve been releasing sunshine vibes which have been supported by Ken at Cafe del Mar from 2015 and I’d like to think with our music and DJ sets on the island over the years we’ve added a little something to the island and give something back.
Playing at those venues to the people who get it and others who want to hear it for the first time is magical and I’m honoured to get to play music to people and humbled by every trip to the island. Each time I return home I’m bursting with ideas.
But the world’s changing, people as well, and thankfully though I fear we’ve seen the best of Ibiza as such. But going to Ibiza, buying trainers, record, Stussy, and watching Leeds are my real addictions and I can’t see them stopping.
Outside of music which writers, painters, poets, etc inspire you?
I’m a massive fan of Peter Saville, again my Factory records connection. We’ve just sampled him alongside Stephen Morris and Brian Cox talking about CP1919, which is the pulse that creates the famous Unknown Pleasures artwork, he’s been way ahead of his time.
Also Banksy his messages tie in with the likes of Idles, he uses his platform to the fullest.
Poetry wise Seamus Heaney, James Joyce even add Shane MacGowan to that. Oh and check out Joe Duggan. Joe wrote and performed a few times for WotD. There’s a lot of humour written on the bathroom walls and fences around Ireland and also some great positive messages though my favourite daily reading in the modern world is the All on the board on Instagram.
You said outside music but that’s where some of the best writers are in my opinion.
Shaun Ryder from the Mondays, Bernard Sumner of New Order, Graham Crabb (PWEI) & Andy Cairns (Therapy). I hear and relate to them writing about what surrounds us in the lives we live.
What is your favourite instrument?
It’s a mix of Bass and Drums. But I’ll go with drums, Jazz drummers old and new simply take things to another level.
I’ve always been drawn to trip-hop and breakbeats since the whole fusion of hip-hop, jazz and breaks came about with the likes of Ninja Tune, Mo Wax etc absolutely blowing me away.
Within those jazz licks, it’s the ride cymbal that really does it for me.
The birth of Cinematic Orchestra was the real moment I went wow. A few years ago, I went to see Andrea Bocelli in Belfast the night before I flew to Ibiza.
He was with the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and I filtered out the singing and just watched, listened & indulged in what was the best musical experience of my life. I recommend going to the Orchestra at least once to everyone who loves music.
I arrived at Pikes the following day and remember sitting with Mark Broadbent telling him it was the best thing I’d ever seen and heard.
WotD are lucky enough to have Nick, who’s multi-instrumental and classically trained to add the beauty of live strings and brass to our music.
How do you see the future of music and DJs given the introduction of AI? Will both still need humans to drive creativity?
Again, it’s the world we live in, you can’t hold back the tide.
Sean in the band works in the Metaverse world and has been all over AI for a long time. We’ve used it on EP covers, mainly because of cost, although it is absolutely amazing what it can produce also. It’s used on our EP out next month on NuNorthern Soul – A Love Affair In Different Colours so watch out for that.
As for music, it’s not something we’ve entertained in the band set up and I can’t see that we will. What’s the point if we’re just gonna cheat, but on our 6 Music Block Party mix we used it to grab a Beastie Boys vocal and dropped it on the mix, so we’re not against it at all. But no algorithm can give you the experience of a DJ whose got 40 years of punk, ska, dub, New Romantic, indie and everything else they’ve absorbed plus all sorts of electronic genres running through his veins. If it does replace the DJ, the games fucked then, hopefully we’ll never see it in our lifetime.
Because of the weather, I was going to ask: Does sunshine help? But perhaps more pertinently how would you describe your philosophy of life?
Sunshine is a luxury item especially here in Ireland for the last few years.
It means so much to me in life, I’ve been riding Vespas since ‘89 and every summer I’d just ride around the amazing roads in Ireland around the beaches of Donegal and the Glens of Antrim, as last few summers I’ve literally had about 5 days with enough sunshine to even warrant starting it up. 1 day and counting this summer.
I load up on sunshine in Ibiza a few times a year and it’s something I can call on back in the studio through the winter months. However the addition of time in the studio in Florida last February could repeat itself, you can’t beat waking up grabbing a cup of coffee, getting stoned by the pool, and going to the studio at 28 degrees knowing it’s -2 and snowing in Ireland. What’s not to love.
Being born in the North of Ireland and witnessing decades of murder from all sides of the community and generally inequality of humans over religion has made me disengage an awful lot from the world and I tend to have blinkers on with a, if it’s not affecting me attitude going on. Maybe a coping mechanism in my life which I guess has been a challenge for 40 years…
But share the love, try to make others happy, learn from your mistakes, help where you can cause you don’t know what it’s like in the other person’s shoes, and don’t kick anyone on the way up, cause you’ll meet them on the way down.
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