Cyril Riley: The rise and rise of CYRIL, the Palmerston DJ taking Australia, and the world, by storm
Fame happened slowly then all at once for a Palmerston producer in his twenties, who, on the cusp of his first European tour, has spoken to the NT News about his meteoric rise.
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“Gradually, then suddenly.”
This aphorism, known as Hemingway’s Law of Motion, was originally coined in the author’s novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’ and occurs in the context of a character responding to the question of how he became bankrupt.
Hemingway’s law is a perfect descriptor for the meteoric rise of Durack producer Cyril Riley, who performs under the moniker CYRIL.
The Palmerston DJ, who relocated to the Top End five years ago after obtaining an Aboriginal scholarship at Charles Darwin University to study a Bachelor of Education Secondary, specialising in music and visual arts, first picked up a guitar at the age of two.
He got into production at the age of 12 and for the past six years, has been releasing remixes on SoundCloud – the bedroom producers’ platform of choice – as CYRIL.
Countless hours spent honing his craft, making tiny ripples in the depths of the internet, suddenly morphed into a starburst of renown when he released Stumblin’ In, a remix of the 1978 classic by Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro.
His remix has now spent five weeks at number one on the Australian radio charts – it also charted in Germany, Poland, New Zealand and elsewhere – and racked up more than 110 million Spotify streams.
CYRIL will shortly embark on a three-week European tour and will return to the continent in August to play at Austria’s Frequency festival, headlined by Ed Sheeran.
“I don’t feel changed at all [by fame]. I’ve always produced, always DJed, at places like Motel Loco and Discovery” he said.
“Going on the Today Show and speaking to the NT News, that’s a bit different.
“But it just feels like I’m doing same day-to-day thing, I’m still in the studio 16 hours a day.”
CYRIL said his small-town upbringing in New South Wales’ Euabalong (population 125) is to blame for his gravitation towards classic pop – his other runaway hit is a remix of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence.
“We didn’t have phones or social media – it was all about CDs, old records and tapes,” CYRIL said.
“Mostly tapes – CDs were out but we didn’t have them out at Euabalong.
“I didn’t grow up on Pitbull [an American rapper frequently the subject of internet memes].
“I do like the new stuff, but the old stuff has that nostalgic value for me.”
Despite becoming a global sensation, CYRIL said he has no plans to leave the Territory for somewhere more glamorous.
“It’s nice and quiet,” he said.
“I’m going to buy a house at Howard Springs later this year.”
CYRIL will release an EP of original songs in mid-2024, and is headlining the Palmerston Youth Festival’s Wrap Up Festival on July 12.
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Originally published as Cyril Riley: The rise and rise of CYRIL, the Palmerston DJ taking Australia, and the world, by storm
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