Thirstcruncher

Cork’s Savoy Theatre, recently played host to the very first Thirst event which was undeniably a spectacular affair. `For the uninitiated, Thirst is Heineken’s new music vehicle and it is due to take off shortly for a series of arena-sized dates across Asia, South America, Australia and North America, before finally returning to Europe sometime in 2003.

With Cork as the first major city to sample the Thirst phenomenon it was little surprise that the sold-out signs went up a week in advance. On the night, 1,200 clubbers turned up to worship at the altar of superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold. Bopping, and swaying, and air-conducting like the seasoned festival-pro he is, Oakenfold put on a show full of big sounds, exclusive remixes and serious crowd-pleasers.

Add in a typically unrestrained bunch of clubbing nutters, stunning visuals and high production values, and you’ve got yourself a fine recipe for a mind-blowing night out.

But there is more to the whole Thirst thing than just Oakenfold playing tunes. Arguably the most innovative aspect of the concept is the search for fresh DJ talent through the Found@Thirst DJ competition. In addition to a major injection in the prestige department, the winner also receives E2,500 worth of equipment, exposure to music industry experts, and – in the case of the Irish winner at least – the opportunity to support Oakie at Thirst 2 in Bangkok. There was, in other words, a lot to play for.

Lots of budding young DJs around the country certainly thought so and in a matter of weeks over 200 tapes were submitted to Spin FM in Dublin and Red FM in Cork. 18 were selected to compete in the heats and, with the winners voted for by text, six DJs went through to the final.

The final play-off was preceded by the much-anticipated ‘Masterclass’ session with Oakenfold in The Classic Bar. All six finalists – Dublin’s Alan Costelloe and Kieran Reilly, Cork’s Miss Motif and Aidan Connolly, Wicklow’s Robbie Dunbar and Roscommon man Alan Kelly – looked understandably nervous. In the end the ‘Masterclass’ turned out to be little more than a breaking-the-ice, meet-and-greet sort of thing, where they all quickly got down to doing what DJs love best – talking about records!

It was a laid-back, easy-going and relaxed affair just the way Oakenfold wanted it – and it seemed to be exactly what the finalists needed to calm their collective nerves. Alan Costelloe certainly thought so. “I was bricking it going in, but Oakenfold was just sound and he really put me at ease,” he said. “I haven’t been able to sleep at all before this but speaking to Paul really helped me though, and after that I just wanted to go out and make a big impression.”

The only female in the final line-up, occasional singing DJ Miss Motif (Mandy D’Arcy), had similar sentiments. “I was very nervous coming in,” she said, “but meeting with Paul really helped me to relax. He talked us through everything and told us not to be nervous, just to pretend you were at home playing to yourself, and you’d be fine.”

For Oakenfold it was all about encouragement. “I spoke to them all at length individually,” he explained. “I’m around for them afterwards and I really want to encourage them as much as I can. I said to them not to be negative – just be positive, you’re going to do well and, most importantly, to enjoy it. We all have to start off at some point in life and I’m just trying to remember what it felt like when I got a break from people like Pete Tong and Jeff Young. I just want to try to help someone else.”

When pushed further, it turned out Paul was going to be analysing their respective sets pretty closely. “I’m looking for originality, technique, understanding of arrangement, key and structure, hard work and reading the crowd,” he explained.

The freshest and perhaps most nervous of the bunch was Aidan Connolly from Bantry, who only bought his decks last January. “My head has been in a haze since I won my heat,” he confessed. “I haven’t had too much experience and to be honest I was just so relieved when my set finished that I thought I’d never look at a set of decks again! I tried to cover a lot of genres and Paul said he was impressed with what I tried but that the mixing had let me down and he was right.”

The final turned into a fine, rocking night of DJ fun and frolics. While Aidan Connolly’s technical prowess may have let him down, he was still responsible for the most electric moment of the night.

The competition over, Oakenfold played a short set before getting all the finalists back on stage for a one-on-one session where, in the midst of all the predictably progressive, straight-up club tracks, young Aidan boldly and quite perfectly mixed in New Order’s classic ‘The Beach’. Even Oakie had his hands in the air for that one.

“I looked down and all of a sudden I knew exactly what I was doing and it all just came together,” Aidan recalls. “The rest of it may have been torture but that moment when everyone started cheering was just magic.” Something tells me Aidan might be back looking at a set of decks quicker than he imagined.

Not the only finalist to make assiduous use of the text vote system was Kieran Reilly. “Everybody did it,” he said. “Whoever wanted it the most got through basically. The experience has been fantastic though, and it’s really given me a lot more confidence.”

Cool and collected after his set, Robbie Dunbar agreed. “I’ve played a good few of the big clubs already, like The Pod and Red Box, so I wasn’t really fazed by the whole thing. As my set got closer I did start to get nervous all right, but the support of the others DJs was great and that really helped me through.”

The oldest, arguably most experienced and undoubtedly most chilled out of the bunch was Roscommon man Alan Kelly. After a couple of years clubbing in the capital and occasionally going to college, Alan’s dad wanted him home to set up a now-thriving business. The only stipulation was that his dad would buy him a set of decks. Lucky that he did!

Not long after that Alan and some mates began running occasional parties in a disused nightclub called Smoky Joes near Castlerea. Now he’s been running Disco-very once a month for the last three years or so and also plays occasional dates at The Clarence in Sligo. “I’ve been at it a fair while now without ever really getting the breaks,” he says. “I played Panama Jacks a few times but that died off. I tried the GPO for ages and it never quite happened. So you know I’m no stranger to this game.”

That didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous though. “But this sort of thing doesn’t happen too often so there were nerves, sure. Still, I went out there to give it socks. I’m not really a pushy sort of guy but I’ve been working hard at this for a long time, so this is important to me.”

It was probably a combination of many things – age, experience and a hunger born out of many near misses – but something about Alan’s level-headed straight-up approach had suggested he would be the most deserving winner and so it proved. Watching him warm-up for Oakenfold at Savoy a couple of nights later was to know that Thirst had indeed found the right man. A West Coast-flavoured funky house set hit all the right notes and slowly got the punters on the floor. By the time his hour was up he’d received his fair share of crowd cheers and whistles and the place was perfectly primed for support DJ Danielle Davoli to take over.

“I was surprised at how comfortable I felt out there,” he said later. “I was calm, no nerves and it felt great.” Had he been surprised to win? “Obviously surprised but, you know, I entered this thinking I had a chance. If I could do what I know I can do, I knew I had a crack at it and I’m just delighted the way it’s turned out.” Now that he’s won, what’s the next step? “To be honest, hopefully I’m going to milk the shit out it!”

Alan Kelly. Plucked out of Roscommon, discovered in Cork and certain to be coming your way very soon.