Shane Codd: "I'd dream of playing Irish festivals alongside Tiësto - now I'm doing it"

Shane Codd is one of the hottest names in Ireland right now. The Dublin-born DJ's breakthrough track Get Out My Head proved a huge hit under the most surreal of circumstances in 2020, charting at Number 5 on the Official Irish Singles Chart and 6 on the UK's Official Singles Chart.

Since then, Shane's filled his diary with gigs everywhere from Belfast to Boston, Massachusetts and has just released his brand new single Rather Be Alone.

With its interpolation of Whitney Houston's 1999 Number 3 single It's Not Right but It's Okay and Ibiza-ready instrumental, the track has all the makings of a summer smash. Now, as he prepares to tour this US later this month, we catch up with Shane to see what else 2022 has in store.

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Hey, Shane. You're off on a big tour of the US soon. Feeling prepared?

This is something I've always dreamed of. I'd always wanted to go to America. All my mates used to get J-1 US visas, but I didn't have the money at the time. Now I'm doing it, playing gigs there and I'm so excited.

People have such an appreciation for live music again, too...

In Irelend, clubs only opened up again in February. People are buzzing for summer. It's gonna be a good summer.

Rather Be Alone is such a summer banger. Where did the inspiration for that track come from?

I started making music six or seven years ago, remixing people's tracks with any acapella stems I could find online. I got Whitney Houston's It's Not Right but It's Okay acapella. I uploaded it to SoundCloud at the time, and I'd be watching for any comments or plays. Then I got signed almost two years ago, played it to the label and they wanted to release it as a single. We worked on it for another year, so it's basically been seven years in the making.

I never thought I'd release it as an official single, but I'm so happy it's out now.

It'll go off at the festivals this summer. What've you got lined up?

I'm honestly so grateful I've got such an exciting summer ahead. I'm playing Belsonic in Ireland, alongside Tiësto, Joel Corry and Connor Coates; he's from Belfast. That's a really good one.

Playing in Ireland, where I'm from, I used to dream of playing the festivals there. It was all I ever wanted to do. 

I always dreamt of being on the same bill as Tiësto. I'm just delighted, I'm so happy. I want to have my own big billing like that someday.

You're really putting Ireland on the map in the dance scene...

That's what I really want to do. I want to be able to represent Ireland; keep growing and keep getting bigger.

What else have you got in store this year, then?

I've got a couple of tracks I'm so excited about. I know Rather Be Alone's the focus right now, but I'm so impatient! I'm constantly testing tunes on SoundCloud to see how people are reacting. I've got one track that I really want to get out, it's such a festival anthem. It's called Feels So Good; it's got strings from a violinist and it could be a late summer song.

Shane Codd's new single Rather Be Alone is out now via Polydor Records.