GLOWKiD pres. 'Rest In Harmony, Eamon Downes (Liquid)' @ Aaja Radio

Details

Description

This special one-hour show was broadcasted on 12th August 2025 at Aaja Radio and is dedicated to the life and legacy of the late Eamon Downes - the visionary behind Liquid.

Co-founded by Eamon Downes and Shane Heneghan, Liquid burst onto the scene in 1991 with the iconic 'Sweet Harmony', a timeless rave anthem built on CeCe Rogers’ 'Someday' and layered over breakbeats. Originally pressed on 500 white label copies, the record exploded, leading to a full release on XL Recordings and embedding itself into UK club history.

Some essentials of the group’s early work (e.g. 'The Future Music EP', 'Time To Get Up EP') were collaborated with producer Jezz Wright at Blockhouse. These formative recordings cemented instantly Liquid’s status as an innovating rave act. Right after Shane Heneghan's departure, Eamon Downes continued Liquid as a solo project, pushing the sound further with releases like 'Time to Get Up' and 'One Love Family' (both Mixmag's Singles of the Week).

After 'Culture', Eamon kept evolving. In 2017, he teamed up with Sanxion (a.k.a. Mark Coupe) to make a big studio return. First he released 'Energy Flows' on Music Mondays, the label run by his good friend Billy Daniel Bunter. This sophomore Liquid album presented 12 standout tunes marking a mature return where rave spirit meets club wisdom. That was followed by the harder-edged 'Spacemonkey' (2019) and 'Lethal' (2021) - both released on Kniteforce Records. The latter one pushed beyond genre lines, capturing a sound that was both timeless and forward-thinking.

Aside of these, Eamon also explored music beyond the dancefloor. Together with Mark Coupe, they formed the award-winning Clerkenwell Sound Collective composing for TV, film, and advertising. As composers, they crafted high-quality, emotionally resonant scores across multiple genres, further proving their versatility and creative ambition.

That purpose never left him - whether in rave production, radio, or cinematic score. And then, just days before the 30th anniversary of 'Culture', came the news no one was ready for. The world lost Eamon Downes, and the sad news came early of the week from Billy Daniel Bunter from his instagram page.

On a personal note, I first saw Eamon Downes playing a Liquid live set in 2012 at Plissken Festival in Athens. A year later, I had the honour of interviewing him for the Strictly NuSkool Blog, followed by another in-depth talk in 2016 this time in person and on camera, at Brainstorm event in Thessaloniki, Greece, just after his explosive set. He was my first ever video guest - and that moment stayed with me. All the laughs and good chat we had off the camera too. A year after in 2017, he joined me once more for a radio special this time featuring an an interview among an exclusive Liquid guest mix - broadcasted on Planet Rave Radio on behalf of his studio return with the 'Energy Flows' album.

Eamon Downes loved Greece and the Greek crowd been loving him back just as much. He played around Greece so many times and his records were embraced by fans of different types of electronic music. We had stayed in contact all these years. He was always kind, with a unique sense of humor. One year, I shared with him that I had to put all music side of things on hold for a while due to my MSc in Economics. His reply just struck me:

"𝘈𝘩, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 - 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵!"

It was short, sincere, thoughtful and the type of message that showed his kindness, authenticity and generosity.

All in all, this showcase is dedicated tor him. For the scene and for all of us.
Rest in Harmony, Eamon Downes.

◾Tracklist

Liquid - Liquid Love [1995, XL]
Liquid - Closer [1995, XL]
Liquid - One Love Family (Your Teeth in My Neck) [1995, XL]
Liquid - Niagara [1995, XL]
Liquid - Sick On Synthetics [2019, Tripalium Corp]
Liquid - Phormicide [2018, Kniteforce]
Liquid - It Is What It Is [2017, Music Mondays]
Billy Daniel Bunter & Liquid - Bleeps For The Killjoys [2018, Music Mondays]
Dope Ammo, Frenic, Kathy Brown & Wyld Child - I'm Good (Liquid Remix) [2018, Dope Ammo]
Liquid ft. Rachel Wallace - Runaway [2017, Music Mondays]
Liquid - Free [1993, XL]
Liquid - Track 9 [1993,XL]
Liquid - The Year 3000 [1992, XL]
Liquid - Feel 3 [1992, XL]
Liquid - Liquid Beats [1991]
Liquid - Liquid Is Liquid (Remix) [1992, XL]
Liquid - Music [1992, XL]


◾ links to check:

🔸Interview @ Strictly Nuskool Blog (November 2013)
https://strictlynuskool.blogspot.com/2013/11/liquid-interview-for-strictly-nuskool.html

🔸Video Interview @ Brainstorm/Greece (January 2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNr2t5GLhGQ

🔸Interview & Guest Mix @ Generation X [RadioShow] (April 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfMelwl-XqM