Spinning In The Name Of... Shiv

What’s your favourite music to play on your RTÉ Pulse show?
I do two shows a month so like to change it up. I’m very much a mood music person, and while I love electronic music it’s doesn’t cover the extent of my collection. As I’m a resident with Cuttin’ Heads, I do one show in this style which gives me the opportunity to play funk, soul, hip hop, and electro. The other show is focused on more the style I DJ and promote with Skirmish: so techno, electro, breaks. The techno show is a bit more ravey but in general they’re both fairly banging!

Tell us about your involvement in the Cuttin’ Heads Collective.
CHC is a bunch of us running gigs in Cork, who are all passionate about hip hop, turntablism and general messing about with beats . It was started by JusMe and after playing a few gigs in the Sextant with him, showcasing my funk and soul collection, he invited me to be a resident, and to get stuck in with bookings and general promotion. At the moment I’m a little less involved because I’m living in Dublin, but I host the CHC-themed Skirmish show on Pulse and plan on running some gigs up here in the near future.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the dance/electronic scene?
Dance music in Ireland is in an incredible space for the most part! It’s so good to see lots of great producers and DJs rise through the masses and make a name for themselves in what can be a fairly difficult scene to break through.
The lack of venues is becoming a real issue though. While people do find ways to work around the system it’s not always guaranteed, and it’s riskier. It would be good to see the government put more trust in young people and accept that partying is a natural part of life that can be done responsibly. The Give Us The Night campaign is a deadly initiative that really represents the demands of young people in Ireland today. It’s about time we were on a par with other EU countries and are given the same opportunities. On the other side though it has made us have a very unique underground dance music culture which is good craic, but a bit risky.