Underground & Friends - Dale Howard Interview

We’ve developed a bit of a soft spot for Underground & Friends house and techno tour de forces over the summer months. Bringing a swaggering sensibility to Gorilla each month, they’ve managed to catch the zeitgeist of what’s hot in four to the floor grooves with a glittering ensemble of artists that includes jozif, Him_Self_Her and Doctor Dru.

Next week they welcome Swiss doyen Deetron to the party, his meticulously curated beats resplendent of the great American beginnings of electronic music (the phonetic similarity to Detroit of the name is no-coincidence), alongside recent Skiddle Mix contributor Raffa FL (check out his offering here).

Also playing is Dale Howard, a DJ reared in the North West who has gone onto become a driving force in the UK scene as well as starting to make global waves. Releasing on the likes of OFF, Lost my dog and Noir, he’s been making waves for the past 18 months and as a consequence we decided to pin him down to get down to the business of what has been going on in his world.

Hi Dale. How’s the summer been for you so far then?

Hi, summer has been great. Just making music, playing music and seeing the world. You can't really ask for much more than that.

Have you played many festivals at all; if so which ones stood out?

Yea I've played a few in Europe and also England but the one that stood out most for me was Gaasper Pleasure in Amsterdam. Was a really great crowd and atmosphere.

Have you been over in Ibiza much?

I've been over three times so far and played at Sankeys twice. I'm back out twice in September too for Ministry of Sound at Eden so I've been fortunate to get out there so many times this summer.

You’re due to play Underground & Friends shortly in Manchester; how often have you played in the city before and what have your experiences of it been like?

Yea I am, can't wait! It’s a great line up and I know a lot of my friends are coming too so will be good to play closer to home. I've played in Manchester a couple of times before and the crowds there are ace! They really know about house and techno and that's evident in the atmosphere you get at a lot of the nights in the city. There's no better type of crowd to play in front of than one that really understands and appreciates that kind of music.

What other gigs are you looking forward to in the next few weeks?

Well I'm currently in South Africa playing at a couple of venues here. I've heard great things about Truth in Johannesburg so looking forward to that. Other ones that stand out are, as we’ve just discussed, Underground & Friends next week and Soenda indoor festival in Utrecht in November. The videos I've seen for that last one look mental so I can't wait for that!

I'm also playing Studio 80 the same night too, which I’m really happy about. I look forward to all my gigs though, I'd be stupid not to!

What tracks and remixes have you got to look forward to in the upcoming weeks?

Well my latest EP has just come out on Audiojack's 'Gruuv', which I've had a really positive response from. I've got a remix coming out on Morris Audio, an EP on Underground Audio and I'm in the process of finishing off another couple of EP's which I'll give details of once things are finalised :)

What music has excited you then this summer?

Loads! Been playing loads of stuff on Little Helpers, artists like John Dimas, Youandewan, Martinez Brothers, Dark Sky... so, so much music.

And finally, dream situation time. You can go back to any period in clubland history, and play at any club. Who would you have playing alongside you and what tune would you drop that would define the

Studio 54 in NYC when it was at its peak at the end of the seventies.  I'd probably play one of my own tracks to be honest. I'm not going back in time and playing someone else's track!

I'm sure my track would go down like a fart in a lift as well as it was all about disco back then.  Ah well!

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