At home with... Mo Kelly

"We had a pet goldfish called Andrew, named after a friend of ours. Sadly, Andrew, the goldfish that is, died just the other day. But I suspect Mark might be thinking of getting a replacement, so the fish tank will be occupied once again.”
Phew, just for a minute there I thought I might have to attend a funeral. But Mo Kelly seems to be coping and indicates it’s safe to talk about the matters in hand.
Her career as a club DJ makes living in the heart of Dublin city close to O’Connell Bridge totally convenient to clubland and all the other attractions of the capital, but doesn’t she find it all a bit noisy, especially after growing up in the comparative tranquility of the Dublin suburb of Clontarf?
“Not really,” she says, “the apartment is at the back, so it overlooks the courtyard, and the apartments fronting onto the River Liffey tend to block out most of the sound anyway. A lot of our friends comment on how surprisingly quiet it is, given that O’Connell Street is just around the corner. Most of the noise here is generated by ourselves. In fact, when we moved here first, about six years ago, we annoyed a few of the neighbours by playing music a bit loud and having parties, but we’re more aware of that now. It’s really handy for people dropping in too.”
Despite her obvious contentment, Mo and her partner, fellow DJ Mark Murphy, are on the lookout for a bigger place.
“I grew up in a house that had lots of space," she explains. "Apart from all the records we have now, I do a lot of painting as well, so we need a lot more room. But we wouldn’t want to move anywhere too far form the hub of things. We might go as far as Portobello Bridge near Rathmines, though.”
As one would expect, Mo's apartment is full of records, DJ decks and paintings, both originals and bought, but you still can’t help noticing the amply laden bookshelves.
“Both myself and Mark are avid book readers. So is my mother, and she often passes books on to me. I read all sorts of books, from The Shining by Stephen King to John Banville’s The Sea. I have the complete works of Oscar Wilde, and recently I read David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green. With the kind of work we do, there’s lots of hanging around waiting for a show to start, or waiting to go on, so reading is a great way to pass the time.”
Her record collection revolves mainly around dance records.
“I generally have records that are connected with work," she says. "There’s so much stuff I have to listen to that I don’t really have too much time to explore other types of music. But when I want to turn off I usually listen to opera and classical music. I grew up with opera and my mother was a big fan, and I’ve been to see opera in such venues as Covent Garden, the Met in New York and the Opera Arena in Verona.”
But apart from the obvious drum’n’bass, electro and hip-hop goodies in her collection, she admits to growing up with music by indie-rock favourites like The Pixies and the Smashing Pumpkins.
“The first record I ever bought was ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ by Ian Dury And The Blockheads,” she recalls. "Even back then, I remember playing it the house and dancing around to it."
While it could be argued that Kelly does most of her actual work on stage, the apartment is the obvious place for the prep work for her gigs.
“Not only do I listen to a lot of records here, but I’ll often sit down and work out a set list here before I go off to a gig, so in that sense this is also a place of work for me.”
An avid painter herself, with an exhibition coming up as part of Art Dublin at BT2 from July 28, she also collects Irish painters.
“I’m trying to gently persuade all my friends, when they’re buying me a present, to think of paintings!" she admits. "We have some gorgeous work by John Shinners and Sean McSweeney, as well as a drawing by Jack Yeats.”
While she tends to listen to radio mostly in the car, especially on the way to gigs, she has a sizeable collection of DVDs.
“Because of my working schedule I’m not really able to watch much TV at night, so I tend to have a lot of music biogs on DVD, including the Beastie Boys, lots of Jools Holland live and so on. Then there this great video called Scratch. It’s a history of turntable-ism, and even my mother the opera fan thought it was really good. I also love watching foreign movies like Amélie, as well as stuff like Rocky, Die Hard and ET".
DIY is not something that appeals to her, although her partner is, apparently, pretty good at it. And the smells are most likely to be a blend of coffee and orchids.
“I love flowers and we live only a short walk from Marks & Spencer so I often drop in there to buy some,” she tells me.
But of all of the myriad items in what is a fairly full apartment, what would Mo rescue if the proverbial fire sweeps through Bachelors Walk? “Apart from the painting by Sean McSweeney, I’d grab a bag of records. With a bag of records I could get by anywhere, make a few bob, pay the bills.”

Mo Kelly is scheduled to DJ an “after-hours” set at Electric Picnic. Later in the year she goes with Ministry of Sound to DJ in Dubai and Quatar.

Photos by Cathal Dawson.