Corkonians Abroad: One Northsider’s life in California

THIS week, I caught up with Stephen Lynch, from North Monastery Road on Corks northside.

He initially left Cork for the bright lights of Las Vegas, before settling in Imperial Valley in southern California.

How did you end up in the States, Stephen?

At first it was just an opportunity, and there wasn’t much going on back at home. I was a qualified electrician at that point but, between work drying up, and a loss of interest in the trade in general, I would spend a few summers away Djing in Crete, on the Greek Islands.

The last summer of 2011, I considered staying in Crete for the winter as opposed to going back home. In late summer that year, a few buddies of mine were over for a holiday, and one of them let me know about the company he used to work for in the U.S, that they were opening a new location in Las Vegas, and they were looking for people.

Between the jigs and the reels, I followed that path, had to fly home for an interview, apply for the visa, etc, but, before I knew it, on January 13, 2012, I was on a plane to the U.S.

What is life like in your new home?

Life is good, I’m blessed, to be honest. My wife is Mexican/American, and we live where she grew up, which is a smaller town population-wise, very similar to Cork in size, so I don’t feel out of place.

The people are mostly Mexican/American, and the Mexicans are very similar to the Irish, so I feel right at home.

Tell us about your time in Las Vegas and how that came about?

Vegas was a great experience but the strip does get a bit old after a while. I ended up doing some electrical work for the same company after a while and got to see more of the U.S on my travels.

I spent time in Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland as well.

What has been the biggest challenge in living abroad?

I don’t know that there was anything too difficult to navigate. I’ve been lucky to have great friends, and family surrounding me, so there was always someone there to pick their brains when needed.

One thing that sticks out was when I tried to buy my first car and they told me I was a ghost in the system. The U.S credit system is a little different to back home, it’s all based on a score, and if you never had debt, you don’t build your score, so that was a learning curve. A great system, you have to put yourself in debt to take on bigger debt!

Where I live, the language is predominantly Spanish speakers, which was another adjustment. I’m far from fluent but, I can order beer and Tacos, so the priorities are covered.

How might you spend your weekends?

This depends on the time of year, but there’s rarely a quiet weekend. My wife has a large family so there is always some party or event happening, and in between those, we like to travel as well.

The U.S is a great road country, and we can be in Los Angeles in three hours, Vegas in four, the Grand Canyon in seven.

I like to drive so we always take road trips, Lake Tahoe is a new favourite of ours. We drive south in Mexico as well quite a bit, from Ensenada, Rosarito to Loretto. My daughter does cross country, so this time of year fills up with races also.

Tell us a bit about the culture of where you live?

There are two different cultures mainly, the U.S and the Mexican culture, both different to back home. but the Mexican culture is a lot similar, I think.

They are very family-orientated, religious (Catholic), and like to drink as well, salt of the earth type of people.

One big culture shock for me, because we live close enough to the border, is seeing the heavy Border Patrol presence.

Outside of music, my main job is in solar, and some of the power plants back up to the border, where I have seen some things that would make anyone’s jaw drop, stuff you see on TV but this was in real-life.

Tell us about your work?

I work in solar now, utility scale stuff, so power plant sized, not the residential rooftop stuff.

I started out on the tools as a technician but I am in management now, and oversee the state of California operations and maintenance.

What about your love of music?

I also own and run a record label called One Dance Left. Music has always been my passion, and around 2018 I decided to take it more seriously and took up music production again to align with my DJ style so I could play my own tracks out live.

I graduated from Point Blank Music School in 2019 and started releasing music professionally with various record labels. I have been doing that now for the last five years, and last year decided to start my own label.

I launched the label during Miami Music Week in 2022, with Todd Terry as the headline DJ for the event. That was a bit surreal, having been a big fan of Todd’s music for many years. His music would be well known around Cork and was some of the earlier music that really got me into dance music as I originally played Hip Hop and R&B.

Our latest release is No.1 on the Beatport charts, which is the main charts internationally for dance music, so the label is doing quite well, and building nicely.

I also have new music coming out on November 17 with a U.S label called Late Night Munchies, who are well known for their Deeper House style, run by Tony H. This is a two-track EP of pure Deep House, Fish Go Deep, Henry’s style.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

To be fair, there’s been a lot to try to summarise, but buying our first house in 2015 would definitely be one, and we got married in Ensenada, Mexico, in 2017, which was beautiful.

Having my parents over and road tripping to places like the Grand Canyon are stand out moments also.

Any special mentions to friends or family back in Cork?

I couldn’t not shout out the best mother in the world, Bridie Lynch, and my sister Amanda as well. The brother is in London, and he’s a Liverpool fan (gawk), but I suppose he needs a shout out as well lol. My nephews Jack, Finn and Christy as well.

There’s no way I could start shouting friends out because I’ll definitely forget someone, and I’ll get dog’s abuse. They know who they are.

Special mention to one of your own as well at The Echo, Don O’Mahony, who’s always supporting my music, he’s been great for pushing my name and the label back home, Cheers Don.

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would be the ideal day for you?

I’d start off in the morning with a hot chicken roll from Centra. I’d have to have a Murphy’s Chipper or Tung Sing for the dinner.

From there I’d go down to Quinlan’s for a pint of Murphy’s. For one night only, I’d like to have a Sunday session back in Brannigans, either myself or Derek Power Djing.

We had some great nights in there, packed to the rafters, especially Sunday nights playing ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, Soul Funk and Disco, not a care in the world for work Monday morning.

Find on Stephen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YbJUvVMCTTWRXjdjHc8uw?si=a800a3201cd54409 Social Media.

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/iamnotoriouslynch

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/onedanceleft/

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