1. She and her friends promoted a regular club night called Spiritualised?

2. She was in the TV docu-series ‘The Joy of Decks’ (in November 2003) and narrowed down from 300 contestants to just 4. Each of the 4 chosen for the finals had a mentor, Sister Bliss, Roni Size, Mr C, Tom Middleton etc.

3. She’s also won all these DJ competitions; - Cyberdog Hard Trance DJ Competition (2001), Trevor Rockcliffe’s Stomp Techno Competition (2004),

4. The Ascension Awards House National DJ Comp (2004 where she played at WMF Club, Berlin)

And finally, she hit the jackpot last May 2005 as one of her all time dreams came true…she got to play on tour with the most famous DJ in the world, the man himself – CARL COX on his summer tour ‘Carl Cox and friends’, all over France, playing to crowds of 4,000 people. Any ideas?

When you’re around this DJ, you are simply gobsmacked at the amount of energy she oozes from every pore. Her high energy sets and positive, fun attitude has got her far in her young career. She has taken off so much over the last few years from a bedroom DJ to playing with the most established DJ’s as mentioned above but also Tiesto and Sasha. She’s played in the VIP rooms in Cannes Film Festival, to Redbox in Dublin and enjoyed every minute of it. Phew, I’m tired already! She just loves her music, making people dance but still makes time for her charity work. It’s my pleasure to introduce you one of the friendliest, talented, energetic female DJ’s – it’s Clodagh.

Hey Clodagh, a lot has happened since you exploded onto the music scene 3 years ago after your debut on ‘The Joy of Decks’ docu-series. Tell us what you’ve been up to
Wow, so much stuff has happened since the “Joy of Decks!” The main thing that Carl Cox saw me on the show and when I emailed him saying how much I’d like to play with him, he wanted to hear some demos, then he invited me to be his warm up DJ on tour in France in May 2005! After that I got invited back to headline the Bazar Club in Marseilles, the South of France and 700 people came to hear me play! I played for 4 hours and didn’t want to stop. Then I got invited back to play at “La Dune” in Toulouse to play after Tiesto at the Autumn Electronic Music Festival! I also played in Bulgaria with Chris Liberator and Dave the Drummer. And I headlined gigs in Poland, Italy and Tunisia! I now have a residency in Tunisia playing once a month plus I just got back from playing in Algeria! Imagine I’m the first ever female DJ to play in Algeria! How cool is that!! To be a part of bringing dance music to a new country is a really great feeling.

I know everyone wants to know, what was your experience of playing with Carl Cox on his tour last summer in sunny France?
Sunny France??? HaHa! It rained nearly every day I was in France! Anyway Carl Cox is a fantastic person, he is the most passionate DJ I’ve ever met. He truly loves music, DJing and honestly cares and plays for the people who come to hear him play! He was always talking music and was always searching for new tunes. He was so encouraging and is a real positive person to be around.

We had a right laugh! The tour actually started in Dublin, Ireland at the RedBox, which was really special, he told me the crowd wouldn’t have minded if I had played all night long! Next were his two massive “Carl Cox and Friends” parties in Paris and Strasbourg! Each party I played in front of 4,000 people with the most amazing visuals I’ve ever seen in my life! Then we hit the South of France, Montpellier and Toulouse where I played in between Sasha and Carl at the INOX3 Electronic Music Festival. I didn’t find out I was playing after Sasha until the night before, plus my two sisters had traveled over to see me play so I had myself totally psyched up and I totally rocked the place, what a buzz! Next was Marseille, which was another wicked gig and we finished the tour at the Cannes Film Festival! Mad! Hehe!

How would you best describe your style of music for those who haven’t heard you yet?
My style?? Good Music! Always pumping high energy and powerful! I play so many different styles depending on the gig! With Carl I played electronic house, in London and Poland I play full on pumping techno, in Bulgaria with Luke Slater I’ll play a funky techno set. At my Spiritualised parties I play techno and hard trance. In Algeria I played a funky house set. In Tunisia I play electronic and tech house! There’s so much great music out there why stick to one style and I’d advise every DJ to play more than one style. I don’t care what I’m playing as long as I’m dancing and the people in front of me are dancing too!

Have you had a lot of positive input from other DJ’s, promoters, and clubbers since “The Joy of Decks?”
Yes, people really enjoyed the show and people still email me and come up to me in the street saying, “Are you Clodagh?” Lots of DJs said that they wouldn’t have been able to play with a TV camera stuck in their faces. To be honest I completely forgot about the camera when I was playing!

What’s happened to Spiritualised, as I know the lovely DJ Franky moved back to Brazil? Do you have time to do parties these days? (Personal question as this is one of my favourite nights in London)
Ah Spiritualised!! What a great party… this was my friend Nacho’s dream, to start DJing and making parties. We made such wicked parties with unbelievable atmospheres! Then we lost our venue “The Fortress Studios” which was a real shame, they stopped making parties, plus everyone involved in Spiritualised (all friends) work full time and to put on a party takes a lot of time, plus a lot of stress, so we narrowed our parties down to just special occasions in secret locations in London. We also usually do them in aid of different charities too, which is always nice. Check my website gig guide on www.DJclodagh.com for our next party and if you want to come drop me an email.

DJ Franky is running his own party now in Sao Paulo, Brazil called “Evoxx” (www.evoxx.com.br) and hopefully I’ll get to play at his next party in April 2006 and do a mini tour of Brazil! Can’t wait! And Nacho will be launching his new record label and website www.deporpatas.com soon, so watch this space.

I know you work very hard and practise for hours on end, but what has been the key to your success, do you think?
Being positive, determined and passionate! You really can achieve anything you want once you put your mind to it. I really am happiest when I’m dancing and when DJing, I make other people dance which makes me twice as happy. I’m genuinely into it and people can see it and feel it. People always come up to me after I play and say they can’t get over my energy and how much I feel the music, so I guess it’s a combination of these things. I genuinely want to rock every dance floor I play to. I put my heart and soul into every set I play and I want everyone on the dance floor to forget their worries, dance like crazy and have the best night out ever! Basically I like to have fun when I play… that’s what it should be all about at the end of the day! Parties should be fun!

I know on ‘The Joy of Decks’, you produced your own track called ‘Oiche Mhaith’ which in our Irish language, means ‘Good night’. Any plans to produce some more?
Yes yes yes! Definitely, this is my new year’s resolution to start producing some kiss ass tracks as in the future. I’d love to play LIVE and hopefully have my own record label…digital label! I’ve huge respect for people who produce as I know how much time and effort is involved. Producers like Dave The Drummer, Valentino Kanzyani, Marco Bailey, Phil Kiernan, Deetron, Stephane Signore, Eric Prydz, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Jacques Lu Cont all consistently produce awesome tracks! Big Respect… do these guys ever sleep?

And finally…when and where are you next playing as I hear you’re a pretty good DJ and might like to check you out to see if the rumours are true?
Right! In London on…

Fri 4th March I’m playing at Deporpatas Launch Party @ Fiasco @ The River Bar, Tower Bridge Rd (Funky House Set).

Check my gigs on my website www.DJclodagh.com for more info!

This feature © Colette Ekman