Born and raised in Dublin, Declan Lennon has been making music from a young age. Originally inspired by Hardcore Punk and Metal, he performed in several bands before ditching the guitar to follow his real passion, boogie, funk and hip-hop. Moving to Manchester  just over three years ago and using the moniker Krystal Klear he has established himself as a versatile DJ on the UK club circuit and further afield.

In 2011 he was the only successful Irish applicant to the Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid (more information on which can be found here). While there I had the chance to ask him a few questions.

How did you get started in music?

Basically, started making music when I was about 11. Bought a guitar, at the time I was really into listening to a lot of metal and rock music. Stuff like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. My cousin helped me get into playing, learning guitar and put me onto a lot of music when I was younger. Then as I got older I started listening to a lot more hip-hop, a lot more dance music, because you do, your palette of sound changes. I used to hang around this record shop just every day; after school, weekends, I was in there all the time and I kinda just learned. I learned a lot just from eavesdropping on a lot of conversations and a lot of records that were getting played. Eventually started making electronic music when I was about 16 or 17; which at the time was a pretty far-fetched move because I didn’t really have anyone to show me what to do. So probably spent a good year and a half of my life just doing…making like…not even knowing how to record what I was doing. Just kinda bashing pads and keyboard sounds and stuff. And then eventually, Mike Slott this producer was willing to show me how to make music properly and I started learning through him. Yeah haven’t really looked back since just kind of started developing my sound at about 17 it was, making probably atrocious hip hop music, awful stuff. Basically then was I was like 20, I kinda came to the realisation that the music that I really love is like boogie, disco, house, that’s what I really love. I’ve loved it all my life since I was 11, I’ve always had it on a mix tap or a mini disk or a burned CD and I kinda thought like, I should probably be making what I love cos I might be better at it than what I’m doing. I was struggling making the stuff that I wasn’t good at and it really frustrated me and put me down a lot. So I started making disco and boogie and then the Kyrstal Klear thing happened and now I’m here I suppose.

You were saying earlier that you went to Ballyfermot College, what did you do there?

I studied Sound Engineering in Ballyfermot yeah. Ballyfermot was an interesting experience for me, not the best one. I was a bit if a dosser I’d say that but for the same token I didn’t know anything. It was a real deep end situation. It’s a fairly renowned course in Dublin for what it is and everyone around me know a lot about it. You know, about engineering, I didn’t. I didn’t know much so I kinda felt like I was behind before I’d even started and it sounded very difficult. But I got out of it in the end and I went on to study, to get a BA over in Manchester so it all worked out.

Was the Manchester music scene very different to the music scene in Dublin? Apart from obviously just being a lot bigger.

I dunno, it’s just like bigger. There’s crap music everywhere. Dublin is just small so the crap sticks out a lot more than it would in a bigger area. I mean when I was younger I listened to a bit of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and Joy Division, but it never really impacted what I was doing once I moved over there so much. Manchester is a northern city, in the north of the UK there’s a lot of students and stuff. It’s quite student orientated cos a lot of the major colleges lie up there so I think student culture really took over what I guess a lot of people would refer to as what was the rave culture back in the 90s. Everything just suddenly became more accustomed I guess or just suitable for students. 

How did you get involved with the Red Bull Music Academy?

Em I had heard about the Red Bull Academy through the years through various friends and previous participants and stuff. But I never really had to balls to enter it; I just thought it was too far-fetched. I was like nah didn’t have a chance. But then last year I got kind of, not goaded but convinced, like I’ve always wanted to do it, it’s been a dream of mine but I got, you know, motivated to do it by some close friends saying “You should give it a shot Dec, you’ve nothing to lose.” I filled out the application form, took me a while but I did. Now I’m here so it’s probably one of the best things to ever happen to me.

Are there any aspect of it in particular you like, would it be the lectures or meeting the other musicians and being able to just jam for 24 hours?

It’s a mixture of both, it’s just everything they haven’t left any rock unturned in terms of what you might want to do or achieve form the experience. The lectures are phenomenal; the people you work with are extremely creative and influential. The circumstances that you’re in are phenomenal; like you’ve got the best equipment, incredible studio engineers, people who you’ve looked up to hanging around giving you advice…it’s just a phenomenal experience.

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