ShivIt’s with heavy hearts that we share this tribute to a Cork DJ, cherished friend and family member, and a local legend, Beanzy.
For anyone who’s spent time on Cork’s dance floors, Beanzy needs no introduction. He was a fixture, the kind of face you’d spot behind the decks one week and beside you on the dancefloor the next. His love for music showed in every set he played and every relationship he built along the way. A seasoned DJ and a properly astute record collector, he was a selector in the purest sense of the word. As his friend Dave Mac put it, “in friendship, skateboarding and music, his aim was to entertain, and he succeeded.”
Cork’s dance music community is built on people like Beanzy, who show up, who share tunes and who make a room feel like home. He epitomised what it means to actually love music, and for so many of us coming up in Cork’s electronic scene, he was part of the furniture of what that even meant. Close friend and DJ, Carl d’Alton said it well: “Apart from being a talented DJ, Beanzy was an educator and a huge part of the Cork scene. A record collection coveted by most, he was a huge influence on all of us.” Fellow DJ and friend Gary Fitz remembers the same thing from a different angle, “the ability to light up any room, an infectious passion and an intrinsic ability to pick out the deepest of deep cuts in a record bag.”
But it was never just about the records. Jus remembers him: “I’ve been friendly with Beanzy forever but we’d become increasingly close over the last few years. He was fond of a long 5 min plus voice note. Mini Pods he’d call them. Nerding out about ghettotech or whatever. Or his plans to restart his Phoniq night which he sadly didn’t get around to in time. But also about life stuff, he always wanted to know how my son was getting on. He even gave him a loan of his SP404 to encourage him to get into beat making. I last saw him about 2 weeks ago in town and went over to say a quick hello. We ended up talking for almost an hour. Conversations with Beanzy tended to go that way. Just his friendly nature and humour, you’d just want to keep talking to him.”
Ash, Kriptik co-founder, felt that same pull toward him from the day they met: “The first time I heard you play on the rooftop in Mason I was blown away because it was my first introduction to that sound.“ From then on it was tunes shared back and forth and, in Ash’s words, “bibles worth of voice notes”.
Eddie Tr-One spoke to that same closeness, and to what comes next: “After a fantastic recent event with our close knit Irish crew which you were such a huge part of, this will only make us stronger. There will be parties thrown in your honour soon — we’ll dance for you again.”
And Carl left us with the line that says it best: “Beanz was a true friend to so many, he had such a big heart. He was so close to so many. There’s a lot of broken hearts this week.“
Beanzy is survived by his parents, siblings, niece, and a wide circle of family and friends who loved him well. He’ll lie in repose at Wilton Funeral Home on Thursday evening, with a cremation service at Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy on Friday.
Rest easy, Beanzy.
Four Four sends its deepest condolences to Beanzy’s family, friends, and everyone across Cork and Ireland’s music community mourning his loss.
