'Mam's the reason I do it' - Laois man building 'Electric Picnic of house music' in America
Portlaoise man Dylan McCabe, alongside co-founder Deniz, set up Broken Sound Records in South Florida this time last year.
A Laois man who moved to America on a soccer scholarship is building one of South Florida's fastest-growing house music brands.
Dylan McCabe (31), alongside co-founder Deniz Dogan (29), set up Broken Sound Records in South Florida this time last year.
Dylan grew up on the Borris Road in Portlaoise and went to primary and secondary school in the town.
He graduated from St Mary’s CBS, with soccer being a huge focus of his for many years. He started with Portlaoise AFC when he was five, and joined Shelbourne FC in Dublin and Athlone Town FC in Athlone for a few years when he was a teenager.
“I played a bit of GAA with Portlaoise too, but my head was always for the soccer,” Dylan said. It’s soccer that took him across the Atlantic when he was offered a scholarship at Lynn University.
He had completed a degree in Event Management at Sligo IT and went to America to do his MBA.
He moved to Boca Raton and eventually met his business partner, Deniz Dogan, while playing soccer.
The two bonded over shared interests, such as sport and music, and ended up travelling to different house music events together.
It was after one of these that they decided to build a scene for the music they liked where they were, rather than having to travel for it. That’s when Broken Sound Records, which is based in Delray Beach in South Florida, was born.
Broken Sound Records hosts “intentional house music events” for elevated crowds. The first event was free and took place in a coffee shop. 50 people showed up, and roughly 50 more tried to get in on the day.
Since then, events have grown exponentially, with the latest event hosting over 1,000 people.
“It just kept going and going and going and going. We did end up doing 10 events in the last year, and then we did a few collabs,” Dylan explained.
None of those collabs have been small either, with some of the biggest names in the States reaching out.
Jetset Pilates and Gelato & Co are just two of those.
They’ve also had sponsorship from Red Bull, Dobel Tequila, and Ketel One, among other “big liquor” sponsors.
“The growth has been really rapid in the last like six months,” Dylan said.
So much so, that he and Deniz have been able to hire a full social media team, which has been described as “the absolute GOATs.”
When events happen, the team does a “full takeover” of a venue and makes it their own, allowing them to continue their expansion across Florida.
The people the events attract are described as “elevated... more professional,” with an average age range of 23 to 40.
The dress code is “cocktail party,” and if you don’t match that vibe, you won’t be allowed to enter.
“We're getting all these nice people, elevated people together, and building the biggest house community,” Dylan said.
While in the process of building that community, the two founders are still working full-time.
Deniz in sales and Dylan in nightlife hospitality, meaning balancing Broken Sound Records and their jobs has been “perfect.”
“Anything that needs to get done during the day is normally what I do, because I'm available during the day, and he's available during the night,” Dylan said.
The two already have plans to expand across the whole of Florida later this year, with a trip to Tampa in October for a Hyrox event.
Broken Sound Records is going to be the host of the official after-party happening once the Hyrox event ends.
Following on from that into 2027, there are a number of dates that cannot be announced yet, but one hope is to host a house “mini-festival,” with roughly 8,000 people at it.
That would be on top of the monthly events.
After years of Dylan and Deniz travelling to Ibiza to hear and experience the music they love, they no longer have to go overseas, as they have created that atmosphere themselves.
Their hope is that one day, people will come from Europe to Florida to see what they have on offer.
The aim is to build “the Electric Picnic of house music” on the East Coast of America.
“I know it's going to happen. I won't stop until it happens,” Dylan said with so much passion you have no choice but to believe him.
Passion will get you so far, but Dylan has experience too.
At the age of just 16, he was event managing and organising 52-seater buses in Portlaoise to go to teenage discos.
He used to get a free ticket to the disco and make about €100 from the buses; a natural in the industry.
It’s not just the experience, the stand-out social media, and the passion that have brought so much success to Broken Sound Records; it’s also the support.
Dylan says his family, in particular his mam Susanne, are his biggest supporters.
“The support and the motivation she’s given me since I was a kid is the reason I’m here at all. She’s quite simply the best in the world. One day she’ll be standing on stage with one of the biggest acts in the world, and that’ll be the proud moment it’s all been building towards,” Dylan said.
“She's the reason I do all this,” he added.
For the Portlaoise native, the journey from organising buses to teenage discos to hosting sold-out events in Florida is proof that the ambition he developed at home can travel a long way.
To keep up to date with Dylan and Deniz, you can follow @brokensound.records on Instagram.