Mac attack

The drop-dead-gorgeous girl fronting the TV show which has replaced Top Of The Pops as terrestrial BBC’s only weekly music show hails from Dundrum on the southside of Dublin.

For the past couple of months, club and radio DJ Annie Mac (aka MacManus) has been steering the Sound ship from just after five o’clock on Saturday afternoons with co-presenter Nick Grimshaw.
Bagging the gig was the highlight of another hugely successful year for the “excitable” 29-year-old club DJ viewed by many as a rising star of the Beeb, on her way to daytime radio fame and, who knows, maybe a long-term role as British society’s new Terry Wogan.
“Landing the TV programme was definitely the best thing that happened in 2007. It raises my profile and keeps my bosses aware of me, and it is great fun.”
Sound serves up a varied musical diet. A typical episode sees the likes of Brazilian dance-rockers CSS share camera time with Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, Welsh rockers Stereophonics and the biggest pop star on the planet 2007-style, Rihanna.
Admittedly, it’s not quite as radical and eclectic as the playlist you will find on Annie Mac’s Mash-Up every Friday on BBC Radio 1 at 9 o’clock.
Mash-Up’s hugely successful blend of beats, bass, indie, rock, rave, funk, dubstep, grime and hip-hop is arguably the most exciting 120 minutes of dancefloor music on the British national airwaves.
Annie adapts an equally refreshing attitude to her club work, despite obvious constraints.
“I don’t mix it up quite so much,” she explained, “because you can’t jump from downtempo hip-hop to jungle in a club, whereas you can get away with that on the radio. My mixing is rough and ready but what I play doesn’t lend itself to smooth three-minute long beat-mixes anyway.”
She hopes to fulfil her record production ambitions in 2008, but having successfully covered for a host of high-profile BBC Radio 1 DJs (including Zane Lowe) in 2007, she admits her long-term goal is a coveted daytime-radio slot.
“I really want to make music, and have done since I was in college in Queen’s in Belfast. Next year is my year.
“I love playing clubs. Family at Wax in Dublin this year was really special, and I did Glastonbury, Creamfields, the Isle of Wight, Global Gathering, Electric Picnic and Bestival, which was by far the best.
“Long-term, however, my ambition is 50/50 split between club DJ and radio presenter. But realistically the radio offers more longevity and fits in better with things like having babies.”
In the short-term, Annie – whose brother Davey is the guitarist and vocalist with London-based rock mavericks The Crimea – plans to spend Christmas with the family.
“The British press often portray me as a Belfast girl, which is a pain. I’m a Dubliner and proud of it. I can’t wait to come home for Christmas. It is so rare to have a full week off.
“Every time I come home I am amazed at the building work going on and how all everybody talks about is the traffic.”
The mistress of Mash-Up is enjoying a level of international success shared by a growing number of the Irish dance community in 2007.
From the lush techno exports of the all-conquering Corkman, Chymera, to the globetrotting antics of DFA Records signing Shit Robot (aka Marcus Lambkin from Ballybrack in Dublin), Irish dance music’s influence on the wider world is growing apace.
Leading our trance revolution is the man behind “one of the biggest club records of the year”, John O’Callaghan, who recently moved home from Navan to Castleknock.
‘Big Sky’ is the tune that the DJ Magazine poll’s world number one DJ, Armin van Buuren, praised so highly upon its release on his own Armind imprint.
It’s a vocal epic graced by Derry singer Audrey Gallagher, and given an outstanding remix by Agnelli & Nelson (who re-launched their own career effectively this year on the Deep Blue stamp).
“Working with Audrey was a dream,” John enthused. “She is so talented; a true genius.”
‘Big Sky’ has been hammered by Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, Eddie Halliwell, Judge Jules and Ferry Corsten and it is one of many major contributions John O’Callaghan has made to forward-thinking trance this past 12 months.
His seismic debut album, Something To Live For (on Discover), was another milestone, along with remixes of The Doppler Effect, Filo & Peri and Congress.
He has also guided and assisted the aspirations of emerging Irish talents such as Paul Webster, Neal Scarborough and Bryan Kearney.
And as a DJ he made huge inroads on his quest for global domination, with tours of North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe.
“The most important development of the year for me was signing to PFA management, working alongside artists such as Halliwell and Askew,” John revealed.
Indeed, many industry observers believe that it is John’s sensational abilities with a couple of CDJ 1000s that will ultimately propel him to the stellar heights he is bound for in the medium to long-term.
The Joint Operations Centre creator is the most inspirational and exciting DJ that Beats & Pieces saw up in action in 2007, and one that many Irish clubs would do well to get on their schedules in the months ahead.
At the end of May 2008, he’ll be among the headliners at the second annual Planetlove Summer Session at Fairyhouse.
The 16,000 attendance back in September ensured that the inaugural event was the single most important event on the Irish club scene in 2007.
John O’Callaghan agrees. “It’s very important for the ongoing development of the scene to have a yearly Irish festival,” he said. “It helps the music massively. And it gives Irish artists a chance to shine.”
Don’t be too surprised if you see O’Callaghan shining on the telly someday soon, being introduced by Annie Mac on Sound perhaps.