From an early age, Saoirse was infatuated by the sounds coming out of her radio – so when the time came to pick a trade, a sound and media course to get her foot in the broadcasting door was a no-brainer. She went on to work in pirate radio before landing her own show at Ireland’s leading media broadcaster RTÉ, later leading to residencies at Rinse FM and, finally, her dream job at Radio 1.
Meanwhile, Saoirse was already making a name for herself on the live DJ circuit, with her diverse record bag garnering bookings for scores of parties and festivals. Previously, the Irish-born DJ had only experimented with production, but when the pandemic hit the live circuit and left her twiddling her thumbs, she suddenly had time to add another string to her bow.
Sharing a studio with a couple of friends, after a year or two of blood, sweat and tears, the release of her debut EP Trust arrived last year on Saoirse’s own trUst label. This was followed by the three-track EP Two Bruised Egos earlier this year. Grounded on her cumulative knowledge of DJing and deep-seated love for rave, hard house and trance, both EPs have received early acclaim from club goers and critics alike.
We understand that it was your mother who got you into raving back in Ireland. What sort of events were you attending and from what age?
“She was organising ‘free parties’ as they were called back then – illegal events at beaches and all sorts. I must have started going to them when I was seven or eight years old and began attending a lot more of them myself by the time I was 15. Then I started going to big mega-raves like Creamfields and the Point Depot that did big trance events like Cream and Gatecrasher. I went to Ibiza for the first time when I was 17 on a two-week holiday and followed that up with two seasons that lasted about five months each.”
You grew up at the tail end of vinyl’s demise. Were you still able to catch the vinyl-collecting bug?
“Absolutely – Iwas kind of late coming into the digital side. I got my first
