Hailing from Ireland, Lee Holman was very early surrounded by vinyls and synthesizers. He’s a Dj, Live performer, the head of Kawl and Demarcation labels and he belongs to the most prominent producers of techno music. He began his career in the late 90s and released Eps one after the other on most significant labels such as Orbis records, K S R, Matterwave records, NECHTO, End of Perception, CLFT, Science Cult to name a few. Needless to say, he built up a solid international reputation thanks to his sense of details and his work is heavily supported by the biggest. From his studio, he looks back on his 80's and 90's hip-hop influences, his debuts as resident in house music-oriented clubs until his recent Live at the pioneering KHIDI Tbilisi and his latest remix for Philippe Petit on Knotweed Records.

Your childhood?
I'm from Wexford Ireland. A small town on the South East coast known for its long sandy beaches, mountains and history. My father was a touring musician and played in bands for many years releasing records in the 60s. Music was always around. Some of my earliest memories are playing the piano in my living room. There was always access to music as my dad's band would sometimes practice in the house. We had a big record player in the sitting room too with lots of records. We listened to whatever was available from our parent’s collection. 

   
What are your influences?
I grew up listening to lots of different sounds because I had two older sisters and an older brother. My sisters would listen to Prince and 80s groups like Five Star, Janet Jackson and all the 80s Synth-pop era. My brother listened to all dance music of the time from the late 80s to the 90s when the rave scene exploded. All of that has an effect, even if I wasn't directly interested at the time, it takes hold of you somehow, it's on in the background and it seeps through. I was a big hip-hop fan. I started listening to N.W.A, Ice Cube, Ice-T, KRS-One, Mobb Deep, Nas and other hip-hop artists from the late 80s and early 90s. I watched Yo! MTV raps religiously, so I was always interested in street and urban sounds. Hip-hop is still my first love and I still regularly listen. My friends at the time listened to grunge and metal, I lost some interest in hip-hop around '96. I felt hip-hop was changing and with the hype around artists like Eminem, it turned me off completely. I had been going out to clubs and the rave scene was huge. I moved more into electronic music and started trying to find my way.

What was your first experience with Djing?
Playing house parties for friends and then moving on to clubs locally and around Ireland in the late 90s, throughout 97,98,99. I started my own night at a local club where we were getting crowds of 300-400 on a Thursday night and I was disappointed with those numbers. Imagine, if we had that many now on a Saturday night most small underground clubs would be happy as would I! I held residencies for different nights throughout the years, from my own nights obviously and then around Ireland for Electric Circus and Bastardo Electrico. I also held a residency for Sub-Scape in Antwerp for close to ten years throughout the 2000s. I later continued to play around Europe and the rest of the World.

When did you begin the production and what kind of gears do you use? 
I started to produce very early. My dad played the keyboard so he always had the latest synthesizers in the house. I was very lucky. I was around 13 or 14. I used a Roland at first and made up tunes just remembering them off by heart, remembering the chord progressions and then later composing full tracks on the Technics KN Series keyboard saving them on to floppy disk. The Technics had a software sequencer on it and it seemed hi-tech to me for the time and as I was young, it was the first opportunity I had to interact with one. The keyboards were limited in what you could do, but it was an important step in gaining confidence, learning about composition and going through the process. Today, I use a range of synths and drum machines like the RS7000, Korg Triton, 303, Roland's TR8 and others. I use hardware simply as that is what I learned and it just continued. If I had of started later, I probably would of been using all software. I don't have any hang-ups about that conversation. Whatever works for someone personally is the best source to use, in my case, it’s hardware. I record all of my tracks live and then produce them later. It's a longer process but one I'm dedicated to. 

Did your way to produce change for the last few years?
No, I've done the same thing since the start. It works for me, I know how to make it work and just keep doing it. Of course, from time to time I'll add another piece of kit into my studio like recently I bought the Hydrasynth but I've used it a handful of times and even then, I find myself going back to the same old gear I've used for decades. I'm dreading the day any of them die. I'll deal with it when that happens and move on. I really enjoy the creative process and when a track just clicks together. I can start with a string piece or drums but it depends what I'm focusing on or whether I'm in the middle of an Ep or not. I could be playing a loop on a synth over and over for 30 minutes or longer and I get lost into the sound. There's something with repetition where after a while, you get lost into it and your mind floats away and you start to hear drum patterns evolving in your mind, other synth parts, percussion. That's when the creativity takes over and takes you to another world. I love the times when I've cleared my schedule and I feel free. I can walk into my studio and there's no direction, no focus, no deadline. I close the door, sit down and just go deep into another world of space sounds and drum tracks. You can get lost in those moments and you can feel your mind expanding. It's like you transport yourself into a different realm, a different planet, there's nobody else around and its spiritual. You become a different lifeform. That's when the best tracks are made.

Your sources of inspiration?
I'm inspired by everything to be honest. The power of nature, surroundings, life in general. Music is where I channel everything, from good and bad times. I can channel it all into music, it's very important for me. I usually spend a few hours every day in the studio. If I'm not there for a while, I start to feel like I'm not being productive and get a real itch to get back there. Nothing will take my mind away until I get the studio session done and out of the way, so it's like a force that keeps drawing me back in. 

 
What do you think about AI? 
I haven't got much of an opinion on it so far to be honest. Hopefully it doesn't take all our jobs and even more to the point, people start relying on it for art and music. That would be awful for creatives. I know that is already happening to a point. Like any new advancement in tech, there are positives but let's hope they will outweigh the negatives which let's be honest, isn’t always the case.

What is your favourite record store?
I have to say Decks Records in Germany and also Deejay based out of Germany. Why? Because I'm totally biased and they helped me with distribution for my Kawl and Demarcation labels. They also have a great selection of records!  Another of note is Hard Wax which always seems to support my records for as long as I'm releasing them. I'm hugely thankful to them for that as it's one of the best. I also liked Juno until Brexit happened and the costs crippled buying and sending records to the EU. Now, I like to go local and pick-up second-hand stuff. I've found lots of gems discarded from artists like Luke Slater and Surgeon etc. It's a buzz finding records like that in a bin for €2.

 
What about the Irish techno scene?
I don't have a clue about the Irish techno scene these days and I'm not involved in it much anymore. I don't play anywhere very often since covid. Myself and Niall Power (Mini Mode Records) used to do some small nights and at times had guests which did go well. I'm thinking about doing a small local night again but it's a commitment and takes a lot of time to do it properly. If I find time to commit, I'll try, but I can only test it out and see how it goes and see if I'll get support. Hopefully if I do, I can grow it to something worthwhile. There is a good enough scene throughout the country but the closing times are archaic which dampens the vibe. I have to give praise to people like Jamie Behan, Sunil Sharpe, Cian Frawley and others still doing their thing. They are dedicated to keeping things going and growing.  Unfortunately, due to the usual politics etc as you get in every local scene, I checked out of the place in the early 2000s and never looked back. I had no time then to get involved with it and haven't done much since apart from the odd night here and there. I focused on playing gigs and performing around Europe and elsewhere and I had a good run before covid.  I don't do the networking thing, don’t attend many nights and don't see anybody within it apart from one or two old friends, so I'm probably not the best person to ask about it. That in itself becomes self-perpetuating because if I'm not going to events, I'm not meeting people, I'm not mixing in those circles and out of sight, out of mind. It's a decision I made over two decades ago, I've stuck to it and I'm happy to just sail on my own. I don't rule out playing in Ireland but I don't seek out opportunities there.  I hope the closing times can change which "give us the night" are campaigning for the last 25 years and Ireland can catch up with the rest of the world. It's still shocking to me that people who don't even care about nightclubs can tell us we can't go out and dance past 3am when they're already tucked up in their beds. To put it bluntly, it's small minded, messed up and backwards. 

Your definition of Techno? 
For me, techno has a huge range and expanse of styles within it. Techno Soul, Deep, Detroit, Acid and harder banging or repetitive rhythmical directions. I love it all. I do think though producers/djs are afraid to try things and move away from a specific style they may have been associated with. If you're a producer known for harder sounds, a lot of the time they won't take the risk and do a dub record or a more soulful record, even if they can and have the opportunity. I can't operate like that. I need to produce different sounds for different moods and I don't worry about placing different styles under my name, I don't use pseudonyms for example. I understand why people do that and categorise their work, but for me that's not something I've ever considered seriously, probably to my detriment at times. You can build momentum for dancefloor tracks, which I think I currently have, but I know my next records which are lined up are deep and dubby, some remix I have done is clocked at 152 bpm, the fastest thing I've ever done and I have more remixes and Eps lined up which are Techno Soul. Lots of string work and melody. I'm probably constantly shooting myself in the foot but that's how I produce. I can't keep doing the same specific style over and over and over, even if it's successful. That's boring and in my view defeats what Techno is about. To answer your question, Techno is anything and everything once it's Techno and if you know Techno, you'll know it when you hear it. 

One of your tracks which represents you the most? 
First one that has come to mind is a track I did for Philippe Petit's Decision Making Theory called "Disarmament". It's one for the floor but it's also deep, melodic and has a special feeling to it. Every so often I get contacted to say it was played at places like Berghain or Tresor and its still great that it's finding people years later in this throw away age. 

A more recent one is "Spirit Guide" I recorded for Kaiser's KSR label. That has got huge support and repeated plays from some of my heroes like Oscar Mulero and others. It's a darker club track that's tough and repetitive.  The last couple would be "Region of the Sun" on NECHTO & "XX14 A2" from my recent Molecular Release. They have been supported heavily by DVS1, Rødhåd and more. What can I say about all of that? I've had incredible support, especially the last couple of years by people who I've looked up to for a long time. I hope I can continue to grow as an artist and producer and keep getting better. I'm grateful to Philippe, Nastia, Marco and Kaiser for the opportunities to release on their labels recently as I am with all the labels I've worked with since the start. There has been some incredible love put into the releases such as the cover art for my release on the great Science Cult working out of USA and the work I've done for End Of Perception with the great Viels and the crew over in Italy. There are some solid collectives around who put everything into a release. You can’t help but to be humbled by it. It takes a lot of money and hard work and I just hope I can fit into their vision and help in some small way. Big thanks to all I've worked with. 

If I tell you NECHTO records?
NECHTO is more than a label but I'm honoured to have released on it, played for it and to be part of it. Nastia is probably the hardest working woman in Techno. She never stops and it's obviously her brainchild but she also has a great team working with her and surrounding her. She is so busy but has a huge heart and always tries to push and help people out. The events are some of the best I've ever played, with first class production and sound, quality lineups and everything is uber professional. I can only wish the whole team more success for the future. 

Speaking of which, how was your Live at KHIDI 中 NECHTO last March?

It was class. It was my first time playing there which I've always wanted to do since it opened eight years ago. I have heard lots of stories and I had links with the great Dj resident there Boyd Schidt who has been supporting my music for years. We have been speaking back and forth for the same length of time. Tbilisi is a beautiful city and my girlfriend Indrija has always told me stories of how great the people are there as her dad regularly visited. It lived up to all expectations. The people were so friendly, the food was some of the best I've had and the club reminded me of a Mini Tresor, very professional. The club itself was amazing, the sound perfect and the hosting impeccable. It happened as part of a NECHTO event to raise funds for Ukraine and Nastia asked me to be part of it. How could I say no? As well as supporting a good cause and one which I personally believe in, it was a dream come true. The crowd were very responsive and I really enjoyed doing my live there. I was lost in the moment. There were no pictures, no videos or no recordings. I really fed off the crowd that night and it was great to be part of it alongside Louwave & Splinter UA and Nastia who put on a deep but driving Techno masterclass. The owners are down to earth music heads and give everything and are dedicated to the club. I really hope I can get back there at some stage for either a DJ set or to play Live again.

What does the vinyl represent for you?
I still mainly use vinyl to Dj. Just like my production technique and preference, it’s how I learned to Dj. It wasn't some elitest thing, it was the only method available at the time and I just stuck to it. I do use Cdjs more now too because of the amount of great music and promos I get sent. It'd be stupid not to, so it's a mix of both for me for Djing but mainly still vinyl. From a production point of view, getting your work on to record makes it all more real. I'd be lying if I said I didn't place more importance and respect on vinyl. It's how I got here. It's just my point of view on it though, it's nothing to do with any snobbery. I'm not invested in the digi V vinyl debate, I don't care about it and it's a dead one. 

What are your top 6 new releases?  
Love the new Oscar Mulero on Token.

The Fuse 30 years comp is great.

Jeff Rushin did a great new record for ON.

I was impressed with Connor Wall's recent release on Float.

Orlando Voorn just keeps mesmerising with release after release of all styles and genres.

I'm going to plug my friend Powers new release with Human Rebellion on Mini-Mode Records. It's quality electro and lots more to come from there.

Myles Sergé is reinvigorated and has a new 7" Vinyl project and a mega VA comp coming out soon on his (MS) label. He has his own style and continues to be one of the true unsung minimal masters. I've recently done a remix for him and contributed to his label.

Stephen Mahoney is located in Dublin and is making some great tracks. Look out for him. He's constantly evolving and has recently released on Arnaud Le Texier's Children of Tomorrow.

Also check out the newest Knotweed release "Light Switch" from Philippe Petit & remixes. Phil has released recently on Ben Sims Symbolism label and has ran Knotweed and DMT for years. He has released on lots of top labels in his own deep and driving quirky style. It's an honour to remix for him beside quality artists Echologist and Myles Sergé. It's got something for everyone.

What are your top 6 oldies?
I get sick of the oldies as they are usually played to death but if you haven't heard them in a few years and you hear them unexpected, it's hard to beat UR003 The Final Frontier, Rolando's Jaguar. I love Laurent Garnier’s Sambou and used to always play that one. A remix by Sterac of Trolley Route "Tempura" always stands out for me as a classic. I've always loved Garnier’s Acid Eiffel too for the raw emotion brought into the track. There's too many to mention really but they're the first which entered my head and are the obvious big instant classics for the most part. Luke Slater is a favourite of mine so anything by him or Surgeon's Badger Bite. We could literally be here all-night naming tracks.

-UR “ The Final Frontier”

-DJ Rolando “ Jaguar “

-Laurent Garnier “ Sambou “

-Trolley Route “ Tempura “ (Stearc Mix)

-Laurent Garnier “ Acid Eiffel “

-Surgeon “ Badger Bite “

Your projects? 
I have been busy in the studio and have a new album coming out early 2025. It's my debut album and I'm excited to see how it's received. I have new Eps and remixes upcoming for various labels but none of them have been announced and I can't really say anything at the moment. What I can say is I'll be beside some big line-ups on various projects that I'm excited about and beside newer up and coming producers. I think it's also important to help out with newer labels/artists too when you can. The music will range from tracky dancefloor Techno to more Techno Soul. I just hope people will like it, which is never a guarantee, but I can only keep believing in myself, believe in what I do and hope people care enough to join me along the way. I appreciate I've been here for a while and I'm grateful to everyone who still show support and encouragement. That drives me to keep going. Lee Holman.com

Thanks Sabrina for the invite.