Restlessness is often the propellant for pushing artistic boundaries. Grammy-award winning Techno wunderkind Dubfire is never one to rest on his laurels, and his new show Live:HYBRID is a testament to this. With the aid of Volvox Labs Studio, he’s created a magnificent custom-made audio visual performance which debuted two years ago at ADE. In anticipation of his show at this year’s Freaky Deaky, Dubfire was kind enough to chat with 5 Magazine:
I see that you grew up playing in different bands all your life. Have you considered perhaps doing that again and coming around full circle?
Haha yes many times! Especially with Jesse Skeens from Death from Above 1979/MSTRKRFT. It boils down to him and I making a commitment to it and then taking the lead to lock in the other musicians. Daniel Kessler from Interpol has become quite a good friend over the years so I’m sure that I could twist his arm to lend his guitar and songwriting chops! I’m also quote close with David J and Daniel Ash from Bauhaus/Love & Rockets so they would likely be up for it. Most recently I had a chat with Skin from Skunk Anansie about this project and she’s def up for it. As you can see I’ve been thinking about it lol! So we’ll see 🙂
What are the good things and the challenges with your HYBRID live sets? And is it very different for each show?
First and foremost it’s been amazing to put together a one hour show with a selection of my original music and remixes from over the years, totally reworked and backed up by full, cutting edge production. While I love DJing for a variety of reasons, the live show puts the focus on my own material which I enjoy. The challenges in bringing this level of production into our underground techno scene are too numerous to mention here but include budget constraints, production logistics and simply getting certain promoters and festivals to get behind it. It ultimately serves to raise the bar of live performance and production quality within my genre.
I love the trailer for the upcoming documentary on you. Is there a scheduled release date? How long did the crew film you for?
Thank you! The filmmakers worked very hard on the film, beginning to film around 2013 and ending as recently as November 2015. I hope that it’s an inspiring story for others who dream of a career in music… that through hard work and sacrifice, creative and financial success is possible. But it’s also a cautionary tale that no matter how much money or fame you have, if you are not creatively stimulated, challenged and motivated, if your growth is stifled for some reason, then you are at a standstill and need to find a new way forward, even if that involves considerable risk or a step into uncharted territory.
It’s honest in every way and it really portrays the job that I’m doing as accurately as possible. There are numerous candid interviews from many of the leaders of our industry and I hope that by seeing Above Ground Level, people will not only feel inspired to pursue their dreams, but ultimately understand how much work actually goes into that journey.
Anything you’re looking forward to doing while in Chicago albeit briefly? 🙂
Unfortunately I won’t have much time for anything other than hotel, soundcheck and crew dinner 🙁 But I’m looking forward to being back at Freaky Deaky and armed with the live show this time!
Tell us what new projects you have coming up that we can look out for?
My focus this year was mainly on diving into my debut artist album – which I have competed a few tracks for – so that will be an evolving work in progress. There was also the Audion “Mouth to Mouth” remix which was terribly difficult to do as it is such an iconic track but I was very happy with what I achieved creatively there. Miss Kittin and I have completed the follow-up to “Exit,” entitled “Ride” that will be the lead single from a forthcoming retrospective album, HYBRID: A Decade of Dubfire spanning my entire musical output as a solo artist over the past 10 years and both should surface sometime this fall. Before that however there will be the final single, “Humano,” from Oliver Huntemann and I along with another retrospective of our collaborative work together which should be out in September titled simply, Retrospectivo. And there are numerous remix projects that have been piling up which I need to dive into now that the summer is behind me. So it’s looking to be another busy year!
Dubfire will be doing his live show HYBRID at Freaky Deaky on Saturday, Oct. 29th from 9:30-11pm on the Crypt stage.
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