Liam Connolly
Liam Connolly's story is rooted in Sheffield, a city that has always taken its electronic music seriously, and in the simple, stubborn idea that a party run with love can become something much bigger. A DJ, producer and promoter, he runs Delve Deeper Recordings as its A&R and manager, and the label grew directly out of the dancefloor.
The Delve Deeper parties have run in Sheffield since 2007, and Connolly still plays them with his co-founder Jenny Fu, putting carefully curated deep and soulful lineups into rooms around the city, from day and night raves to intimate bar sessions. Guests have included Jimpster, Milton Jackson, Shur-i-Kan, Session9's Ben Maxfield, Evans & Waterfall and Neil Hinde of The Lisa Marie Experience, and the series' Mixcloud opened with Solid State marking 25 years behind the decks at a Delve Deeper night in 2013. Among the parties has been a free Tramlines Fringe event at the Mowbray in Kelham Island, a gesture that says a lot about the community spirit behind the brand.
Over the years the label has released music by established producers and rising talent alike, fellow Sheffielder Groove Assassin, Brett Johnson and James Benedict among them.
His own production debut, "Scuba," came out on Delve Deeper in February 2017. It was a nod to the earlier deep-house sound that shaped his love of the music, named in tribute to the Sheffield event of the same name. Dano supplied the remixes, and that was the start of a working friendship that has carried on through shared releases and remixes ever since. Two months later came "Therapy," a raw deep-house track that nodded to the Sheffield influences that shaped him, among them Warp and the club night Therapy, where he often DJ'd. London's Altered Natives and Dallas producer Eric Smith remixed it.
Connolly's personality as an artist is that of a curator first: someone who listens closely, champions other people's music and builds spaces where deep, soulful house can breathe. His productions follow the same instinct, warm, groove-led and respectful of the tradition, with an eye on the dancefloor in front of him.
"Therapy" then became the record that brought Red Melon back. In 2024, after a long pause, the label returned with Dano and Liam Connolly's Therapy Remixes, with Robert Owens, one of the defining voices of Chicago house, lending his deep, soulful vocal to the project. The release was built around The Rhythm Mix.
For a label coming out of a long silence, it was the ideal statement: old friends, a legendary voice, and a Sheffield-to-California partnership built on years of mutual respect. It also says something about how Red Melon works today. The reborn label is less a brand than a network of people who love the same music, and few embody that better than Liam Connolly, a promoter who has spent nearly two decades making sure Sheffield never runs short of deep house.
