This is Disruption
This is Disruption podcast explores the pursuit of creativity and shares the stories of the fearless creators in street art, graffiti, music, photography and beyond, who boldly challenge the status quo, break barriers for others and share their work unapologetically. Each episode is a deep dive interview exploring the lives of artistic risk takers, exploring their motivations, their inspirations, and their take on the power of art, in whatever form they make it in.
The podcast is hosted by Irish street artist and DJ, Did by Rua, based in London.
This is Disruption
Get the Jackets: Crafting Tracks and Creative Breakthroughs
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Today's episode features the talented Irish DJ and producer, Get the Jackets, as he shares his journey from his roots in Mayfield, Cork, to the bustling city of Toronto. Despite having no formal training, he turned his brother's musical influence and a knack for drawing into a passion for music production, starting with FL Studio and quirky prank call remixes. Tune in to hear how he overcame initial hurdles, fuelled by self learning and the support of figures like Berlin-based DJ duo Aka Aka, to establish himself as a creative force in the industry.
Get the jackets offers valuable insights into balancing creativity with promotion, emphasising the power of generating ideas quickly and refining them later—a technique inspired by Mike Monday's Automatic Music Machine. We discuss his ambitions to reach wider audiences through platforms like Spotify, you'll hear about his recent track, "In Theory," a driving melodic techno piece. This episode is a testament to the dedication and passion that fuels Get the Jackets’ artistic endeavours and promises inspiration for aspiring producers and music lovers alike.
You can find Get the jackets on instagram, and on Spotify.
His playlist High Tech is linked here
You can find the Teeny Bops playlist mentioned here
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Hello there. You are very welcome to. This is Disruption podcast with me, your host Rua. This podcast brings you in-depth interviews with the fearless creatives in street art, graffiti, music, photography and beyond, who boldly challenge the status quo, break barriers for others and share their work unapologetically. Each episode is a deep dive into the lives of artistic risk takers, exploring their motivations, their inspirations and their reasons for their willingness to disrupt societal norms. Some of these stories involve revolutionizing their industries, while others are pushing the boundaries of legality with their art.
Speaker 2:Coming up on today's episode that was a bit of a breakthrough for me, to be honest. Just start starting to create that way. But really for me it's just if I can make something that people enjoy, great, the more people that can listen and enjoy it, even better. For me, if I could go back again, I think you have to study the music you like you know, sort of learn the rules, and then when you know the rules you can kind of bend the rules and break the rules a bit, you know.
Speaker 3:In today's episode I'm speaking to a producer originally from Cork in Ireland, now based in Toronto. His name is Get the Jackets. Get the Jackets and I had a conversation last year in March as part of my radio show where I spotlighted some fantastic Irish talent in honour of St Patrick's Day. This is the full version of that conversation. Thanks for tuning in. As always, these episodes are best enjoyed if you listen while you create something. This is Disruption.
Speaker 1:I am joined today by an incredible Irish producer who's based in Toronto now. His name is Get the Jackets. Get the Jackets. Thank you so much for joining me. This is the first time I'm recording something over the internet, so this is really exciting and I'm keen to see how this turns out. I'm so excited to talk to you and I have loads of questions. Thanks for having me. You are originally from Ireland. Where are you from and how did you end up in Toronto?
Speaker 2:I'm from a place called Mayfield in Cork. Anybody who knows soccer? It's kind of Roy Keane country. Yeah, I just came up to Toronto in 2011. A few of my friends were here. I had some family here too and, yeah, I suppose at that point it was Australia or Canada a lot of people were moving to. I just picked Toronto and been here since.
Speaker 1:How do you like it in Toronto? It's good.
Speaker 2:It's good it's not too far from home, you know, six hour flight is it's better than you know, being on the west coast of the states or Australia. So it's good. It's good. It's a lot to do in the city, you know, and, um, for someone like me who's into the music, there's a lot of concerts and stuff, and I've been to the sports and stuff as well. So, uh, yeah, hard to get bored here yeah, for sure, do you watch hockey?
Speaker 2:yeah, I do. I do you kind of have to like it's like back home. You know you have to know a bit about ga or whatever.
Speaker 1:So, uh, yeah, I keep knowing it, but I wouldn't be, you know, religious I love Toronto, lovely city, so I'd love to hear a little bit about how you got into making music. So you're currently a DJ and a producer, and how did you get started in that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I remember um. Before I left Ireland uh, probably 20 2011 I um had a buddy and he got me the software I use, a software called fl studio. I still use it now. It's kind of more entry-level software but it's still pretty powerful, like. But he got me, um, a version of it years ago.
Speaker 2:I kind of had it and I never really I messed around with it, but it was a bit daunting in the beginning and then, a couple years after I moved over here, I just decided to pull it back out again and, uh, first thing I actually made on it was a kind of a remix of a prank call that my friend did with the Krista Berg song Lady in Red. It was on YouTube for a while I think I've taken down. But, uh, that was the first idea I had was just I wanted to kind of just take that prank call recording that I had and just that song. I had just this idea to kind of mash them together and then I guess from there I just started kind of continuing to play around with the program and uh, yeah, I just enjoyed making stuff and then looking up YouTube and learning just how to get better and obviously had to make a lot of bad, crappy stuff in the beginning, but I kind of flowed on with it slowly over time instead of getting better, you know.
Speaker 1:And were you musical before? Do you play instruments?
Speaker 2:No, I mean not really. We had a piano in the house, never really played it. Just I don't want to go back. I do a bit. But I remember getting lessons as a kid and kind of not really enjoying it because it was sort of classical and you know, just felt a bit forced, which I wasn't really nothing jumped off the page like when I was younger, but I suppose I was always a bit creative, like kind of like drawing and things like that, and eventually, just when I found music, it was just another thing I could try to improve with and just, I guess, express some of that creativity, you know yeah, that's exactly it.
Speaker 1:So creatives are usually not just creative in one area. They're creative artistically, musically, problem solving all sorts of industries that you can be creative in, but there's usually quite a crossover. So if you really like drawing or creating, it's not surprising that you ended up doing music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, to be honest, I have to say, um, my younger brother is a really up doing in music. Yeah, and you know, to be honest, I have to say my younger brother is a really good taste in music. Like growing up he would always like bring home the CDs and stuff you know, and I would end up kind of just peeking into his room and be like what's that? And I remember, like just a lot of artists, like even Kanye West, for the first time my brother had a CD, his first album, franz Ferdinand. I remember my brother having that block party. I remember my brother having that album and uh, it's weird, like you know.
Speaker 2:I'm sure people usually are like looking at their older sibling stuff and kind of. But my younger brother had still does have a really good taste in music and uh, still sends me stuff and he doesn't make any music but he probably has a better taste of music than me. So he kind of was always sort of an influence on me as well that way a taste maker even at a young age yeah, he was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even though he always goes to concerts. He lives in Australia, I know, but he's always going to concerts. And I have some other friends and they say, oh, I heard about this band and I asked them how, and they're like, oh, just saw, robert went to see one of their concerts. Yeah, so he's. I'm asking him to do his own playlist because he is like a good sort of curator. Not electronic, he's more indie music and kind of stuff like that. Yeah, good taste in music.
Speaker 1:He sounds like he'd be a great DJ.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you know what His stuff is more, he probably would be, but he'd be a radio DJ as opposed to like a club DJ, you know.
Speaker 1:But we need radio DJs too.
Speaker 2:He could be the Irish Zane Law, maybe.
Speaker 1:Well, that's an option for him, that's a career possibility if he's interested to pursue it. If him that's a career possibility, if he's interested to pursue it, if he listens, he should do it. So one of the things you said recently was a song that shaped your taste in music or dance music was Alice DJ Better Off Alone, and that is one of my first favorite dance songs. I absolutely loved it. I was obsessed when it came out, had recorded it off the radio onto a cassette tape and played it over and over again. What is it about that song or that era that you love, about dance music and what others stand out for you?
Speaker 2:it's a good one. Um, yeah, I mean, you know, I guess people call that that song like different, different things. Some people might call it euro, euro dance or early trance, or I suppose for me it was just. You know, there was some of the first stuff that uh, really kind of caught my attention. You know sort of 13, 14 years old, kind of going to discos for the first time, that kind of thing. And um, I had about another buddy like who would always buy CDs and stuff and I remember back in the day you'd be watching music, tv channels and the Box and these shows, and I remember just constantly watching that. And actually another song that I really love, maybe even more than Alice DJ Wham-Do Project King of my Castle.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:That might be my favorite ever, to be honest. King of my Castle yes, that might be my favorite ever, to be honest, even though when I hear that song like it's just, you know, I don't know. I suppose it's just. It's not for everyone, but for me that era of music was just top notch. Trying to think what else like ATB 9pm till I come. Yeah, fragmat Talk is Miracle.
Speaker 2:Tons of like Mara Picardo stuff yeah just even Mark McCabe, me and Ethel Tozen. They like a lot, to be honest. But yeah, still listening to that every now and again, just like that type of stuff. I guess it's just what you grew up with and it just takes you back to a time and a place a bit 100%.
Speaker 1:I have a playlist of what I call teenybops that I'm going to share with you, and it's all of those songs that you mentioned is on it, and a lot more as well. It's about four hours long, so I'll share that and I'll put this into the description of wherever this gets published, so other people can enjoy the teenybops too and hear what, growing up in Ireland, dance music was like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%. Or even you know another big one is Top 30 Hits. Like that was a TV show in Ireland. You know free music channels, free iPod, free everything. And I remember watching one song in that too, which isPod pre-everything. And I remember watching one song on that too, which was iconic Delirium Silence. I think that was on top 30 hits for like five years straight, but that was another one, yeah.
Speaker 1:So how do you think the music scene in Ireland compares with Toronto?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, I mean, I guess nowadays there's so many like genres and sub genres and everything else. Um, I've been gone a while now so I can't really totally speak for the irish scene. You know, I think there's something for everybody nowadays, you know, whereas probably I'm sure it's the same in ireland.
Speaker 2:You know, back in the day it was probably harder to find some of the smaller genres than it is now you know, um, especially with online stuff too, you know you can, if you like something, you can find it, whereas I'm sure back in the day you probably had to look harder. Uh, but I think with the internet now, like I'm sure there's aside from like going out to shows and stuff you know you can get whatever you want, but I have to, I have to imagine there's more options here than there would be like running from a cork, you know, like in terms of if you're going out when you want them to see electronic music live. You know, I think there would be more options here, but I don't get out too often.
Speaker 1:Still, so what was it that inspired you to start producing music seriously?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I suppose it kind of it wasn't like one day, it was just small goals. You know that kind of evolved into. You know I remember thinking it'd be cool if I could get a song on hype machine. You know that was an app my brother showed me about. Uh, you know they do a lot of mashups and stuff with that in it and you know, I think it comes from like blogs with certain songs that are kind of trending end up on hype machine and then that was the goal.
Speaker 2:And then all of a sudden, um, I was put, I put, I sent some stuff out some guys on soundcloud and, uh, there was one dj act called aka aka. They're from berlin in germany, they have a big enough following and, uh, they supported one of my early songs that I just sort of made myself, mixed myself, mastered myself. It was still on Spotify now it was called E22. And when they actually supported that and posted it in their blog, that kind of woke me up thinking, you know, maybe my music can be good enough to actually push out there, you know, to Spotify and stuff. And that was a big moment.
Speaker 2:They actually reached out to them recently, shot my text and just said thanks for, uh thanks. And they were like what are you saying thanks for? And I said you know you, uh, you don't know it like, but you're actually one of the first people to support my music. So, yeah, maybe someday I think they have a label too maybe someday I'll be able to put something out with them. But that was it, that was it just a small bit of support sort of kicked on from there and then, yeah, I guess the little wins along the way kind of inspired me to keep up the timing yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, just a wee bit of support can do big time, big time.
Speaker 2:So yeah, then there are bits and pieces. You know sending songs out and actually record levels even that are smaller in the beginning. You know picking up on it and then it kind of makes you think you know people actually might like this. You know so, and there's always that next goal that you're trying to hit like. But really for me it's just if I can make something that people enjoy, great like, and the more people that can listen and enjoy it, even better so what's your creative process like?
Speaker 1:how do you get your ideas and how do you track them and turn them into something?
Speaker 2:so in the beginning. You know, I'm sure a lot of people who make music or even maybe any art have the problem of, you know, like making something getting so far and then I guess, in writer's terms, like just scrapping a piece of paper and throwing it in the bin and starting again and I suppose I used to do that a lot before it would take me a long time to finish a track. In recent years, sort of what I've been doing is making tons of ideas, maybe only spending like 20 minutes on them and then bouncing them to audio, coming back days, weeks later and listening to the ideas and then trying to mine and see which ones actually have potential to move forward with. I guess that could work for a lot of creative. It might work for a lot of creative kind of things, you know, where you just come up with a rough sketch, not really putting too much pressure on it, and then coming back to it later and just trying to see, maybe like see what might be good and then scrapping what's bad, you know. So I do that a lot.
Speaker 2:I guess it's mining for ideas and kind of like idea generation. So that's worked well. So I do try to keep separate sessions for just quick fire ideas, phone some to audio, park them in the vault and then come back to them in the future. That's my process and then, because I've got better at hearing what has potential, and then I can return to that and be like, yeah, you know, sometimes I take a song so far and kind of stop it and sort of gut it for parts and just take pieces that might actually I could use for another song in the future, and then that's another way of sort of putting things together. That's another way of sort of putting things together. I don't know, maybe that could apply to your art too, like with graffiti and things or any anything. So, yeah, that's been good, that's been. That was a bit of a breakthrough for me, to be honest, to start starting to create that way.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love that. There's something about creating freely, with putting no pressure on yourself. That lets you be a lot more free. You're not trying to be perfect, you're not going for perfection, you're just creating for the sake of it and maybe there's something really good in it. Maybe there's not, but you try it, leave it, come back to it and then you can have kind of fresh eyes to see if something works.
Speaker 2:It's a really good process yeah, yeah, I did like I can't say I came up with that fully myself, did a course with a guy called Mike Monday. It's called the Automatic Music Machine and that was one of his things. He calls those idea generation things splurging, so like a splurge is where you just do fast. He tries to do it in 10 minutes. 10 minutes, just fast idea and then park it and move on. I always find it hard to keep it at 10, but fast idea and then then park it and move on, and I always find it hard to keep it 10, but good idea, that's brilliant.
Speaker 1:So something that you do that's what I do as well is interview people, and I'd love to hear a wee bit more about how you got into interviewing people yeah.
Speaker 2:So I suppose, like with music, I kind of started doing the music, finishing the music and then realizing there's a whole social media side of things. Now that is important as well, you know. And the promotion side of things. And you know, yeah, I guess like it's one of the main tools now in like getting yourself out there. And you know it's one of the main tools now in like getting yourself out there, and you know that's also networking too.
Speaker 2:So I was trying to think of an idea that would sort of be um, informational for people, kind of like a magazine format. You know, like I remember like going to games and stuff growing up, I would always like pick up the match program and like click into the section where you'd have like the bio about people you know, like favorite food, favorite music, that kind of thing, like stuck in a desert island, what are you bringing? And I found that interesting. You know I'm trying to yeah, trying to bring something like that to instagram, to my page, so that's that's where the idea sort of came from.
Speaker 2:And uh, it's made up this 10 questions kind of segment and then now I'm doing tracks in the past which I couldn't go over, like some songs I like and give a bit of information on them and kind of realizing too that I I like the video editing now as well and get a bit better at it. Kind of a bit of creativity in that as well. To be honest, just for me I just didn't want to be no, like nothing against people who do this, but for me I don't want to just be playing my track and kind of just jumping around the room, you know, and posting that up, but I just wanted, yeah, just something a bit more interesting than that, you know I really enjoy your content.
Speaker 1:I really enjoy those videos will get you to share your insta so people can go find them for themselves in just a minute. But what I really like is their quick format. They're really quick answers so you get to find out a lot about people in 10 questions and a really, really, really quick video.
Speaker 2:It's really cool yeah, it's quick to watch but it's long to make, I think oh for sure.
Speaker 1:So another question for you who is your favorite artist of the moment?
Speaker 2:You know what? I like a few Irish artists, even Like this Freak here from Donegal. I like Mordea, because yeah, it's good to listen to Irish acts as well and these guys are making some big moves like on the world stage too. And I guess kind of a segue from from Mordea is he's done a collaboration with a guy, a guy called Victor Ruiz. He's one of my favorite at the moment. I think he's he's a Brazilian producer Thinking of getting him a lot of techno, techno kind of scene. Yeah, they'd be the. They'd be the ones. You know who I like too a lot Eli Brown. He's good, he's kind of techno. I think he was tech host originally. Now he's more kind of techno. Yeah, I still like the classics, like Deadmau5 and stuff too. Do you know who else? Jamie XX.
Speaker 1:Big fan of Jamie XX.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love Jamie XX as well. Yeah, I've seen the XX a few times in Toronto and really good life.
Speaker 1:So can you tell me what is next for Get the Jackets?
Speaker 2:I want to keep. To be honest, I just want to hit more ears, you know, and trying to like cover as much ground as I can with you know, social media, spotify. I run my own playlist too on Spotify. You can check out my playlist. It's called High Tech H-I-G-H. It's growing pretty good. It's got a lot of, a lot of saves now I think closing in on 20,000 saves, yeah, and I'd like to play a couple more shows in Toronto. I've got some buddies that have been able to help me out with that over the last year. You know, really, I've got a couple of tracks lined up for this year. I'd like to get like 6 to eight tracks released this year. Yeah, that's the main thing More ears. I could talk about numbers on Spotify, but I guess the main thing is have fun with it too. Just if one person likes what they're hearing and tells another person, then that's two new listeners. That's kind of the goal. It's just keep putting out stuff that people like.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, and maybe you know what it's been good with the 10 questions and the interview kind of series is getting to know a new artist. You know, I learned because when I ask people, sometimes I'm asking people like who should I watch out for next year? And then they tell me and then I I'll find a new artist. You know, sometimes I'm asking what's their favourite track. It's a track I've never heard of. I go back listen to that and now it's one of my favourite tracks, so it's good. It's a good networking kind of tool, just like what you're doing now. You know it's, you can learn things about people and find new art, I guess, to explore absolutely so.
Speaker 1:Fingers crossed for more ears, but I hope you just keep enjoying the creative process as well. That's the big thing.
Speaker 2:It's crazy, even though it is in your phone, what you can do with music. Like, I've got apps on my phone, uh, that I've actually made pieces of songs on that have become like the core piece of the track. So, like, even for anybody out there who thinks they need lots of equipment and stuff to get into music, there's a couple of apps you can just download your phone. Uh, one of those. One of them is actually called king of fm. It's a free app. It's a synthesizer for your phone. You can even bounce out audio like right from your phone to like google drive or whatever. Yeah, it's good. So say, like for people out there, you can do a lot just on your phone, even for if you want to get into music and just start playing around with that leads perfectly into the next question I had, and what advice would you give to somebody who's new to the industry and just starting out, aside from that software?
Speaker 2:for me, if I could go back again, I think you have to study the music you like. You know, probably in the beginning it's kind of boring to do it. But if you can like pull like a song you like and just into a doesn't have to be software just loop it around and just make notes on a piece of paper. What are they doing, when are they doing it, you know, uh, when are certain elements coming in, coming out? That's huge. You know, if you can just start, start to understand what makes music work, you don't even have to have any theoretical background, just listening to, like, counting out the beats and listening to when things are coming in, coming out. I think if you can really understand how the music you like works, that's big. That could be a huge advantage to then you kind of know what you want to make and it's not copying, it's just like just being a student of of the kind of music or that's a big part of it. You know, I think that probably goes for a lot of art.
Speaker 1:You know you need to understand what the guys you're that you really like are doing first find out what resonates with you and that, and then you can apply it in your own way yeah, yeah, it kind of.
Speaker 2:I guess some another way of saying that would be kind of sort of learn the rules and then, when you know the rules, you can kind of bend the rules and break the rules a bit, you know I love that.
Speaker 1:I'm all about breaking rules. That's perfect. So you have a new track out right now as well, called In Theory. Would you like to tell us a wee bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a melodic techno track 136 BPM. I know a lot of people there's like a BPM war going on in like electronic music where a lot of BPMs are getting faster, and you know I was just yeah, I kind of resonated towards that this time, you know, definitely kind of give the track a more aggressive kind of feel. And I should have really mentioned earlier, like prodigy would have been a big influence on me growing up and you know, I think that type of track, uh, like it just made in theory, sort of kind of is a bit of a nod to that. Yes, just powerful, kind of aggressive synth lines with heavy kick drums. And I gotta shout out uh, what do you mean to?
Speaker 2:Uh, he masters my song. His name is dan stalker, he's he's from cork and ireland. He helps me a lot like just to get that extra few, uh kind of I don't know what the word is like just extra bit of power out of the tracks. Yeah, I worked with him a bit in this one too. So, yeah, check it out. Uh, on spotify and, yeah, just to kind of it's sort of what I'm known like, maybe what I'm getting to be known for, like just kind of aggressive song, but also in the breakdowns it's a bit more dreamy and kind of gives you a break and kind of take, takes you somewhere. Like maybe, if you're sometimes my track's going to go well with not driving night time, sort of. Yeah, just that's where I like listening to listen to them anyway.
Speaker 1:So yeah, when you promoted the song on instagram, you said it had banging drums, beastly synths and it was a toe topper. I was like, well, that is the perfect way to promote your new song yeah, trying to anyway, uh, yeah, trying to uh work with the promotion thing.
Speaker 2:Even on when I'm on instagram I'm probably too serious. My brother, he gives me shit like saying, look, you got a smile and come across wooden. But I think it takes a while like to warm up to uh sort of being yourself, like when you're especially sometimes you're talking to a camera. You know what I mean. There's nobody around. It's hard to show your true personality. But yeah, that was the explanation.
Speaker 1:It is a bit of a toe-tapper absolute toe-tapper, so thank you so much for your time. Where can people find you on socials?
Speaker 2:get the jackets. Instagram Trying to do TikTok too, but it's not really catching on, but I still keep trying. And then the big one, spotify Get their jackets. That's where you can find me.
Speaker 1:Perfect. Thank you so much for your time. This was great.
Speaker 2:No problem, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:There you have it. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of this Is Disruption. If you enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to follow the podcast and never miss an episode. You can find us on all major podcast platforms Apple Podcasts, spotify, etc. Also on YouTube. Stay connected with us on social media. You can find the podcast at this Is Disruption pod on Instagram and TikTok and you will find updates and snippets of upcoming shows. Until next time, keep challenging the status quo, embracing your creative spirit and be brave. Go and create. Thank you, and see you in the next episode.