RETURN OF THE MC

It s been quite a journey for Paul McMahon to get to the point that he s at just now. Over a decade and a half from Belfast to Cambridge; from Cambridge to London; from London back to Belfast through all manner of day jobs, and trial-and-error technical experiments, he s been looking patiently forward to a time when he can go happily public with his slinky take on everything from rare groove to dub and big beat. Well, it seems, as Moloko said, The time is now.

I m really glad that I m doing this and that I ve made this choice. I m a former lawyer and a former bouncer. A former lots of things really. But I m a much better former lawyer than I was a lawyer. It s been entirely my choice and I m happy with it. All of it goes into my music. There s a book called Powder (by former Farm manager Kevin Sampson) and one of the characters in it is this rock star who thinks that this could be his last chance. And there can definitely be something creative in that kind of anxiety.
This month, operating under the Neon Junkie tag, his first EP is released on Brightstar, while it won t be long until the debut album from Crash Daddy, his other alter-ego, surfaces and starts demanding your attention. Both are pristine examples of southpaw dance groovy, smart and with the kind of impressively globe-trotting sweep that will have you thinking of Brazilian beach sambas, Jamaican dancehalls and grotty Chicago warehouses, sometimes within the space of one track.
Although Paul s induction into dance music occurred in London during the first halcyon days of Acid House, it has only been since his return home four years ago (partly inspired by the first Clinton visit) that he s been working on his own material and only relatively recently that he s been happy with the results.
For a good while I was writing tunes and playing them to my ex-girlfriend and she was going oh, that s good . But you could tell she didn t like them at all, he says. They had potential, but nobody wants to hear potential. Gradually I just started to get a better grip on the equipment and became more comfortable with the technology, and then about two years ago I played her a song and she went, Jesus, that actually is good . And I was like, what do you mean actually ?
Citing the likes of Solaris, Timmy and Glen from Digital Boogie, and the ubiquitous Phil Kieran, Paul s sure that his music has benefited from his decision to re-camp back to Belfast and doesn t accept that London may provide a more provocative climate.
The stuff I do especially the Crash Daddy stuff is very internalised. It comes from me; it doesn t come from a scene. Which is just as well because we don t have a scene here. But there are a load of people here who make music and help one-another out. Belfast had changed when I came back. When I was in London watching all the political changes I wanted to be back here early. You can get lost in London very easily. But I like the atmosphere in Belfast; it s definitely encouraged me to do this. Here you can sit and chat to someone and, next thing you know, you re helping one-another out to make music.
Given that Crash Daddy floats like a butterfly, while Neon Junkie stings (well, sometimes) like a bee, it shouldn t be a surprise if Paul McMahon rises swiftly up through the rankings. Whatever happens, though, you re guaranteed a top-notch bout.
There s a lot of room in dance music for someone who is following their own imagination rather than just trying to give labels what they want. I m very into the idea of sincerity and honesty in music. I used to send stuff off to people working in House labels and they used to say We don t listen to House, we only play it at the weekends . And I used to wonder why they bothered. I listen to a lot of dance music and most of it is made for Saturday night. Which is fair enough, but I d like to do something a bit different. I was talking to the guys in Solaris and they agreed with me that there s something sad about doing a track and then losing it forever. I d much prefer to make music that lasts, if you like, and means something to people.

Skank/Bolder by Neon Junkie is released on November 13th.