Young, talented, humble, family man

These are just some of the words that comes to mind when describing Paul Denton. This Irish powerhouse is making waves and doing so through talent and drive. Booking some massive gigs over the last year, Paul stays rooted and focused for his family. As his schedule becomes more and more packed, taking those moments to rest and remember why he is in it is important. His music is good and you can’t put him in any cookie cutter genre, which is fantastic. We need more talent like this, and I cannot wait to see what he has in store.

First of all, congratulations on making your US debut at EDC. How does it feel to be playing at the largest festival in the world? You have played Lumi, FSOE weekender, Anomaly, Melbourne, what is next?

Yes, it’s always amazing to play big festivals and it doesn’t really get much bigger than EDC. I’m really excited to play this gig so it’s going to be an amazing show. And yeah, I’ve played a lot of Festival. Coming up, I have a Luminosity Beach Festival. Also got a tour of Australia and also paying in Argentina for the first time.

Your track ‘Wasp’ that came out on Outburst is an absolute banger, love that track. And it did well on the Beatport charts climbing up to #11. When you made the track did you know you would have a hit on your hands? What is the feeling you get when you see DJs like Allen Watts play your track at ASOT 900?

Thank you very much. Glad you like ‘Wasp’.  When I made that track, it kind of came together really quickly. I think I made it in about a week which is pretty fast for me. So I knew it would read work really well on a dance floor. It’s kind of a dance floor driven track. And so I had a feeling it would work well. It was always great to see my tracks playing at ASOT900 which was really amazing and really enjoyed watching it and watching that back.

You recently had a vocal track, with Audrey Gallagher, which was signed to FSOE. How did the opportunity come to work with Audrey come about? Vocal trance vs non-vocal trance is a debate that graces social media often. What are your thoughts on the two? And do you have a preference?

Myself and Audrey had both worked together previously on ‘Say My Name’. When we were working on this track as Flynn & Denton and Audrey, but obviously Darren hasn’t got the time anymore to work on music with his job. So he told myself and Audrey to finish it off ourselves and that’s ‘Beneath the Stars’.

And my preference between vocal trance and non-vocal trance; I don’t really have a preference on anything trance wise because I think I like to make everything. Rather it be tech, or psy, or vocal, uplifting, I think my sound is pretty broad. And I don’t really have a preference on anything really.

You grew up in Ireland, which has become a hub for some trance giants. How much of an influence did growing up in Ireland have on you pursuing a career in music?  Having family support in the career is important, as it can be very taxing on the mind and body. Did your family support your decision to do this full time? If you weren’t doing music what would you be doing?

Yeah, growing up in Ireland has obviously a massive influence on my career and trance has always been big in Ireland. Oh and then when the likes of John O’Callaghan and Brian Kearney came through, they open the door for a lot of Irish producers and DJs and they’ve been a massive influence and help me massively throughout my career so far.

Having family support in the career is important, as it can be very taxing on the mind and body. My family have always been really supportive of my decision and have always helped me and it’s obviously really hard traveling around the world with a family of my own. I miss my son when I’m abroad and that’s the hardest part of doing. I think if I wasn’t doing music, I’d probably be a plumber, as I’m fully qualified plumber, I’d be still working on building somewhere.

But being away from my family is very very hard. Especially when they are young. I always miss him a lot when I’m away these days. It’s a lot easier as you have Skype and you can kind of chat away to them. It’s just whenever the time difference is too big it becomes harder. 

You are traveling a lot! From Australia, all over Europe, and now the USA. How do you deal with jetlag? 

And for jet lag, I don’t think there’s any way of coping with jet lag and I just have to grin and bear it and get through it. It’s very hard. Usually I just work in the studio if I’m up late and I can’t sleep. And I will just work until I make new tracks.

Finally, if you could only live by one motto, what would it be?

I think it would be “never give up on your dreams and always keep chasing them”. 

I had just about given up and then something always comes back around and gets you to keep going. And I think this year has been a massive year for me. So I think that’s what I live by which is to never give up on your dreams.