A Conversation With Dom Kane – mau5trap Label Party London

mau5trap artist Dom Kane is a name heard globally in DJ sets from the likes of Dave Seaman, Deadmau5, Orbital, and James Zabiela to name a few, with international radio plays on BBC Radio 1 & Sirius (Pete Tong), Capital FM (Andi Durrant), and Apple Beats 1 (Deadmau5). On Thursday August 22nd he is also scheduled to perform at the mau5trap label party at Village Underground alongside label favorites including I_O, Rinzen, Attlas, Gallya & Ghost Fance. Dance Rebels also had the opportunity to catch up with him before his performance in London too, read below:

Hey Dom, welcome to Dance Rebels! Please introduce yourself; where are you from, and how long have you been working in the music industry for? Hey, thanks! Well I’m a mau5trap artist, producer and sound-designer, and I’m from Cardiff (Wales) but now living in Manchester (England).  I’ve been in the industry professionally for about 15 years now which is crazy when I think about it!

What inspired you to pursue your career in the music industry? What sacrifices have you had to make en-route too, to enable you to be a musician full time? I grew up in a very musical family, my dad was a multi-instrumentalist and my mum is a huge fan of everything from Herbie Hancock to Mauro Picotto.  I don’t think anyone needed to push it onto me, it was an obsession from birth.  I guess in hindsight I sacrificed a fair amount, but never considered it a sacrifice at the time, whether it was relationships, living conditions, or generally owning nice things.  Obviously after 15 years I’m in a somewhat stable position in life and I’m eternally thankful for that, but I could never say any of it was easy at the beginning.

From within the studio you’ve just released your own rework of Underworld’s classic ‘Rez’ via Whartone Records, what sparked the idea for you to do your own take on the track, and how does your version differentiate from the original? Happy with the outcome too? Yeah I’m really pleased with that, I was actually in the middle of a sound-design job and accidentally recreated that Rez lead synth sound and being a huge Underworld fan in the 90s I started playing around with it and put together a little rework for fun, and then thought it would be perfect to play out at some festival gigs I had coming up this summer.  The reaction was huge so out of curiosity I thought I’d get in touch with the original copyright owners and see if I could get clearance for release, and they gave me the green light, which was amazing.  I didn’t want my version to stray too far from the original because I wanted it to pay homage to that, but at the same time because I was writing it with festivals in mind I had to raise the energy levels a fair bit which I’m really happy with as an outcome.

Also, in regards to your music, its already appeared on shows including Sky Sports Super Saturday, Embarrassing Bodies, Celebrity Big Brother and NFL football, if you could personally pick another show for your music to be heard on, what would it be, and why? Well it’s always been a dream of mine to write a bespoke score for a sci-fi film or series, so I think I would have to say something like Stranger Things, even though the score for that is already perfect and nobody could do a better job.

You’re also a sound designer, so it’s pretty obvious you’re clued-up when it comes to production etc, what advice do you have for any young producers, and any top tips too? It’s always a bit of a tough one giving advice to young producers because the industry has changed so much and I know the paths I took into it no longer exist.  However, the best technical advice I could ever give is; Don’t get too worked up in the details.  Use any workstation you’re comfortable with, and limit yourself to a few synths (software or hardware, it doesn’t matter), and learn to master them on their own.  Other than that, just make sure you pick a path where you’ll still be happy to fail.  Nobody chooses to become an overnight sensation, and none of us have any real control over our fame and fortune, so as long as you’re enjoying the ride then nothing else matters.

What plans do you have for the remainder of the year releases wise? I also appreciate your diversity in productions, ranging from Tech House, to Deep House, Prog House and even Techno, do you feel it’s important a producer is diverse, or should they stick to one genre? Thanks, I’ve never really stopped to think about what genre a track is; if it’s good it’s good.  I think my production style and sound design has somewhat of a distinctive theme, which allows me to really just focus on the music rather than the style.  My latest mau5trap EP, Stoic, came out last month and then of course Rez is out this week, and that’s actually it for confirmed dates right now, but I’m hoping to get one more EP out for the end of this year, while I’m currently focusing on getting my first full artist album done to release early (ish) next year.  It’s interesting that you mention a diversity in genres, because so far the album covers all sorts from ambient to techno, as I’ve set myself a clear narrative and the aim is “sci-fi film score meets techno”.

On Thursday August 22nd you’re set to feature on the ‘mau5trap’ event at Village Underground, London, how excited for this event are you? What’s it like being a part of Deadmau5’s artist family? Do you receive any mentoring from him too? It’s so great to have mau5trap come over to the UK this year, and I’m honoured to be a part of it!  One of the great things about being in the mau5trap family is that we all have our own style and creative intent, but we’re all basically fans of each other too, and there’s amazing overlap of sound that none of us can really put our finger on.

How would you describe your DJ style? Do you go in there with a set playlist, or do you prefer to read the crowd and their vibes and go from there and see how your set pans out? Wat are you current top 3 tracks in your sets ATM too? I come from the old school first generation of progressive house DJs, so for me it’s definitely about fluid mixes creating a journey and it’s really the crowd that dictate where that journey goes, so it becomes a shared experience.  I’m not sure I could give a top three tracks because there are so many amazing tracks out there right now, but I’m definitely seeing great reactions from the likes of Lane 8, Township Rebellion, N’to, and all of the artists out there creating new and original melodies.  Real electronic music!

Finally, whats the craziest thing to happen to you in the booth whilst spinning, and in your own words, why should someone buy a ticket for the event? Haha well I once spent 6 months touring Eastern Europe and I can’t even begin to explain some of the things that went on there!  I’ve seen all sorts, from marriage proposals, to 1-deck mixing, police jumping into swimming pools fully clothed, to pyrotechnics in an open air wooden night club on stilts in the middle of a forest and a heatwave.  But you know what?  Nothing beats the sight of smiling faces on the dancefloor, and that’s why you should come to the mau5trap night on the 22^nd!  The line up is a perfect representation of the diversity within one label, offering real electronic music fans an opportunity to experience some absolutely amazing new music amongst like-minded people.  What more could you even ask for?

Tickets to see Dom Kane perform at the mau5trap label party at Lillage Underground, London, on August 22nd are available HERE