Seattle's Mike Devlin provides Nightclubber mix...

Seattle’s own Mike Devlin stands at the intersection of meticulous sound design and emotive dancefloor narrative. His evolution from rock guitarist to a deep-diving DJ and producer encapsulates a rare blend of technical craftsmanship and instinctual creativity. Today, his productions emerge from a hybrid studio setup, where digital precision meets tactile spontaneity. Whether starting with a clear concept or simply vibing with his machines, Mike thrives in the unforced, improvisational moments—those studio jams that spark into life within an hour or two.

His sonic signature is a carefully balanced fusion: minimal and groove-led with tinges of acid, electro, and techno, always grounded in a house sensibility. Devlin’s artistic compass was profoundly reset in 2018 after an unexpected encounter with Apollonia at ADE. What began as a detour turned into a defining moment, ushering him into the world of esoteric rhythms and the ‘digger’ ethos. Since then, he's become a dedicated curator of lesser-known gems—deep cuts that reveal themselves slowly and demand attentive ears.

Influenced by the Romanian minimal pioneers—Raresh, Rhadoo, and Petre Inspirescu—Mike values not only their deep crates but their discipline, tension control, and unmistakable identity. It's this blend of preparation, delivery, and integrity that he channels into his own sets and productions.

Rooted in Seattle’s vibrant underground, he’s been both contributor and curator, notably as a resident with the revered Studio 4/4 until 2024. Today, he balances creation with curation, spending equal time in the studio and behind the decks. His sound continues to morph, driven by an insatiable appetite for new textures, new records, and new environments—from Croatia’s Dimensions Festival to Wonderfruit in Thailand. Mike also provided an awesome mix for us, so we thought it a good time to check in with him to learn more…

You’ve been producing for a few years now — what’s your creative process like in the studio?

Today I make music with a hybrid approach, primarily in the DAW and supplemented with some pieces of hardware. 

My strongest ideas are those that come together quickly, in an hour or two. About half of the time I start with an idea in my head which usually ends up going somewhere completely different than the original idea. The other half of the time I enter the studio with a clear mind and have a dialogue with my instruments. I love jamming with no expectations. It’s great fun to work with other producers too, and learn from their process.

I’m always iterating my workflow. I’m a big believer in organization and I try not to reinvent the wheel. 

Most of all, and I truly mean this, I aspire to relax and have fun. I have learned that my best ideas rarely come from a pressure cooker.

How would you describe your sound today, and how has it evolved since you started DJing?

I would say my sound today is somewhere between what you might hear at Sunwaves in Romania and at Houghton in the UK. I love the subtle heat of minimal, and I love fat acid/electro/techno sounds too. I like to keep it relatively housey, and I enjoy the construction and deconstruction of a groove using less obvious building blocks.

A single defining moment in shaping my present sound was my first time seeing Apollonia in 2018 at a single day festival as part of ADE. I had meant to go see Seth Troxler as I was mainly into the Ibiza superclub tech house sound at the time. But I got the set times wrong and Apollonia was playing. I had never heard of them.

My musical palette as a consumer and my musical interests as a creator took a distinct shift that day and I have continued to move towards more esoteric sounds. The way I search for music changed that day too, and I started embodying the digger ethos — I love unearthing lesser known gems. It’s a spectrum and I wouldn’t call myself underground, out of respect for many of my peers who have much headier tastes than I do.

You’ve done a mix for us, which is heavily influenced by the Ro-minimal scene. What is it about that sound, and DJs such as Rhadoo, Petre Inspirescu and Raresh that resonates with you?

Those are three of my biggest influences today, both as individuals and as [a:rpia:r]. I appreciate their dedication to finding lesser known tunes — their preparation. From my observation, digging is a bigger component of ro-minimal than other genres.

It’s equally impressive to witness their decision making and management of tension — their delivery. 

Finally, I’m inspired by their commitment to their values as DJs — their identity. It’s almost like the listener can get to know their personality without having a conversation.

Did you have other inspiration for this mix?

I recently got into the old fabric mix CDs, I’ve only listened to a handful but have really enjoyed them all. Those inspired me to make something that’s cover to cover listenable and fits on a CD. 80 minutes is enough time to take a few turns during the ride.

Can you tell us a bit about your journey from guitarist to DJ and producer? How does one influence the others?

My first love was rock music. I grew up playing in a band with two close friends. We each could play piano, guitar, bass and drums, and we would rotate instruments every few songs. Electric guitar was my main instrument. I’m grateful to have had few distractions during my teenage years so I could dedicate plenty of time to craft. 

In addition to building technical proficiency, I loved building an understanding of sound design — how each component of the signal chain like the amplifier, effects, and guitar materials all influence the final sound. Over the years I built up a small collection of effects pedals, and for performances I remember lugging a half dozen of them all daisy chained together so I could trigger different combinations for different moments. Distortion, of course, and many other effects like chorus, reverb, delay, tremolo, compression, and the iconic wah-wah crybaby effect which I learned is basically a filter sweep. My first interaction with a DAW was when I was 15 — I used Cubase to record my band’s music so we could put it on our MySpace profiles.

All of these experiences of playing in a band are highly complementary to DJing and producing, even though I didn’t have a taste for electronic music at the time.

I credit my formal introduction to the connected worlds of house and techno to a Seattle event promoter named Studio 4/4 which brought proper artists to our city every week for many years. In 2013 I started DJing so I could record mixes of my favorite tunes to listen to myself or share with close friends.

My first original production was a hip hop beat around 2014, although my time spent in production was very inconsistent. There are several years where I didn’t produce at all especially as I dove deep into the local DJing grind. I became a resident DJ at Studio 4/4 in 2018 until we disbanded the collective in 2024.

Today I have a relatively balanced lifestyle centered around the activities I enjoy most. I love to produce music, and I equally love digging for music and playing out. I’ve learned the balance can tilt in response to opportunity.

Seattle has a unique music history — from grunge to underground electronic. How has the city influenced your sound or approach?

Growing up as a guitarist in Seattle, I was inspired by the grunge bands that came before me like Nirvana and Soundgarden, and similarly by Los Angeles’ hard rock / heavy metal like Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen, and Metallica.

As a producer today I still admire the songwriting and arrangements from those bands. And since each of those bands had crazy cool guitar sounds, I’m grateful to have started building knowledge about sound design from a young age.

What’s the electronic music community like in Seattle right now? Can you tell us a bit about your involvement? 

The community in my world is quite strong. I see our strengths as being grounded in genuine relationships, and being abundant with open mindedness. This means there are lots of people to talk to and work with. My scene consists of many independent promoters, no big monopolies in my sphere. The result is great talent in bespoke environments.

I’m close with many of these groups, to shout out a few: Makes Me Human, Between The Lines, and p/m. In just the past couple months we have hosted Margaret Dygas, Mihigh, Gojnea76, Sublee and many more in our city. Since we concluded the Studio 4/4 project last year, I have been focusing on music production more than event production.

Finally, I find visitors have a lot of respect for Seattle as dancers. You would think big headliners on tour might “mail it in” for a Seattle gig. But when I’ve seen international artists play in both a boutique Seattle setting and abroad in a bigger scene, more often than not I find they’ve played more tastefully for us in Seattle. On comparing population sizes alone, you might think it’d be the opposite case, but when you consider the depth and quality of our scene it is highly legitimate.

Are there any unreleased tracks you’re particularly excited to share soon?

I’m less concerned about the administrative process of releasing, and more interested in making music I enjoy. I often share snippets of what I’m working on with my peers and sometimes on my Instagram story, and it’s great to test out tracks in my DJ sets. I usually start a new track every studio day so I have a lot that I’m excited about.

Where do you see your sound going next — are there any new directions you're itching to explore?

My sound as a creator always compliments my interests as a listener. I see my sound continuing to evolve as I discover more great music. This year I’m excited to check out a few new-to-me festivals, Dimensions in Croatia and Wonderfruit in Thailand.

What’s your dream gig or collaboration — someone you’d love to share the stage or studio with?

I have my favorite producers for sure, Shonky and Varhat quickly come to mind. Fortunately I’ve connected with many of my favorite artists through the Seattle scene and through events abroad, so I think it’s more of deciding the time and place rather than a dream. I also want to shout out a few of my production mentors who have been a part of my story: Frank Haag (NL), James Andrew (UK), Jon Lee (Seattle), Eliogold (Seattle).

Keep up with Mike Devlin via Instagram

Listen to Mike’s mix for us below