Sam GreenwoodThomas Kilmurray and Shane Lynam are two DJs/promoters from Mullingar who are currently putting the midlands town on the map via their night that features homegrown talent, Lab Works. With Irish headliners in the shape of Daser, Bobofunk, Boots and Kats, Cóilí Collins, Tommy Holohan and more all invited to play at their stations in the unique locations of Daly’s beer garden and Columbia nightclub, the duo’s rise to prominence within the Irish scene has been an unlikely but fruitful one all the same.
While they may have gotten a name from their exploits as promoters, they can more than hold their own behind the decks across all genres, which has led to sets at plenty of the country’s festivals this summer. We caught up with the two as they laid down a banging set of the purest techno for FourFour’s local selection mix.
How did Lab Works come about, did you expect it to be as successful as it is now?
Lab Works came about from the lack of decent underground gigs in Mullingar. We saw the potential from playing house and techno in a local club; people were starting to enjoy it. We had no idea it’d be as big as it is. Our first gig was tiny, 20 people at most. To go from that, to maxing the capacity of the very same venue only 4 months later was amazing
What’s the difference between playing to a Mullingar crowd and a crowd in Dublin or Galway?
T: When I’m playing to a Mullingar crowd I find I know a lot of the people there. You almost know how they are going to react just because they are your friends and you have seen them before. Playing to a crowd from elsewhere is a completely different buzz. You don’t know many people or how they are going to react to your mixing. So playing to different crowds can be quite surprising in good and bad ways.
S: The Mullingar crowd is an odd one, the majority of them got into the underground scene from being in college in the likes of Dublin, Sligo and Galway, so in a way they’re similar.
Is it difficult to concentrate on your own set in the middle of running a night and looking after an act?
T: I don’t think concentrating on my set is too hard when running a night. Its all just fun really. We find when fun is being had we generally play decent sets.
S: Generally it’s grand, barely any hiccups, we do a lot of work before so we can enjoy ourselves while the night goes on. If something does go wrong because there’s two of us; we can usually manage, if I’m playing Tom can sort it and vice versa.
Do you think someone can maintain a successful career as both a DJ and promoter or in the end do you have to pick one over the other eventually?
T: To a degree yes, but it can be hard work pushing to get booked and book at the same time. Some are very good at it, but for the most part I think you would eventually have to pick.
S: I believe there’s a certain threshold, if you’re small time you can manage both. I can’t imagine the promoters/organisers concentrating on a DJ career or the likes of Carl Cox promoting and booking!
You can listen to their mix via our Soundcloud below:
Lab Works also host Cailín Power this Saturday. For more details click here.
