Music 24/7 – Dylan Smyth

Born and brought up in Holywood, Dylan left Sullivan after his GCSEs in 2020 to study for a Level 3 BTEC National Extended Diploma in Music Performance - the equivalent to 3 A-Levels - at Belfast Met.

The wide-ranging music course is full-time, but Dylan is also studying for an A-Level in Business Studies on the side.

“Music is definitely my passion but I feel like it’s also a good idea to have a Plan B. After all, business applies to everything in life and I really enjoyed the Business Studies class in Sullivan.”

Studying music at Belfast Met, where he’s in a small class of just 20 students, he has seen his skills improve.

“Before, I could dabble on the piano and play a bit of guitar, I can now play bass and have really improved my piano and guitar, I can play a steady beat on the drums and have really developed my skills in song-writing.

I’ve found that I’ve been opened up to so much diversity at Belfast Met, in terms of music tastes. Everyone in the class likes something different, pop, rock, metal, even rap and country and we’re constantly jamming and playing music together so you pick things up on an instrument  by someone showing you how to play or asking if you want to have a go”.

In addition to his studies, Dylan is the frontman in a band called 24/7.

They formed over lockdown when Dylan was introduced by a mutual friend to guitarist Chris who was a pupil at Lagan College. They began playing covers together and gradually began song-writing and then drummer Ethan joined the group.

“It all came together very easily. We were all 15 and just wanted to play music together.”

Fast forward a couple of years and post-Covid, the band are still going strong.

Dylan and his bandmates

“In the past year we’ve put out 2 singles, 3 music videos and over the summer we released our debut EP with 4 original songs and have supported that with quite a few gigs and performances".

The production of these has included some other former and current Sullivan pupils who’ve worked on the videos and the music, while Dylan has directed the music videos himself.

“There’s so much musical and artistic talent in Sullivan” said Dylan.

The band’s music is distributed online through channels such as Spotify, Itunes as well as YouTube and 24/7’s recent gigs have included well-known venues such as the Ulster Sports Club, the Sunflower, the Atlantic Bar in Portrush as well as a festival in CS Lewis Square.

“We’re always trying to get a crowd together, to get out name out there.”

So how does Dylan manage the performing with the studying and coursework?

“It’s a juggle, I’m quite organised but it’s hard to get the balance right. You can’t always predict things with music, I don’t know when I’m going to get an idea for a song or suddenly find the right note”.

A number of the band’s songs have been played on local radio and Eve Blair has interviewed the band for her show on BBc Radio Ulster. Dylan has even done an interview with a Canadian radio station, set up via a family connection. The band were also nominees for the ‘NI Music Prize - Best Music Video’ for the music video for their single ‘Tonight’.

For Dylan, and aside from the band, he hopes to finish his course at Belfast Met and go on to study the Music Performance degree at Queen's University Belfast which will also open up a whole new avenue connection and possibilities.

The degree is a course that focuses on practice and is aimed primarily at students who wish to pursue a professional career in performance.

As well as experience of performing, students develop skills around the use of technology in performance and the teaching is delivered by a team of dedicated staff with a wide ranging expertise covering music performance, improvisation, composition and audio engineering. 

And as for the end goal? Well, ultimately that is to become a successful recording act.

“Hopefully we get signed by a management company or record label, although everyone says that's when the hard work really starts!

In the meantime we have to keep on writing good music. Northern Ireland may be small but is a great place to build up your name – everyone knows everyone and there are lots of good connections which can be very helpful”.

If you want to check out some of 24/7s music, click the links below.

Tonight - Official Music Video

Until You Liked Me - Official Music Video

Happy Ever After - Official Music Video

Spotify Artist Channel

Good luck to Dylan and the band!