Howtin Belongs to a Generation of Musicians Who Don't Wait to Be Discovered.

Taylor Champlin
7 hours ago
12 min read

Just a year ago, Leo Houghton aka Howtin had never made a song. Today, the 22-year-old producer from Belfast has amassed millions of streams, earned a residency in Dublin, and become one of the most exciting new names in house music.

But our conversation wasn't really about music. It was about what happens when your passion begins to outgrow the life you planned for yourself. About the fear of leaving certainty behind, the discipline of teaching yourself something entirely new, and the quiet confidence it takes to keep creating before anyone else believes in you. In many ways, this isn't just a conversation about becoming a musician. It's about becoming the person you're meant to be.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I wanted to start off by learning a bit more about you. I know you're from Belfast, Ireland, but how old are you?

LEO HOUGHTON: I'm 22. I'm from the countryside. I started making music during my placement year about a year ago. I did engineering in university, but I'm mainly trying to do music now. It's hard to know if it’s going to take off. I was meant to be doing a master's, but I have until September to decide if I want to. It's a big decision.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I'm sure people tell you this all the time, but you're really young. You have time. You can do anything you want to do. If you take the chance, pursue music, and that feels right to you, then I say do it. If you want to do a master's, you can do that at any time. What have your parents said?

LEO HOUGHTON: They’re actually really supportive. I’ve made a bit of money off my songs and that's when they thought maybe this was working. My mom loves house music, 90s, and dance. She's all for it. My dad says, “You can take a couple years out and always come back to your degree.” I'd say I'm probably more apprehensive about the whole decision than they are.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: Why? What is your fear?

LEO HOUGHTON: I've always been really academic. I don't want to waste it. But I know if I just stopped doing music or I didn't put as much effort into the music, I'd live with so much regret. I’m in a weird stage of my life now, but I want to see what happens if I stick with the momentum.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I think that your approach to posting online and how you engage with people is great. I first discovered your music from one of your Instagram reels. It made me laugh, but I also loved the music. I went to your SoundCloud and realized that the song from the video wasn’t a one off. You're really talented. I appreciated that you messaged me your unreleased music and thanked me for the support. I think a lot of people make the mistake of not utilizing that community piece, especially in an authentic way. I feel like you do. What is the music scene like in Belfast?

LEO HOUGHTON: House music and going out is a big thing here. When I started making music, I initially just wanted to DJ, but you can't be a DJ now unless you make music. I’ve never played an instrument or studied music theory. I was just obsessed when I moved away to Edinburgh. That's when I started making music. I listened to some of the old stuff I was making and it was the funniest shit ever. Everything was just completely out of key. I didn't realise. After I came back, I was secretly posting TikToks on these fake accounts. Once it blew up, I told my friends. I’m just genuinely so obsessed with it. I'll wake up and post maybe 10 TikToks. I'll make a song over a couple days and then by the time it comes to promoting it for months, I'm sick of it. It's just a repetition of that, but you have to do it to get the song out.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: People sometimes don't even realize why they're listening to the music that they're listening to. It's just whatever the algorithm tells them is hot. I feel like you're not wrong in promoting your work over and over. The more people hear it, the more they're going to engage with it. Aren't you making multiple songs a day back to back?

LEO HOUGHTON: I think I’ve made 3 a week for the past 5 weeks. I'll go to a coffee shop and once I get a good core progression, it could be an hour before the song's finished. But then you have to wait 3 months to put it out. I'll make a song and then tease it for a couple days. You can tell which song is going to have the best response by the ratio of comments. It'll take a month for labels to be interested. Then once you have a release date, it could be a month or 6 weeks after that. They always push the rest of it back. It's also discussing with other labels and trying to figure out what the best deal is. By the time that comes around, I'll be more interested in the other stuff I’m making at that point in time. I’d say 90% of the songs I make won't be released.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: You're not signed, right?

LEO HOUGHTON: No, I'm not signed, but I've worked with maybe 2 or 3 labels. One of the labels offered a 4 track deal, but I think I'm just better off not being tied to anything at the moment.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I think it's a good approach to stay independent. I feel the people that do have more control over their image and the art that they want to make. You're just getting started.

LEO HOUGHTON: There's definitely a bit of imposter syndrome. It does sort of feel like cheating in a way, but I know it’s just the way you have to do it now. It's a weird time for marketing music.  

Obviously, there's some success in the music, but how much of it is down to posting the TikToks? You wonder if it's more the video versus the song. But then, you'll get people who actually really like the music and they’ll send nice messages.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: Yeah, it definitely is. I think it's even weirder when you’re signed to a label and they require you to make Tiktoks. There's some artists that are shy. Frank Ocean is not hopping on TikTok making promo. Artists never really had to do their own promo in the same way they do now. As somebody who genuinely likes your music, it’s the songs. Some of my favorite musicians are from Ireland. One of my favorite bands is Fontaines, DC. Then obviously, Kneecap, which is also from Belfast; Kettama, one of your biggest inspirations; The Cranberries; Sinead O'Connor. There's a lot. Do you feel like there's something about Irish culture that makes Irish musicians so amazing?

LEO HOUGHTON: Yeah, I think it's a thing here and in Australia as well. There’s a positive connection with being in a small enough place with a drinking and going out culture. Everyone is into house music at the moment here. I think Ireland and Australia are shipping out a lot of amazing musicians. Also, a lot of Irish musicians are more in tune with culture within the country and in the world.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I think that always helps because art obviously draws on culture. I've been seeing you've been getting different gigs. You just did one in Dublin, right?

LEO HOUGHTON:  Yeah, I actually have a residency. I was meant to play the 7 o'clock to 7:45 slot and then three DJs dropped out. So, I just played until half 12. I’m just going to try to do as much of it as I can-especially over the summer.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: How was that? Were you nervous starting to play in front of people?

LEO HOUGHTON: Yeah, I was nervous my USB wasn't going to work, but it was so fun. I was actually surprised people turned up because it was quite early, but it was my first real life interaction. I just want to do as many gigs as possible.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I think that’s great. The more you do, the more people already listening to your music have the opportunity to connect with it in person. With all the music that you're making, do you have plans to drop an EP? When are the unreleased songs like Rottweiler and the Normal People song coming out? It sounds like you have a lot that's unreleased.

LEO HOUGHTON: Yeah, I would be happy to drop an EP. I've got a song coming out soon with this Irish group called 49th & Main. It’s a big dream. After that, I'd love to drop maybe four songs. “It'll Pass” was my first song and it uses a part of the show Fleabag where the main character tells the priest she’s in love with him and he says, “It’ll pass.” I want to get that Normal People song out if I do an EP. The Rottweiler one will probably never come out because it's impossible to clear the EsDeeKid part. I could drop it on SoundCloud. That’s something I want to do more because there's no monetary reward. It's just purely for doing it.  

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: SoundCloud also allows other DJs to play your music. You never know where that could lead to. Where do you feel you draw inspiration from the most? Can it be anything?

LEO HOUGHTON: I think my sound is all over the place, but I don't mind. There'll be days where I can wake up and make chilled out music or a completely summery song. In terms of inspiration, “It'll Pass” was literally from watching TV. I already had the base song, but no vocal. From there, I made a new version with that part downloaded from Youtube. That was definitely real life inspiration just from one moment. It's always just how I'm feeling that day or what makes an impact.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: That makes sense. When you started, you had no formal training. How did you teach yourself?

LEO HOUGHTON: I think the biggest influence was an interview I watched once. It said, “If you want to get better at making music, use your favorite songs by your favorite artists. Put it in Ableton and try to recreate some of their sounds. Keep doing that with different artists that you draw inspiration from. By the end of it, you will have your own sound.” That's how I got inspiration- even people not making house music have had an effect on my sound.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: Who are people outside of Kettama you've done that with?

LEO HOUGHTON: Berlioz for the groovy, jazzy sound. It still has that big piano that you'd find with Kettama. Sometimes, Barry Can't Swim. He's this Scottish guy who does quite jazzy, sort of house music as well. There’s an underlying melancholy feel in a lot of my songs. I don't know where it comes from.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: Maybe that's what makes your songs resonate with a lot of people. Are there any experiences you've had in your own life that you've made a song to?

LEO HOUGHTON: I wouldn't say there's one experience, but I'll realise later in life. I think a good happy song is so hard to write. I think there's much more interest in a sad song than a happy song.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I don't feel sadness in your songs or when I listen to your music. As life goes on, if you do have certain experiences, they will influence you to write certain music. See where that takes you. Before you realized that you wanted to be a DJ, what music made you fall in love with it?

LEO HOUGHTON: I listened to rap for a good 4 years and then moved on to indie and Clairo for a couple of years. As soon as I came to university, I was consistently listening to house music. When I was younger, we had this CD. I didn't really realize what house music was and I didn't recognize any of the songs, but I remember my mom playing the CD while driving us in the car. I found the CD the other week and realized they were all house music songs. I listened to it from when I was 6 to 10 and came back to it when I started university.  

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: That's really cool. Do you know what the name of it was?

LEO HOUGHTON: It was called “Now That's What I Call Music” or something. Definitely a big inspiration.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: You should try to recreate it in some way. That could be really cool. Honestly, never be afraid to show more of your process. What made you decide to start making the type of videos that you make? Recently, they’ve been collage-like.

LEO HOUGHTON: I think it was a lot of trial and error to start. For the first couple months, I was just posting videos on my camera with my friends. Obviously the videos were not going to have any virality. Then I saw a Youtube video one day with good beats and fast cuts. I think I spliced about 3 of these videos together. The first videos were these quote videos.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: The Kettama fake Bible verses.

LEO HOUGHTON: My dad had this book of Chinese proverbs when I was 8. I found it one day when I was back home. I used the one with “Man goes to bed with an itchy bum and wakes up with smelly fingers.” That one did 300k and that's what blew up “It'll Pass”. They generated a lot of momentum on my account at the start. The next step was making more accounts. I have maybe 8 different accounts. I post maybe 2 TikToks per account per day. Over a month, you already have nearly 200 videos with the song. It shows as massive to the label, but it definitely can get mind numbing after a while just posting the TikToks. I want to grow enough that that organically happens.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: You definitely don't need to hire a marketing team because you've got yourself to do that.

LEO HOUGHTON: Labels have started paying accounts with a lot of followers to promote music. Each video guarantees maybe 100K views. A label will pay them maybe 100 or 50 quid. Then I realized I can probably just do that myself. It was just about understanding that part of marketing. Probably one of the biggest things now in terms of blowing up a song is finding a big TikTok with it.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN:  I think that’s genius. Does each account have different videos or the same ones?

LEO HOUGHTON: One of the accounts is called “What's That Song?” or “Niche House Music”, but they're all the same-stupid captions and fast cuts. I'll make a song and then tease it for a couple days. All you need is a couple days. You can tell which song is going to have the best response. There will be 20 TikToks and people will comment, “Track ID?” or ask what the song is. You know by the ratio of comments which song to put out next. There's definitely a bit of imposter syndrome. Obviously, there's some success in the music, but how much of it is down to posting the TikToks? You wonder if it's more the video versus the song. But then, you'll get people who actually really like the music and they’ll send nice messages.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I can tell you as somebody who likes your music, the videos are funny and they're interesting. I like the style that you have, but you genuinely have a following for your music.

LEO HOUGHTON: Yeah, I think I’ll look back on this time as the enjoyable part. This is the first time that I wake up every day with a proper purpose. I would always engage with the skill of making music, but now I have a passion for it. Sometimes posting the TikToks is a bit of a chore, but I’m continuing as long as the drive is there.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN:  Yeah, if you wake up with enough inspiration to make 3 songs every week, then I think that's something that you should follow. Selfishly, I hope you do post on Soundcloud more and put an EP out. I just say go for it. I don't think you should feel bad or doubt yourself if you want to go all in on the music. You have nothing to lose. One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to interview you was to know more about your story because it’s easy to see you have an authentic love for what you’re doing. Developing your own marketing strategy and teaching yourself how to make music from the ground up is your intellectual, academic side. I think you're just using it in a way that is different and feels foreign.

LEO HOUGHTON: The best music I’d make was the day before an assignment. I didn't want to do it. It was a way to distract myself. I made the song I’m releasing now in November the day before one of my big tests. make some of my best music under time limits or even on a train.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I don't think that it's bad to procrastinate with one thing while succeeding in another. Have you heard anything from Kettama so far?

LEO HOUGHTON: No.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I think it's only a matter of time. I think it's healthy in some ways to idolize celebrities or certain figures for the trajectory of their careers, but celebrities are just people. There's nothing that separates you from them in terms of what you're capable of.

LEO HOUGHTON: I think I’m going to have to move away from the Kettama bit. I'm trying to focus on making different music because it's quite saturated at the moment. I think the weirder I can get with the songs, the better.

TAYLOR CHAMPLIN: I definitely think your music is very distinct to you. I truly believe you're the next biggest up in house music. It takes time, but keep going.

LEO HOUGHTON: Thank you.