When I talk to techno artist and nightlife campaigner Sunil Sharpe, he’s had a busy week. Not long after he was awarded the Bram Stoker medal of cultural achievement from Trinity College’s Philosophical Society (a first for an Irish electronic musician), the Irish Government announced plans to reform Ireland’s nightlife laws, prompted by the work of Give Us the Night, the campaign group he founded.
Does it feel like a personal milestone? “For me, with being part of the campaign over the years, I’ve always felt like I’ve been representing something, trying to represent our community, trying to represent a lot of people who are generally very misunderstood,” Sharpe says. “It’s only now, it feels in the last few years, that more and more people are starting to recognise the depth of electronic music, and how embedded it is in modern culture.
“For a lot of us who’ve dedicated a significant time of our lives to electronic music, I think we’re now being vindicated – through greater Government support, through pending changes to the licensing laws, and through just being accepted as artists, as individuals within a creative sector that should be recognised on the same level as others.”
That’s what a lot of nightlife is about. It’s about getting away from your family, getting away from who you’re surrounded by during the week
Part of the reason for the public not appreciating electronic music may be that they don’t have the right frame of reference. A term often used in academia is digital culture. Does Sharpe use that term for his practice? He says not, but that he appreciates it.
“When you’re outside of digital culture or the digital arts, there is a kind of a hierarchy. But when you’re a modern artist operating within digital culture, as you put it, I don’t think there tends to be that kind of pecking order.” Digital culture also often involves multidisciplinary literacy. “We have a lot of great electronic musicians who are great visual artists as well,” he notes.
[ Licensing law reform to see pubs open until 12.30am and nightclubs until 6amOpens in new window ]
These days, electronic music accounts for the highest percentage of releases coming out of Ireland. It’s been a long road, and Sharpe acknowledges the early work of acts like Sound Crowd, Decal and Donnacha Costello. “There were also people like Johnny Moy, Paul Davis, Eamonn Doyle and Karen Walshe, who helped to develop the culture. Obviously John Reynolds in his own way too, and DJs like François and Tonie Walsh who cared more for the music and community than most.” But practitioners can only operate with a healthy venue circuit and club scene. “Clubs are our workplace. That’s where we make money, that’s how we live. That’s why unfortunately a lot of talented producers and DJs have had to leave the country.”
We have to get up early to stay out late. That’s what I’ve had to commit myself to doing, because we have to be able to communicate and spread our message and help to form the policies that we need to
Recently, there’s been a shift away from the old scaremongering about dance music events. Sharpe says both all-age events and “family-unfriendly” events can have their place. “Let’s face it,” he says of the latter. “That’s what a lot of nightlife is about. It’s about getting away from your family, getting away from who you’re surrounded by during the week.
“But at the same time, when you reach those events and go to those clubs, you’re around your other family. The people who you don’t even need to say too much to sometimes. You have a quick chat, it’s great to see them, and it feels reassuring.”
Sharpe has a global profile as a DJ, particularly renowned for his technical skills (as displayed in an outstanding Resident Advisor The Art of DJing feature). The DJ schedule can be gruelling: this autumn, he had dates in Columbia, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany and Poland to fit in alongside his other work. “That is challenging. Anytime there’s a Dublin City Council SPC or ACAG meeting, it’s always on a Monday morning at half nine. And yeah, it’s never the best time for me! Monday is a day that DJs usually have to rest.”
We have to get up early to stay out late. That’s what I’ve had to commit myself to doing, because we have to be able to communicate and spread our message and help to form the policies that we need to
He brings things back to Give Us the Night’s ethos. “We have to get up early to stay out late. That’s what I’ve had to commit myself to doing, because we have to be able to communicate and spread our message and help to form the policies that we need to.”
Sharpe tries to stay on top of sleep early in the week. “Unfortunately, it’s not happening a lot of the time. Sometimes we’re just straight in at it.” His music output can also suffer; he has been sitting on unreleased tracks for the past few years. “To try and drive a campaign like this and get it over the line, you have to be 100 per cent committed.” Although previously a hardware person, the relative ease of laptop software has helped at times.
Sharpe’s activism has impacted on his artistic identity. “I’ve even realised over the last few years that people from the media who are interested in our campaign, and members of the public who might see me as the talking head for this topic, or journalists who know me as a spokesperson with campaign: they have no idea what I do with music or what my background is.”
Sharpe pauses to consider his words. “When you’re very committed to something like the campaign, or to music, and you put pursuits like that ahead of your personal life – I don’t really think of that, but people do say it to me sometimes: ‘Maybe you need to think a little bit more about you.’ But when you’re driven to do something, you are kind of thinking about you, because it’s your instinct to do that. You also don’t have time to stand back and evaluate the situation much more.”
You have to be really sure of something to stick with it. And I always felt more sure about my commitment to music than I did about other things
He does consider settling down. “Have a partner and have kids – I would like that to happen. But up to now it hasn’t worked, because with the time I give away to things, it’s where my head is at most of the time. In my 20s especially, I found it hard to hold down a relationship. I was trying to establish myself as a DJ and in music and also the campaign started up. You have to be really sure of something to stick with it. And I always felt more sure about my commitment to music than I did about other things.”
Give Us the Night has now achieved a significant success with the recent announcement of impending radical change to Ireland’s night culture legislation which will allow, among other things, clubs to stay open until 6am. Sharpe says a new phase began when the campaign relaunched in 2018; with figures like Robbie Kitt joining, there was a renewed public interest in the topic. “Coming out of the marriage referendum and the Repeal referendum, there was an appetite for change in general,” Sharpe says.
Does he feel like stepping back from the campaign, now that its goal looks to have been achieved? “I think the campaign has morphed into something else. We were a single-issue campaign. Now, in nightlife and electronic music, there’s a lot of scope within those two areas to help the community here in Ireland. I think we would be mad to not continue to use the influence we have in a positive way. We might change our name, because when we do ‘get the night’, that’s when the name won’t be relevant any more.”
Irish people freaking out over a small extension of hours is just so Irish. We need to now plan for the change and get it right, not argue about whether it should happen or not
Give Us the Night will continue as an advocacy group. “There are still a lot of bridges to cross in terms of trying to establish electronic music on a number of levels. After this reform goes through, there’ll be more work to do, but it’ll be a different type of work. It will be when we can focus more on the actual culture itself, and people who are trying to get projects off the ground, trying to bring this culture and music up to where it belongs.”
The change in ethos around nightclubs and the repeal of the 1935 Public Dancehalls Act will reintroduce a clear distinction between the pub and club sectors. “Now, it is distinctly set out that there is a difference between a pub and a club. They’re both great industries that need to be supported, but their specific characteristics and needs are very different.”
What would Sharpe say to the dissenting voices opposed to late licensing. He points out that in other countries it’s well established, and that the debate in Ireland looks odd from outside. “I could be up early at a meeting at half nine on a Monday morning. But similarly, I could be playing at that time at a club in Berlin. Do people want to say that there’s something wrong with me for doing that? Or that there’s something wrong with the people that are going to that club?
“The last set I did in Berlin was between 7am and 10am at RSO a few weeks ago. The club was full, well over 1,000 people, they knew the line-up and mostly bought tickets in advance. Are all of those people wrong? Is Ellen Allien, a musical icon in Germany and host of the party, is she wrong? These venues have regulations and have authorities to answer to just like anywhere else. Irish people freaking out over a small extension of hours is just so Irish. We need to now plan for the change and get it right, not argue about whether it should happen or not. That’s what we’ll be doing anyway.”
