By 
AN Omagh-based electronic music collective, Joyride, which hosts an annual festive dance music night around Christmas, has pledged to continue the event.
JOYRIDE is made up of four friends from Omagh, Joseph McCloskey, Troy Fahy, Daniel Monaghan, and Nina Chambers, who now live in different parts of Ireland and England.
All four remain active in the music scene, either as DJs or by organising their own club nights.
This year’s JOYRIDE dance event was held at the INF in Omagh at the end of December and served as a reunion, attracting local dance music fans as well as friends and family of the group.
The band play experimental electronic music with influences from bass music, dubstep, and UK house and techno.
Joseph McCloskey, who now DJs in Glasgow where he is a student undertaking a course in sound production, said he first became interested in dance music after his brother returned from university in London with an iPod full of new music.
“My brother introduced a load of new music to me when I was younger, and that was when I really started to love music,” said Joseph.
“Some of the other members of JOYRIDE’s parents were old-skool ravers back in the ‘90s and 2000s and they have always been into electronic music.
“Now I like more experimental electronic music and the stuff I play is influenced by local DJs in Glasgow, like DJ Bake, and I also really like the house music DJ Julio Bashmore.
“Everyone in JOYRIDE have music they like in common, but our individual tastes are all very different from each other.”
He explained that the group’s origins go back to their schooldays.
“The other members of JOYRIDE and I all went to primary school together, and we attended local schools — either Drumragh Integrated College or Omagh CBS.
“We started JOYRIDE while we were still at school.”
Joseph added, “Now we all live in different places, a couple of us, such as myself, are in Glasgow, and one in London.
“But we are all still active in our local music scenes, either DJing or putting on electronic nights.”
Since moving away, the four friends have held annual reunion nights over the festive period for the past three years and intend to continue the tradition.
“We want to keep this going as an annual tradition where all our friends can get together at least once a year, or maybe more, and catch up,” said Joseph.
“Our night in December was fantastic. It was a great excuse for us all to get together and see each other, and it was amazing to hear all the different music we were playing.”
To find out more about JOYRIDE and learn about the next night they put on together locally you can follow the collective on Instagram @joyride_omagh.
