Phil Kieran

Two techno clubs celebrate their birthday this fortnight. Glasgow’s Shift reach their third while Edinburgh’s Compakt hit their all important first anniversary, and both nights have decided Belfast boy Phil Kieran would be the perfect guest to help them celebrate. ‘It means they want to put something special on and they decide to pick you, so it’s always nice to be asked,’ says Kieran on being invited to this double bill of birthdays. ‘I’ve played for both guys before and they’re great people who run them so I’m looking forward to both of them.’

Kieran was first hooked on dance music after hearing the likes of Primal Scream’s Screamdelica and Andrew Weatherall’s DJ sets, but you can still see his love of punk with his Alloy Mental outfit (think the Prodigy but with more guitars). However for these dates he’s putting in a live showcase previewing his debut solo album Shh, on Sven Vath’s label Cocoon. ‘It’s electronica lead by the dancefloor,’ explains Kieran, ‘it’s musical and weird and interesting to listen to, but if you turn it up loud enough it still rocks the club.’ Be prepared for a mix of sound and vision as Kieran links his equipment up to LCD screens with images matched to various beats. ‘There’s a lot of setting up and packing up,’ adds Kieran, ‘you have to take it seriously and keep your wits about you, but there’s the satisfaction of playing your own music and people reacting to it.’

Shift at the Soundhaus, Glasgow, Sat 12 Sep; Compakt at Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Fri 18 Sep.

More: Clubs, Techno (Clubs), Alloy Mental, Compakt, Phil Kieran, Shift, Sven Vath

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