Clubbers: What's the story Rory! Party time on Sherkin Island

Surely, I can’t have been alone in my confusion when in March I was confronted with online posts about Rory’s Birthday Party, an event announced to take place at the Kino on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day. Who was this Rory? Whoever he was he had put together an intriguing line up that included Berlin’s Panorama Bar residents Tama Sumo and Lakuti as well as an artist from Detroit legend Theo Parrish’s Sound Signature stable, Monica Blaire. As birthday parties go, this created a picture of someone quite possibly well connected, quite possibly self-indulgent (maybe even a little smug), and undoubtedly discerning.

From further investigation the following line jumped out at me: “For Rory’s 2nd birthday party this year, he has decided on Cork City.” So, we can add a sense of humour to this picture I was building. It finally dawned on my confused brain that if there was a Rory it was probably not his birthday. Particularly when a month later this Rory character was announcing another birthday event at the Savoy, and this was dedicated to Theo Parrish and Sound Signature. The well-connected and discerning image was making sense, and – let’s face it! – you have to allow for some degree of self-indulgence in promoting. You have to have some degree of taste and understanding of the market you’re going for, but if a promoter can’t put on things they are passionate about, well that’s the point!

And Rory? Well, there is no Rory.

“He’s basically a fall guy for a session,” says Shane Breen conspiratorially. The West Cork DJ and producer was planning a party last year and as he anticipated the possibility of a licence for the event he imagined a contingency plan to randomly brand the impromptu bar “Rory’s Cans”, so if the authorities were to arrive on the scene people could feign innocence and say some guy called Rory was behind it.

So, Rory’s a phantom?

“Absolutely. Sure, he’s had three birthday parties this past year.”

The first Rory’s Birthday Party event was a three-day festival last November in Goleen, which featured Chicago house DJ Specter, Turin’s Andrea Passenger and London house and soul DJ The Mighty Zaf.

The concept is the brainchild of Breen and Limerick DJ Cian Frawley. That pair’s paths crossed in the ’00s when Breen was studying in that city and they reconnected when Breen invited Frawl to DJ at his Ár n-Áit café in Skibbereen last summer. Pretty quickly, Rory’s Birthday Party has gained a following for their fun-loving, almost devil may care vibe. Not to mention their exciting booking policy. The buzz they have created has grown over the course of their unique events.

“We’re just trying to put on good music for everybody and open it up and bring it back to about the music and the party itself. So that ridiculous name is almost to be disregarded. You pay attention to the music and what’s happening around it. It is a form of branding anyway, but it’s almost anti promotion,” says Breen.

This weekend sees them mount a typically ambitious event on Sherkin Island for 200 lucky clubbers. No sponsors, they boast. No VIP areas. No corporate infrastructure. No festival optics. Just music, community, camping, and one of Ireland’s most unique settings, with a bunch of Rory’s favourite selectors, including Andrea Passenger, Colm K, Glenn Davis, Pablo Fatty Fatty, Ricky Chong, Danilo Milk, and Funk Smack.

That’s the story, Rory!