Secondly Jamie Lewis – Cookys 9. It’s one of my “always” plays. When the dancefloor is simmering, I go find Cookys 9.The drums, the energy in the stabs and of course the quirky take on Lil Louis and Brancaccio & Aisher makes it the perfect party record for me. Dublin crowds love something with a familiar lyric or vocal, even if it’s a totally new record and you can see the smiles as they sing along to the “It’s Gonna Be…” part ‘cos the B & A tune was huge here around 2002. When Jamie told me the story of the vocals on it many years later I was even more impressed…this record is a Niall Redmond staple for sure.

I tried not to overthink this question and let the 3 tunes float into my mind with ease. So the number 3 choice was pretty easy .I always loved Jamie’s collaborations with Michelle Weeks. The Light was one of SOUNDsystem radio show’s all time classics back in the day and when “Be Thankful” came out some time later and Brian [Tappert] and Marc [Pomeroy] gave it the Jazz n Groove treatment, it became an absolute secret weapon of mine. So Jamie Lewis ft Michelle Weeks – Be Thankful (Jazz n Groove Old Skool Mix) is my other choice for this question. The drop makes the dancefloor gasp. Especially with the Dublin love of something slightly familiar as the hook is kinda “Gypsy Woman” ish. But it’s Michelle’s vocals and lyrics,with that energy of Brian and Marc. The final breakdown especially, it’s so immediately uplifting and empowering you can feel the energy in the room elevate into the stratosphere. It’s a Purple tune I reach for when I want to take it to the next level. I must say for all the tunes on the compilation that the entire selection hold a special memory and place for me in my DJ journey. But these three mentioned sprang to mind immediately.

I’ve gone on to play at many venues in Zurich and beyond and of course Streetparade 3 times! So the scene seems really close over in Switzerland and everyone seems to know each other , the Swiss crowd are quite educated when it comes to nightlife and unlike Ireland are used to going out a lot later in the evening, so it was cool to play to a crowd ready to party all night . One example is I started some sets at like 5am ! I am normally home in bed at 5am after I DJ in Ireland so it was a good education in how to play to an audience at that stage of the night and where to begin musically at 4 or 5am. I also noticed the disparity between different kantons regarding music tastes, they like it a lot tougher sometimes in Zurich.

I joined a fledgling station called NOVA 947 in 1998 and by 2000 pretty much it was the biggest dance pirate in Dublin. Every single DJ who played in the city’s clubs was on there. So if you went to see your favourite Dublin DJ on the weekend in the city, they were also to be heard on your radio on NOVA 947.My show was Saturday afternoon into evening and it was called SOUNDsystem, (shortened from the original name Saturday Soundsystem) and the format was 3 hours of radio , 4pm to 7pm. The first hour was deep soulful stuff, hour 2 was a guest mix and hour 3 was all the best new releases. It caught an audience that was making their way home from their Saturday job or shopping, and then when they were home they were getting ready to go out to party. The other thing i somehow managed to achieve was some really big guests for the weekly mix, at the time it was a “whos who” of the underground House scene , from Axwell to Kerri Chandler – that really set the show apart and it ended up having quite a cult following in Dublin. When it finished in 2005 (it finally got raided) I floated around a few stations before being asked to join a new project for digital radio from the state radio station RTE. RTE Pulse was born in November 2008 and my Digital Groove show has been there from day 1 playing the best in new House music each week on a Monday night.

Dublin in general is a brilliant city to enjoy with many wonderful shops and eating areas as well as culture, being an ancient city . Ireland is famous for it’s party scene and more accurately drinking culture ! Dublin especially. My advice would be , see Temple Bar but don’t buy anything – it’s a tourist hotspot so you’ll be ripped off for merch and booze ! Stick to the Grafton Quarter and the newly regenerated Grand Canal area ! Some really nice things there – and visit my friends at Lemon Crepe on South William Street ! They have fed their famous crepes to many a super star DJ since 1999! Some nice boutique hotels here too so come see us sometime – it’s a brilliant city and you’ll fall in love with it .

My working day is :come in and get told what I’m on – ambulance or fire truck (you do the ambulance in my station about every 4th day or night your on) If you’re on the truck you do a duty (like clean the station – make the dinner – clean the trucks ) till midday ! Then have lunch – some relax time and 3pm you do drill which is practice on something like ladders or hazmat or car crash cutting . Then free time for gym or whatever til you go home – all the time you need be ready for a call out. We have 1 min during the day to be out the gate from the time the bell sounds and 1.30 mins at night – so we respond quick at any time of the day or night .

I work with 12 other guys and one female firefighter and we are like family …when we work, we eat, sleep, laugh and cry together as a team and we are all close. The kind of calls we get are ,of course fires in houses and industrial premises , car crashes , river rescues , heights rescues , hazmat calls(I work in the hazmat station) as well as medical calls from cardiac arrest to child birth to all manner of medical emergency and injury calls. It’s a really satisfying job and no two days are the same. 5 years ago I became an “advanced paramedic” which is a specialist role – like an elite medic – I carry more medications and can do interventions the paramedic level cannot do. I’ve seen some terrible things of course but I also have been involved in some amazing rescues and it’s great to help people at some of their worst times – you feel you’ve done something positive with your life ! love it – it’s different to DJing but it also gives me the time to do that also !

In our job you get to see how fragile life is and how things can change for people in the blink of an eye, so in that way it didn’t teach me anything new about being grateful for being alive but I did miss and do miss my friends abroad and the normal way of life I had , but I know it’s not forever and hopefully soon we are back to life as we knew it.

I did enjoy going to bed early on the weekends and spending more time with my wife – I had been djing almost every weekend I wasn’t working in the Fire Brigade for 2 years so I was kinda tired !

It sadly also showed me how toxic social media can be (as if we needed a reminder!) and I really considered coming off the likes of Facebook. I saw how mentally fragile a lot of people were that I thought were rock solid before and some of the views people expressed, the way they behaved made me really angry, I chose not to get involved in those discussions on line as it really would have been pointless – but it changed my opinion of alot of people I respected before sadly.

I saw first hand, how sick (and dead) people got from this and then you had some keyboard warrior, self proclaimed expert making crazy statements or putting out misleading info on Facebook …. It really shocked me that . So it changed my life from a point of view of seeing how some people react under that mental pressure ! Don’t get me wrong it’s been really hard for everyone across the world and nobody knew what to do initially but I really was surprised how many “sensible people” spun off the planet with crazy notions.I do think it’s a big reset – so let’s see how things come back – travel , clubbing , socialising , work …I know I’m keen to get back djing now and traveling again ….

So how did it change my life ? I wash my hands more ! And i know all of these things we take for granted can be gone in the flash so don’t take anything for granted and use your time well .