Darude is a name that needs no introduction. Turn of the century hit ‘Sandstorm’ became a global trance emblem smashing over 600 million worldwide streams and hailed as ‘one of the most iconic dance tracks of all time.’ Further chart-topping success would prevail in singles such as ‘Music’ and ‘Next to You’ taken from the 3x Finnish Grammy Award winner’s first of four exemplary studio albums. Tomorrowland, Parookaville, and Dreamstate SoCal are just a few of the world-class line-ups Darude has donned. In 2019 the DJ/producer had the honour of representing his homeland Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest live music event on the planet.
Now the definitive dance music icon Darude returns with riotous new anthem ‘Outlaws,’ his first single in over three years. Calling on House Body and vocalist Oskr, ‘Outlaws’ is the debut release to land on Darude’s freshly launched Vibing Out imprint.
We grabbed the opportunity to chat with Darude about his new single ‘Outlaws’, the launch of the Vibing Out label, and even got his insight on how to enter the industry for those eager to following in his footsteps.
Congratulations on ‘Outlaws.’ Talk to us about your new release, what’s the inspiration behind the single? How did you come to collaborate with Oskr and House Body?
Thank you! I really love the single ‘Outlaws’ but I think I love the origin story of how the track came to be at least as much: I visited my friend, Jaakko Manninen, a.k.a. House Body in California and we hung out in the studio and started just started having some fun. We were talking like “OK so we are both dads, we’re both husbands, we work hard and we don’t get to play too hard too often, so what would we want to listen to if we went out to a rave like we used to?” We started throwing ideas back and forth and began working on these distorted 909 drumbeats, stabby techno sounds and some other retro or rave-nodding things. Jaakko played a little guitar lick on top of my anthemic synth chord progression in the breakdown and we got an instrumental done in that one session. About a year later and I reached out to Oskari, who is a Finnish singer- songwriter-producer and I asked him to get involved in the track. He said he loved the vibe and just a couple of days he returned the vocals for me and literally, I wept in my studio, because he had really nailed the idea of ‘the old gang back together again” Oskr absolutely smashed it! I mixed and finalised the track with his vocals and I’m so happy with the final sound.
What’s the vision for your new label Vibing Out? And do you have any further releases in the pipeline for the coming months under the imprint?
The music industry, and the commercialism of it, tends to skew how and why you make music, and with my own record label, I’m taking some of the power back. I want to make music purely for me – for the enjoyment of the creation process and the tinkering. With that said, I’m not saying there aren’t some business realities in play when making music and touring as a full-time job.
While the pandemic, of course, wasn’t a tough experience for many and had a a lasting impact, one silver lining for me was that after the initial shock, it allowed me to just make music. To make music and not think of the next gig where I’d play the latest track and need to get the biggest crowd reaction with the biggest drop. I played my Vibing Out DJ set streams every Friday on Twitch during the pandemic (and still do, when not touring) and I realised people enjoyed the mellower stuff, as well as pure 138 bpm trance bangers. They liked me veering off from my usual sound and that affected me in a good way – sort of allowed me space to try out new sounds and not just think about a track’s dance floor effect. I’ve made slower and deeper house tracks, various trance numbers, some pop-ish stuff and drum’n’bass, for instance, in the last couple of years and it’s been great fun. You can expect to see a lot more from me under the imprint – we’ve got some exciting things in the pipeline!
Can you name some DJ/producers on your radar at the moment that you think we should be checking out?
I’d first name my Finnish brothers and sisters like Lumïsade, Orkidea, Super8 & Tab, Orion, Tony Rex, Milla Lehto, Tom Fall, Kajis I have a ton of names that have great tracks that I play, like Dan Stone, John Grand, Roman Messer, Ahmed Helmy, Adip Kiyoi
What advice would you give to DJs and producers looking to get their foot in the door in today’s industry? Any key skills or traits that you believe are vital?
Don’t be an a**hole. Be active, create great productions and try to get them heard by local DJs to build a local fan base, or grow your circle of friends and colleagues online. It starts from somewhere small, and grows as you work, work, work. Don’t expect quick success. Don’t try to work for money and fame, do it for the love of music, for the love of tinkering in the studio, or for writing the most beautiful melodies or lyrics. When you’re good and genuine, people will feel that.
Orion, a Finnish colleague of mine, does lectures about music industry and his students are usually pretty discouraged at first, but get it later, when he says “I hope none of you become a quick online sensation, but that you work hard and get success in the ten-year mark or so”. His point is that once you put the hours in, get really good and THEN hit it big, you’re ready for it. You’ve got other tracks to put out and you’re probably (hopefully) humble and know what went into it. You know the work that is still ahead of you to maintain and build on what you’ve now achieved.
In the spirit of ‘Outlaws,’ can you tell us a rebellious story/anecdote as a teen, party-goer, or perhaps even in recent times?
Haha, nah, I’ve always been a bit on the mellow side, I think… But I DID go skateboarding in a little questionable place a while ago, jumping the fence and all.
For anyone who wants to join you on the dancefloor, what gigs do you have coming up?
These coming months I’ll be touring and promoting my new music and label likely wearing Vibing Out logos with a smile everywhere. There are shows across Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden and USA, in my calendar right now. We’ll share my tour dates on my socials and they can also be found at darude.com
Festival season is right around the corner, do you have any must-have items for on the road/home comforts that you travel with?
I don’t think I have anything that interesting… I rely on my iPhone and Apple Watch when I travel. They’re where all my info is and of course for communication, too. I carry a nice neck pillow for those on-the-go naps and I swear by compression socks on long flights, too. If I’m not sleeping on a flight, I’ll be working on a track on my laptop or catching up on emails, or, on occasion taking part in a WhatsApp group chat with my peers on production or sharing the rigours of the road with like-minded people.
Finally, what are you most excited for in 2023?
2023 is the first full year for me post-pandemic, so I crave to tour and feel close to the crowd once again. I’m VERY excited to play not just ‘Outlaws’, but several new tracks for the live crowds all over the planet and obviously will be pushing the new label and looking for new talent for it as well! Stay tuned.