The Guest House Podcast

SolarTrak aka Ian McGonagle. House Music Producer, Remixer & Dj from Essex, England. Aliases: DJ Makka, HouseFly, FatFly, NUCL3U5 Coming from a musical family background his dad was always a keen guitarist and his older brother was in many bands so at first Ian headed naturally in the direction of band music learning to play the guitar from the early age of 12. It wasn’t until a few years later around the age of 18 when he met his first dj friend and decided he wanted to learn the art of dj’ing. After picking it up relatively quickly he soon swapped his Fender Stratocaster guitar for his first set of turntables. He started off buying some early 90’s house records and quickly fell in love with the new 2 step uk garage sound that was starting to evolve and here his first alias DJ Makka was born. After mixing in his bedroom with friends it wasn’t long before he was approached through a friend by the boss of Essex Pirate radio station Force Fm and here he started his radio journey learning to host and dj his own weekly show. Coming from a musically creative background it was always inevitable that eventually Ian would turn his hand to producing and in 2004 he released his first ever vinyl release a UK Garage rework of a house classic Isha D - Stay. Having no real contacts in the scene he released and distributed the track himself selling over 700 copies. In 2010 after playing on various other pirate radio stations and clubs across London he returned to the station that it all started (Force Fm) but this time under new alias HouseFly. After mixing and producing Uk Garage for 12 years he decided he wanted to return to where it all started with house music and started his new show on Force Fm playing Electro & Progressive house. In 2013 whilst dj’ing at The World Body Painting Festival with friends, his sound was to evolve yet again. After doing some back to back sets with longtime friend Stevie D playing Deep house Ian decided this was the music he wanted to produce and once returning to the uk himself and Stevie D teamed and FatFly was born. After 3 years of working together in clubs, various festivals and a weekly radio show & podcast FatFly had releases on various record labels across the world but both Ian & Stevie mutually decided they wanted to go in different directions. In 2016 SolarTrak was born and quickly after The Guest House Podcast was created giving SolarTrak the platform to showcase his own music as well as playing music from his musical idols and influences. SolarTrak has now had releases on labels such as Notting Hill Records, Where The Hearts is (Brooklyn USA), Songspire Records (Netherlands), Sexy Trash Records (United Kingdom), Champion Records (London UK), Let There Be House Records Plus many more. In 2021 SolarTrak joined local Essex DAB Radio Station BKR Essex but in February 2022 BKR Essex ceased broadcasting. He then took his New Horizons show to Shine 879 DAB and you can now listen to him on there every Friday 12- 2pm on the Essex, North & East London & Southern Ireland DAB Platform or at www.shinedab.com. In 2024 SolarTrak joined forces with Stuart J (The Acid Brothers) and formed their alias NUCL3U5.Producing Rave - Hardcore & Jungle Influenced House Music. You can check out their music at https://nucl3u5.bandcamp.com