Category: TWO years ago, Duke Dumont was a rising house name with a record called The Giver that DJs from Sydney to Ibiza rinsed with fervour. In 2015, you’re just as likely to hear the Londoner on Top 40 radio as you are in a club – his latest string of singles, Need U 100%, Won’t Look Back and I Got U among them, have all been huge crossover hits that soared to number one and two on the UK singles charts.
But Dumont – real name Adam Dyment – is no sell out. His records may be clocking bigger numbers now than they used to, but the man behind them is still every bit as respected, stepping into a curator role as the head of his label Blasé Boys Club and keeping up appearances at the best clubs around the world, all while developing his impressive live show.
This summer, Duke Dumont will make his return to Australia for Stereosonic, where he’ll bring that live show to five cities around the country alongside the likes of Armin, Axwell / Ingrosso and Major Lazer. In the lead-up to his Stereo return, inthemix caught up with dance music’s accidental hitmaker to find out how he balances pop aspirations with a deep down love for house music.
You’ve had a real hot streak over the last couple of years with songs that work well on the dancefloor, but your new one Ocean Drive isn’t really what I’d call a banger. Was the change in pace deliberate?
Oh yeah, I one hundred percent agree. Honestly I think when I made the original version of The Giver it was on an EP series called For Club Play Only, which kind of speaks for itself. It’s basically just trying to make music for the club. Need U (100%) was kind of half way in between – I think the lyrics and the vocals kind of made it a pop song, but the instrumentals certainly made it a club song. Ocean Drive is probably the most pop song I’ve done to date, but the funny thing is that it’s probably the song I’m most proud of. I think it’s definitely part of the next wave of music I’m going to be making, but I’ll never stop making house music. I’ll always make club music at the same time.
Yeah, because your songs have had so much success crossing over into the mainstream. Was that your gameplan?
It wasn’t my gameplan, but I think over time it has become a gameplan. Need U (100%) was an accidental hit record; it started out as almost a club track with a house A cappella. Then I reached out to MNEK and A*M*E and they co-wrote the song with me, which definitely gave it a much more poppy feel. In all honesty, I was a bit scared to step into that territory – into that pop world – but I’m happy that I didn’t succumb to fear and went ahead with it, because it just opened up a whole different world for me.
But over time, with my songs getting played more and more on the radio, I definitely caught the bug and definitely wanted to transcend the DJ world and to try and make some of the best pop music around. My focus right now is trying to write the best songs I possibly can, as opposed to just making club tracks. However, I’ll always continue to make club songs. As long as I DJ, I’ll always make club music.
How much of the stuff you’re working on at the moment is club music and how much is the more pop stuff?
It’s a mix. I really want to finish off a couple on the club EP and at the same time I’ve just got to keep on doing Blasé Boys Club, which is basically the music that would’ve been on an album that has now been split onto smaller records. The reason for that is I don’t want my fans to have to wait every two years to hear new music in an album form, so by doing shorter records, I’ll be getting new music out there every four or five months. It makes me a lot happier doing that and it’s great to have both territories covered. So it gives me the freedom to write whatever music I want.
Going back a bit to your earlier years, were you a big clubber? Is that how you got into dance music in the first place?
Pretty much, yeah. I grew up in London and I was going to nightclubs like Fabric, where I ended up DJing from my early twenties. Fabric gave me my apprenticeship into dance music, because they don’t accept bad DJs at that nightclub. It’s very competitive, you’ve got some of the top DJs in the world there, so you really have to stand up and be good. In the early part of my career I was DJing at Panorama Bar in Berlin, Fabric, The Room in Tokyo — I literally played what I consider to be the best clubs in the world. It gave me such an education to then go on and play big festivals like Stereosonic.
What kind of music were you playing and listening to back in those days? Was it classic house stuff?
It was out and out house, yeah. I kind of like this whole house music revival, but for me it hasn’t really been a new obsession. I’ve been involved in house music for ten years now, so when it suddenly became popular on a mainstream level I was just doing what I had always been doing for the last ten years.
You just mentioned putting out the series of EPs regularly. Am I right in saying that earlier on, the plan was to do an album and you decided against that?
Pretty much, yeah. This EP and the next two EPs are what would’ve been my album but like I said, I just wanted my music to go out to people as quickly as possible. But in all honesty, if anybody buys Blasé Boys Club one, two and three, together that would’ve been an album. I’m really happy with the way it’s been structured as it just gives me the ability to keep on writing music and not have to wait two years before anyone hears it.
You’ve recently moved to L.A. Do you think that that’s dance music ground zero at the moment? Is that the city where everything’s happening now?
I definitely don’t think it’s ground zero for dance music. Dance music, for the foreseeable future, will always be European-centric. I still think Berlin is the epicentre of dance music. However, I do think Los Angeles is the epicentre for music full stop. For me, I grew up in London, I’ve lived there for thirty years of my life. I owe all my culture and experiences musically to London and that will always be within me. But for me, being based in L.A. at this point in my career is going to be important. Essentially given Ocean Drive is my biggest song to do date in America over here. It’s outperformed I Got U, which is quite surprising.
I’ve been given the opportunity to work with some very talented artists from L.A. as well, so I’m going to make the move and be here for like six months and see how it goes — you never know, I might end up back in London or I might stay out here. Could be an interesting six months.
Katie Cunningham is Editor of inthemix. She tweets at @katiecunning.
STEREOSONIC 2015
SYDNEY: Saturday November 28, Sydney Showground
PERTH: Sunday November 29, Claremont Showground
MELBOURNE: Saturday December 5, Melbourne Showgrounds
ADELAIDE: Saturday December 5, Bonython Park
BRISBANE: Sunday December 6, Brisbane Showgrounds
Earthquake Mix: