Gavin Herlihy (Cocoon, Get Physical)

Gavin Herlihy played for Rhythmatic 24th Sept 2011
RA event

Gavin Herlihy’s discography reads like a Connect the Dots game for some of underground house and techno’s most important labels. Two EPs on Cocoon, two EPs on Cadenza and tracks and remixes for Get Physical, Buzzin Fly, Leftroom, Supernature and Kindisch are just some of the milestones in his career as a producer so far.
Now living in Leeds, the Irish born, one time Londoner and recent Berliner is an established player on the global DJ circuit. A two year stint cutting his teeth as a producer in Berlin notched up gigs at the Panorama Bar, Watergate, Bar 25 and in 2010 his tracks were championed by a diverse array of DJs from Seth Troxler and Dyed Soundorom to Pete Tong.

Gavin’s DJ mixes have found homes in a long list of taste-making stations and podcasts including Ibiza Voice, Allez Allez, Berlin’s Electronic Beats Radio, Carl Cox’s Global radio show, Kiss 100, Galaxy FM among others. And as remixers go, few producers can count a job as big as remixing the title track for Unkle’s third album as their debut remix.

It seems a long way since his acclaimed debut ‘Machine Ate My Homework’ in 2006, now generally considered to be a classic of the 2000s. But his roots in dance music lie much deeper than that. A seven year stint as a dance music journalist gave him a pivotal role in introducing artists like Ricardo Villalobos to the global media stage. Before that his teenage years were spent lost in the experimental rock of bands like Sonic Youth, Rage Against The Machine and Fugazi before uncovering electronic music during an eye opening festival pilgramage to England at the tender age of 14. During this pivotal trip he remembers in particular hearing early drum ’n’ bass on a north London pirate radio station. “It sounded like the future being beamed down the radio waves,” he says. “And I’ve been chasing it ever since.”