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Design. Design. Yay! Animation. Design. It’s odd
to be reminded of what D.A.D.D.Y. stands for since so much of what Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman accomplish is woven into the creative beat of this city, over the years. Whether it is through their association with countless music acts, their creation of some seminal advertising or general prankery across disciplines, these mid-90s graduates from IADT in Dun Laoghaire have made a memorable mark. And now on the cusp of releasing their debut feature film, they are in reflective mode with Totally Dublin exploring how it all came to this. “We just had a video camera,” recalls Mike. “There were no computers to edit or any of that stuff. We would basically edit with the pause button on the camera. You’d stop, do a take and at the end note it. They were all comedies and stupid and creative.” This was college, in the ‘90s. This notion of inventive humour with a touch of silly has permeated most of D.A.D.D.Y.’s career output and led to this jump-off point with the release of Extra Ordinary. “The D.I.Y. thing was always big for us. We’d play the sound effects off a tape in the room, be opening presses and turning on lamps with a string. It was kind of like making a sketch show.” And it was within the world of music videos that they learned their creative smarts in the real world. Hanging out with illustrator pals such as Mark Wickham and original D.A.D.D.Y. member Chris Judge, they found themselves meshing up music with their careers. “It was the heyday of MTV’s really creative music videos with people like Shynola and Spike Jonze really inspiring us,” says Enda. There was a D.I.Y. feeling in Dublin with lots of bands emerging and supporting each other, but maybe it was the age we were too.” Mike started working in Windmill Lane and, conveniently, Enda ended up with Rocket Animation next door. They used all their downtime to cook up their own plot and eventually moved into the famed Space 28 on North Lotts. Both were closely associated with the ramshackle avant-garde space rockers Warlords of Pez and Enda had a flourishing pop career with The Chalets. They used their connections to further hone their skills creating acclaimed videos such as Padre Pio (Warlords) and Feel The Machine (Chalets). ➝ 24