“Come to Australia” they said,
“It’ll be fun” they said.
And do you know what, it really was!
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to venture across the globe to the land of kangaroos and sunshine I’m sure you will have noticed a few things. Firstly, people are actually happy, it’s madness. Secondly, food tastes incredible and lastly the drum and bass scenes seem to be thriving, right across the country.
After traveling around for a few weeks I’d have to say that my favourite city was Sydney. Despite crazy lockout laws threatening their night life (which I’m sure we can all relate to right now) i’ve never seen a city more alive, enthusiastic and so full of talent. Local drum and bass nights are organised with the same precision and integrity as major events and local support DJs demonstrate better skills than the headliners. With this is mind it comes as no surprise that local producers are finally starting to gain the recognition they deserve and none more so than Sydney stalwart ‘Dauntless’.
After an epic start to the year with a huge release on Noisia’s label Invisible (‘Geomancy’ Invisible021) Dauntless gained support from every reputable artist in the game making his follow up release a hotly anticipated one to say the least. Just a few short months later and his ‘Muzzle EP’ on the mighty Commercial Suicide has finally dropped and certainly lived up to expectations. With so much going on we took the opportunity to catch up with the man himself and find out a little bit more . . .
Easy Dauntless, thanks for joining us on In Reach today! For those only just discovering your music can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Country: Australia
Location: Sydney
Gender: Male
Relationship: Married – Fez
Pets: Dog- Orpheus
Occupation: Drum and Bass Producer/DJ/Teacher
Labels: Invisible, Commercial Suicide, Dispatch, Skutta, Scientia and a few more I cant talk about yet…. hehehe.
Seriously . . . just a regular bloke from Sydney who makes beats, chills with his wife and dogge.
First of all I’d like to give you a huge big ups on your up coming release on Commercial Suicide, 2016 has been quite a year for you!
Thanks! Yes, it’s been cray cray! I love it and pinch myself all the time . . . Ouch! Its not going to stop! I know it . . . well, not if I can help it.
You kicked things off in May with ‘Geomancy’ on Invisible and you’re about to follow it up with two huge EP’s on both Dispatch Recordings AND Commercial Suicide! How does it feel to have conquered three of the biggest labels in our industry in a matter of months?
Relief!!!!!! Hahahaha, seriously, relief. My wife, Felicite will say 12 years too late, lol but I know she’s really proud of me. I just stuck to my guns and did the hard grind. DnB Production is really really hard (well for me . . . !) so to finally achieve success label wise is one part luck and one part really hard work.
So let’s talk a little about your forthcoming ‘Muzzel EP’ on Commercial Suicide, how long has this been in the making for? Did you go into the studio and thrash it out or sit back and let the tunes come together organically?
The track that started it all was EM Pulse – which is based off the movie The Matrix. A particular scene anyways, I love that movie. Its actually a few years old but I needed to bring it up to 2016. ‘Fate’ and ‘Late Response’ went through a few revisions till they got there. ‘Muzzle’ and ‘Regrets’ were actually written very fast, in a few hours but the mixdowns took the loooooooonnnggggest time. I really wanted to get the mixdowns the best I could at the time. I mean Commercial Suicide is a serious heavyweight label with top notch producers so I had to come with an A-game. Hope I did ok.
Mehhhhh, I dunno about that! 😛 The ‘Muzzle EP’ has a very distinct sound to it, paying homage to (what were in my opinion) the glory days of drum and bass. Was it a conscious decision to write an EP that reflects on the tech step era?
Yes, totally! That was my favourite era no doubt and I wanted bring a bit of that vibe back. Moody, dark, tense, chaotic, etc. A track at the least has to have a vibe. Well, to me anyways.
Speaking of tech step . . . It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of your work and the main reason is the way you manage to incorporate that classic tech step feel into modern drum and bass. What was it that inspired you to work in this way?
Its hard hearing where DnB is now, especially where some of the new tech stuff is going. Most of it has NO F.U.N.K. which is what it was all about for me. Early Break and Konflict was just so damn funky to me. Dancefloor and funky. I was determined to make some music that “I” would play out, that “I” wanted to dance to and bring it in line with 2016/2017.
After listening to the whole release I’d have to say that ‘Muzzle’ is the tune of the EP for me, I just love that gritty, classic Quarantine sound. If you had to choose a favourite track, which would it be and why?
Muzzle is my favourite track for sure. Pulse is a close 2nd though but there are moments in Muzzle that I just love. Maybe it’s the vibe or the cheeky nod to Charlie Break and that time frame. Not sure but to be fair I love them all.
One thing people might not be aware of is that you are (and have been for many years) an instrumental part of Australia’s drum and bass scene. We’ve recently seen some amazing talent emerging from your neck of the woods; yourself, Royalston and Euph to name but a few. What is it about those sunny shores that seems to inspire such talented drum and bass producers?
In Australia we have a really healthy DnB Scene! Not quite as massive as NZ but its really good. There is at least 2 quality gigs on every weekend and some times more! So you are really spoilt for choice. Most styles are represented supported by great Local DJs so I think our scene is finally seeing the fruits of its hard work/suffering. There is plenty of really good quality producers about to emerge from Sydney so watch this space.
So let’s geek out and talk studio for a minute! Are you a hardware or software kind of guy? What synths/plug ins have you been enjoying recently?
I’m software guy but I do have some carefully selected bits of hardware. Virus Polar, Culture Vulture, Moog Voyager, EMU 6400 etc but I love software so much, its just gotten so damn good!
U-HE DIVA. Great Synth!
Valhalla Room is my go to reverb.
UAD/Slate for analog modelling.
Could not live without . . . Access Virus.
If you could give one piece of advice to any budding producer out there what would it be?
Thats easy . . . FINISH MORE MUSIC!
May sound easy but for some it’s not. Wasn’t for me. Took me over 10 years to figure it out. Part of it is a mind set but the other part of it is the grind and how much you really want it.
And lastly, just before we go, who’s killing it for you at the moment? Who should we be watching out for?
Every one is talking about Signal- Mr Dutch wonderboy who is like 17 years old! My God . . .
Anyways, he’s not the only one! Gasp!
Ewol, Corrupted, Synx, Wingz, Sach and Molecular all making quality beats. True talent right there.
Oh yeah, we’ve been enjoying Molecular here at In-Reach HQ too! Thanks for joining us Dauntless! Any shoutouts?
My pleasure!
shouts out to my wife Felicite, Orpheus, Fuj, Sach, Synx, Klute, Ant TC1, Noisa, Phace, Nymfo, Thing, Haunted Science International Crew!
And a personal shoutout to Fuj from all of us here at In-Reach!
So there you have it, don’t waste another second! The Muzzle EP is out now on all reputable download stores so head over and bag yourself a copy. When you’re done with that we have some serious fire in the form of a Dauntless guestmix available to download now! Head over to the In-Reach Soundcloud . . . seriously, why are you still reading this? . . . Go! 😀
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