We had the good fortune of connecting with Johnny Mahon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Johnny, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
It’s been a gradual transition from starting out purely as a fan when I first discovered electronic music in 2009 to today where I fully treat it as a career. It’s been a gradual process – for a while I viewed it as just a hobby, so I only partook in it when the mood struck. As a result back in 2016 when I first started producing, there could be months that would go by where I didn’t touch my DAW

In 2018 I tried to do an hour a day of producing, but didn’t keep up with it for that long. My skillset was advancing, but at a slow rate.

Fast forward to today and I am getting in at least 20 hours of music career work most weeks. I try to make at least 16 of those 20 straight up producing. I’m pretty happy with that number right now since I’m also balancing a full time engineering job as well as the other usual things (social life, exercise, etc). Sure, sometimes I’ll think ‘man I’d have so much more time for XYZ if I didn’t spend so much time on music’, but I believe I owe it to myself to put in the work. The War On Art by Steven Pressfield had a strong impact on me to gain this mindset.

Some reasons for this gradual change are:

1. Getting bookings/releases inspired me to work harder. After my first NYC booking in May 2021 (opened for Westend at Bogart House) I’ve had a fairly steady schedule of shows, and as they’ve gotten bigger it’s just made me want to keep going. It’s a nice positive feedback loop.
2. Learning from artists that I look up to and how much they work. One DNB artist I look up to said he would spend 4 hours per day producing when he first started. I read that when I was still doing just 1 hour a day and it inspired me to pump that number up.

Please tell us more about your career. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
What sets me apart from others: there aren’t many people in the US that are making Drum & Bass or UK Garage music. Those genres, comparatively speaking, are pretty under represented in the US electronic music scene. They’ve been growing over the past couple years, but still nowhere near the likes of tech house or dubstep. Also most artists (US or elsewhere) only make one or the other. There are some I know that make both, and naturally they’re some of my favorite artists, but it seems most artists end up specializing in just one of them. I imagine that it’s because its difficult to be able to maintain a project that involves both of them at a high level. Kind of like how there aren’t many pitchers that are also good hitters in the MLB. I plan to keep doing both as long as I’m able to (and want to).

What I’m most proud or excited about: There’s two parts to this. The booking side and the production side. On the booking side I’m super proud of the shows I’ve had recently – support slots for Camo & Krooked, Wilkinson, Chase & Status. With that most recently one being in front of 3,000+ people at Avant Gardner in Brooklyn. Plus my first festival set last year at Elements festival. All of these bookings are things I could have only dreamed of a few years ago. On the production side, I’m very proud of how much I have progressed over the years. Sometimes I go back and listen to the tracks I made in 2016/2017 and it makes me proud that I stuck with producing for so long to get to a point that labels want to sign my tracks. It takes perseverance – for most producers there’s a long period of time where everything they make isn’t that great and it can take many years until they’re making label-ready songs. I recall when I first started back then, there was someone that actually told me it’s too difficult and not worth the trouble. I’m glad I did not listen to them.

How did you get to where you are today professionally: All self taught. Lots of youtube videos and forums. Last year I subscribed to a Patreon for some more advanced and specific tips/tricks

Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges?: This question is weird for me because I believe it wasn’t easy, although it felt easy. I feel like that kind of sounds like a brag, but that’s not how I intend it. I say it wasn’t easy because it literally took years and years of work to refine my skillset. But it felt easy because it didn’t feel like work. I love electronic music and have since 2009. So any time since then that I was spending hours DJing, listening to music, making music, etc it felt enjoyable to me. But if you ask a person that does not have a passion in music to do all of that, it would probably be quite hard for them to do that for so long.

What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?: I hope to spread the popularity of DNB & UKG across the US. Kind of like a DNB/UKG ambassador. Also one reason I use my regular name as my artist name because I like the idea of there not being any barrier between myself and my art. The music I make/play is truly the music that Johnny Mahon likes the most. So when you see several different genres/vibes coming from songs/mixes with my name attached, you know it’s because I’m just a person that’s sharing his varying musical taste. And that I’m not a specifically created brand that’s made to market a specific genre or feeling. Any marketing people reading this right now are probably cringing, but maybe that’s a discussion for another time. Oh also I should point out that Mahon is pronounced as “Man”. Kind of like the last name McMahon. A lot of people understandably pronounce it without a silent H or O.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Interesting question for a guy that spends all his free time inside working on music or at a club haha. I actually knew someone that was visiting NYC from the Netherlands a couple weeks ago and I had to outsource this question to people I knew that were more knowledgable on that sort of thing. But I’ll try to answer the question. Obviously it depends what the best friend is into. For me, the most fun/interesting/exciting things to check out would be whatever electronic music events are happening that week. I’d hop on EDMTrain and just see if any artists I dig are playing. I’d also hit a Mets game or two since I’m a big fan. Besides that, I don’t know, maybe we could check out a jazz club or something. Or get some Prince Street pizza. Or go throw rocks at trains. (Not actually though) I have no idea. If you’re going to hang out with me and let me choose the plans, it’s probably going to end up being something related to either music, baseball or video games – so you’ve been warned!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First people that come to mind are definitely my parents. They set up me up with the foundation needed to pursue a career in music. For example in college I was fortunate enough to not need to work a job while being a student, so in my free time I could spend time DJing and developing my musical taste. They taught me how to be disciplined, and the benefits of delayed self gratification, which has helped me a lot in this career. Just a few examples.

The next group of people I think of are my friends, new and old. It’s very helpful when a friend doesn’t take it personally when you say you can’t hang out that night because you need to work on music. And of course they come to my shows and stream my new releases – it’s always nice to have some people in your corner.

For books, I already mentioned The War On Art above, but I also attribute some of my success to ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport. By the time I had listened to the book, I was already doing a lot of its practices, but it really helped me solidify my work ethic and strategy for making the most of the the time I’m given.

I’d also like to shoutout to all the artists that have come before me. All of the artists that have inspired to make music of my own. And an extra shoutout to the ones that share their tips/tricks on the internet.

One last shoutout – this one is kind of unique. It’s the app called “Things”. It’s a task management app and I use it to basically organize my whole life. I find it to be so useful.