Irish Charts: Rising DJ Ryan Ennis on breakthrough hit Close and Dublin's house music scene: "You've always got to have a back-up plan!"

Ryan Ennis is the latest DJ to emerge from Dublin, which is quickly becoming the hotspot of house music; having proved to be a reliable training ground for acts such as Belters Only and Shane Codd.

Now, having just signed a major label deal for the first time, 20 year old Ryan is ready to step out on his own, and his first single Close is certainly doing bits. 

Becoming Ryan's first entry on the Official Irish Homegrown Singles Chart at Number 12, Close has proved to be a massive hit in his native Ireland, and there's much more the come.

We spoke to Ryan via Zoom to catch-up on the busiest few years of his life, and what's next. 

Hi Ryan! Thanks for talking to us today - Close is an absolutely massive tune, and it's doing so well. But how did you even get into DJing and production in the first place?

Music has always been a part of my life, but I'd say when I was 10 my brother - he's six years older than me - and he got into the DJ scene first. I never actually wanted to be a DJ, my brother got into production was working with Robbie G from Belters Only, I can remember my Mam always asking if I wanted to do it, if I wanted to follow in his footsteps. 

But I was studying law when lockdown happened and nobody had a clue what was going so I thought...I'll just give it a bash. I've got nothing else to do. It just took off from there, and then I was signed with Universal. 

Was there ever any one song or DJ in particular that you think of as your ultimate inspiration?

Definitely Avicii. I always come back to that. He was absolutely massive to me. My dad showed me every kind of music; when I was a kid, I used to listen to a lot of punk rock and stuff, but I got hooked to Avicii and all those songs. When it came to actually making music, I think I incorporated a lot of his styles into my own songs. 

He has a documentary that you can watch, and I always go back to it, it gives me a lot of motivation. Like, if we're talking about electronic dance music, he is Mr Electronic Dance Music, in my opinion.

When you signed your deal, obviously it seemed like you had a whole other life away from music at that point. Did you ever think...hold on, is this what I want?

To be honest, when I started making music, I didn't really know about any of that. I was just making it for my mates. I did start getting a few emails from labels when it started to blow up, and I can remember me and my brother woke up one morning and there was an email from a major label in the inbox. I thought it was fake. I think I rang every contact I had in Dublin in the music industry to see if it was real. Obviously, at this point I was still doing law. I always thought of law as...listen, I think you should always have a back-up plan. But when I signed with Universal, it was obviously a huge thing for me and my family. My family were so proud. 

And what did your Mam think?

It's funny you say that, because my dad sent me an article the other day about a lad who signed to a football club, and it entirely depended on what his Mam's negotiations were. My Mam was definitely the lawyer! But she just didn't know the extent, I think, of the whole thing until I was supporting Joel Corry at a festival and we had our own trailer and stuff and I was playing to 1,000s of people. I think then she realised. 

We also have to talk about how important Dublin is becoming a hub of modern house music 

It really is. It's really starting to become the face [of modern house music]. The music is really strong and true, I think. Even Shane [Codd] in lockdown last year, he'd sent me Get Out My Head and obviously it went massive for him. I've also known Robbie and Bissett [the duo who form Belters Only] for years, me and Robbie are really close. It's great that we're all doing well...hopefully I'm next in line to break through!

Close has done so well for you - it's your first single entry in Ireland too, how have you found the reaction to it, and how did the song come about?

I started Close maybe at the start of the year, and it just clicked. As soon as we got the vocal [from featured singer Michaela], that was it. I've constantly been in touch with the lads at Universal and we all just basically agreed [that it was the single]. They've been so good to me, they've been really, really helpful. We knew it was going to be the one. And it's still going!

Be honest with us, Ryan - how many bangers have you got in our back pocket right now?

I have the next one! It's going to be big, but I'm not gonna say too much about it! It's going to be huge. I honestly think its the best song I've ever made.

Close is out now via Universal Music Ireland.

Article Image: Evan Doherty