Photo: Lette Moloney

For Rob Flynn Macronite has been the only reason he’s been to Limerick in the past few years. He caught up with the collective to find out what makes them and their hometown tick.

How did the whole Macronite thing come about?

It started a few years back with a group of different promotion units pooling efforts to be able to do bigger things. We were all mates so it was a fairly natural progression, and it’s progressing still, there’s new people on board, some people gone abroad, and a few new things in the pipeline… but that’s all we’re saying for now!

Is there a kind of ethos behind the night that you see as being different to how other people go about promoting nights in Ireland?

Well, our collective taste in music is the main driver, there’s so many people with taste in quality electronic music that there’s no time for chaff or filler, especially with the wider scene being so vibrant these last few years. Without wanting to come across cheesy, there’s a lot of love put in behind the scenes, we all love what we do. Then there’s a core of people from across the country who’ll travel to our events, and us to theirs, so there’s a different vibe going on here, we think, and it’s a good one. Oh, and the sound system. Quite something!

Musically, your bookings seem quite diverse. Is there a conscious effort to keep jumping styles, or is it more on the basis of who you think would be best suited for the night in any given month?

There’s a lot of work goes into programming over the year, we plan months and months in advance, to try and make sure there’s a balance and that what we have works with what’s going on at that time of year. We all listen to quality electronic music and that’s what we provide, regardless of genre really. It only matters that it’s class!

The perception of electronic music in Ireland has changed quite a bit recently as it’s moved into the pseudo-mainstream popularity that Indie usually enjoys. Has this had impacts for your night? Can you feel the tug towards commerciality?

No, and if we ever did sell out, you’d never know it was us! Really though, we put on what we want to hear on a big system and program around that, and that’s always going to be a reflection of the collective music pool. Everyone here is a serious nerd in one way or another, be it DJing, producing, tech, design, visuals, so there’s a certain standard there that has to be met.

What positive developments can you see in the Irish electronic music scene, are there other nights that you have been looking at and going, “yeah, them boys are doing it right”?

There’s been a wicked jump in quality bookings nationwide the last few years, no doubt, there’s been great stuff in Galway, Cork, Dublin and here, of course. There’s a few crews from ‘round the country that we work and play with, it’s possibly only in Ireland that you’d be able to get people from all over a country just travelling ‘round to gigs and all the fun after. Of course there’s a wealth of DJs and promoters that are making that happen, shout outs to Roots Factory, the newly formed Red Social Club, another collective just formed in Cork, Jungle Boogie, and it’s great to see the likes of Sunil Sharpe and Fran Hartnett making global waves, well deserved!

Ye must be proud to have put Limerick on the map, even if only for a section of Irish counter-culture? Is there much else going on in the left-of-field in Limerick that people should know about?

Limerick has always had a particularly forward-thinking arts scene, since EV+A launched in the 70’s at least, and I think that certainly is an influence. For example, there’s a Hip Hop festival, Make A Move, hosting a graffiti jam in the People’s Park right now, which last year was an incredible cross-section of Limerick cultures and classes, everyone chilling out enjoying the tunes and the artwork. There’s always been an interesting underground in Limerick, and there’s a lot of crossover between crews, all the people interested in decent music will drink in a lot of the same places, everybody knows each other and gets on, really.

How do you see Macronite continuing in the next few years? Will there be an ever evolving cast of heads involved or can you see it perhaps winding down eventually?

Well we’ve already had some changes in our membership this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing how some fresh perspective will push things on. It’s going to evolve as it will, we suppose, and there’s no real limit to how long or how far we’ll take it. Music and art is all we really do and Macronite is a platform for that.

Macronite’s next banger is happening this weekend. Full details are on Facebook.