To listen to Billy Gillies is to capture true joy, because every song he produces and DJ set he performs radiates pure passion and vibrant spirit.

 

The Northern Irishman’s blend of quirky Eurodance synths, uplifting trance grandeur and hard-hitting bass rhythms goes beyond catchy melodies and expert timing, as breakout hits “Lagoon” and “Youth” tap into the very essence of what makes a night spent on the dancefloor with your best mates such a special experience.

 

That’s why he’s earned more than 145 million views on TikTok, filled a Creamfields tent with thousands of ravers at 1 p.m. on a Sunday, and why he’s managed to get an official remix of Madison Avenue’s 1999 hit “Don’t Call Me Baby” after ripping the iconic vocal off the internet.

 

Crowds chant his name from Taiwan to Texas because Billy Gillies dares to do something different; something unique to himself. Now, Billy Gillies is the next superstar-DJ-in-the-making, poised to take over the world.

 

Billy’s musical obsession started in the 2000s when his older sister started buying Clubland compilation CDs and dating a local DJ. One night, the boyfriend came over and brought his decks, but when the couple left to go dancing, 11-year-old Billy snuck into his sister’s room and started playing with the turntables.

 

“I was like, ‘what is this music? I love this,’” he laughs. “On the Christmas list for that year was a set of decks.”

 

His mom delivered with his first set of Kam belt drives, and Billy’s been mad for mixing ever since. Each Saturday, he’d head out of the house with a five Pound note and spend it on a new record (Tiesto’s Traffic being particularly influential). In turn, he’d spend the next week learning to mix that record in and out of his steadily growing collection.

 

When he was 17, he got his first taste of true Clubland. A year underaged, he caught an hour-long bus from Belfast to Banbridge and talked his way into a club called Coach. Japanese DJ Yoji Biomehanika and the UK’s own Lisa Lashes dropped heavy hard-house records all night, and Billy started dreaming of his own chance to rock a crowd, proper.

 

He knew that if he wanted to be an in-demand DJ, he’d have to come up with some original songs. In 2011, he locked himself in his bedroom with a copy of Ableton Live and didn’t come out until he’d mastered the basic trance sound.

 

He fell in love with music production and started sending his tracks to BBC Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules, who played them on his show every Friday night. For 19-year-old Billy, there was nothing better.

 

After spending much of his 20s as a self-described “party animal,” 28-year-old Billy once again locked himself inside his bedroom and churned out a ton of original tunes. The result? A spot on the lineup of Luminosity 2019 alongside major trance legends Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Gareth Emery and more. He played a set of all-original material, and when a recording was posted to Soundcloud, it earned more plays than any of the headliners.

 

“I’d brung a fresh sound into the trance scene,” Gillies says. “Everyone was making the same type of thing, where I just look back at my influences growing up and crammed it into the main trance style.”

 

International booking requests flooded in, sending him to Argentina to Australia—and then COVID struck. Many of his peers saw no point releasing music to a locked-down crowd, but Billy saw a chance to experiment.

 

“People need music in hard times, not just for clubs,” he says. “The music I was making around that time was proper emotional melodies, and it was resonating with everyone.”

 

He’d share each tune in a rough clip to Facebook or TikTok, and every post brought shares in the thousands. His fan base wasn’t just growing, it was ballooning, due in part not only to his masterful skills in the studio but also his effervescent personality that spills into each tune.

perty☟
UK / EU:
shogan@wmeagency.com
jdooling@wmeagency.com

NORTH / SOUTH AMERICA: 
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bio:
Ewan McVicar is doing things differently. He’s not following any existing blueprints, nor is he adding a filter to what you see. As a result, DJ Mag’s recently crowned Best British DJ is taking the electronic scene by storm. If you combine the spirit and ethos of the rave generation with a forward-thinking approach to music, vivacious energy and drive to push things in the right direction, you end up with McVicar. 

While his journey may have started in Ayr, Ewan McVicar’s path has shown he doesn't intend to rest until he's left his mark in every corner of the globe. That formative period in his humble Scottish hometown is the bedrock for his success today and after years of honing his craft across hip hop and commercial-leaning sounds in clubs that didn't quite fit his direction, he launched his own enterprise. TEN, the club night that started it all, was the introduction to underground music that he and his town so desperately needed. 

It wasn't just McVicar's hunger for something with a bit more bite that was satisfied once TEN was established, it was a huge success within the town and beyond. A new movement had picked up steam.

His unwavering dedication to pushing a sound that’s intrinsically his own had paid off and after a string of releases via Trick, 'Tell Me Something Good' became a runaway success, all over the planet. The platinum-selling single catapulted Ewan into the public eye and since then, he's not left it, not even for a second. His trajectory has been skyward but crucially, it's been on his terms. 

Musically he's made sure that he's stood firm on his commitment to the underground with releases via Heras Records, Optimo Music, Unknown To The Unknown, Shall Not Fade, Nervous and perhaps most notably Ninja Tune's singles imprint Technicolour, where 'Heather Park' found its home. The track acted as a platform for Ewan to recognise and celebrate his origins while facing forward with his sound. With that, the ode to his former home is one of his most beloved productions to date.

Remixes for The Chemical Brothers, Groove Armada and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs further cement his demand as a technically proficient producer and one that can create music for the main stage as well as sweat-soaked basements. Throw singles like 'Groove Thang' into the mix, alongside hyped collaborations with producers like Kettama, and what you have is an artist who's able to straddle both sides of the fence with ease, a rare feat in today's publishing landscape. 

Ewan's popularity as a selector and performer is arguably the strongest part of his arsenal and with one of the most engaged and active fanbases in the world, his sell-out shows prove to be one of the biggest draws in dance music. 

His sets at Creamfields in the Steelyard have become the stuff of legend, and they showcase his technical ability and prowess performing to crowds upwards of 30,000. His curated club brand 'Handpicked' is a no nonsense night that gives the truest insight into the brain of the clued-up Scotsman and he's welcomed acts like Kerri Chandler, Optimo, Stevie Cox and frequent b2b partner Special Request to play, perfectly surmising his musical tastes.  

Taking curation one step further, 2023 saw the inaugural edition of his beloved Pavilion Festival, Ewan's own festival located in the heart of Ayr on the Low Green, a location that he unsurprisingly holds dearly, in a community that he's now able to lovingly give back.

There are a whole host of new musical projects in the works and most importantly, an album is coming. One that he's been working on tirelessly in the background of his relentless gig schedule and release calendar, one that's set to tell the story of how an ambitious boy from Ayr decided to take over the world and how he's only just getting started.

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Merki Multi Genre Artist from Glasgow, Scotland

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