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Music

Duke Dumont Gave Me a Weed Fortune Cookie and We Talked About the Illuminati

Duke Dumont has been topping the charts in the UK for the last two years, so obviously some people think he's in the Illuminati.

British DJ Duke Dumont has been eviscerating the UK charts lately, and last year made plenty of noise on critics’ lists with his succulent house throwback, “Need U (100%).” One Pitchfork reviewer was so impressed that she suggested the song’s club remix could “fold over unto itself for an eternity.” All tesseracts and time-space continuum aside, the song was nominated for a “Best Dance Recording” Grammy.

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Pretty much everyone loves the guy: ravers, writers, moms, dads, kittens, orphans—you name it. He’s continued his sexy, vocal-heavy deep house-oriented pop stampede this year with “I Got U” and “Won’t Look Back.” Once again, Duke reached number one on the UK charts with “I Got U,” although not without his share of Youtube poopers on the video. It features a black man who goes into an Oculus Rift-like virtual reality headset and pops up on the other side in Thailand as a white man. Naturally, this stirred a lot of social media controversy, but the video also garnered nearly 70 million views.

“Won’t Look Back” had the ignominious honor of being the only Duke Dumont single to miss the top spot of the UK charts. Instead, it reached number two. And number one on the US Dance charts. For shame, “Won’t Look Back.” It features some of the dopest house vocals you’ll hear in your discotheque spaceship all year.

At III Points music festival in Miami, Duke Dumont is one of the most hotly anticipated performers, and he doesn’t disappoint. I catch a few songs of his 2 AM set before I start passing out from exhaustion in the un-air-conditioned warehouse. They are sexy. They are groovy. I interview him shortly before this, at 12:45 AM. When he comes into the artists’ lounge, he tells me that he digs my shirt, which features a colorful tapestry of cats playing cellos and various other jazz band instruments. I am thrilled that the Duke appreciates some good kitten apparel, and we share a moment.

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Right before the interview begins, Duke hands me a hardcover book called Export/Import Traffic Management and Forwarding by the author Alfred Murr. I’ve been curious about this book, since Duke’s manager has been carrying it around and holding it closely, like it’s a baby. Duke opens the book up, revealing a false compartment filled with joints, condoms, and various other party-starting paraphernalia. He offers me a 75mg weed fortune cookie—cleverly branded as a Fourtwen Cookie—and tells me that it’s mine, because of how much love Noisey’s been showing him. He assures me that this gesture is spur of the moment and unplanned.

Noisey: What’s in this cookie?
Duke Dumont: Weed. But it probably also has a message in it… I can’t eat them. I’m allergic to nuts.

So can you still smoke this or something?
I’m not going to smoke a fortune cookie. I’m not that drunk. But it’s my gift to you. I can’t eat it.

I read that you’re from Harrow. I actually studied in Harrow for a bit at University of Westminster.
Harrow’s fucking grim, isn’t it?

Yeah, there’s nothing there. What do you do there?
Make music. I grew up in South Harrow, which is the bad part of Harrow. But I loved it. I wouldn’t change anything about my upbringing. It’s on the outskirts of London. So it has no real identity. But what I love is that it’s real London. Central London isn’t real London. It’s like Tribeca. Go out to frickin’ New Jersey. That’s the fucking underbelly. And Harrow is the same. There’s no opportunity there. Some parts of Harrow are nice. Winston Churchill went to school in Harrow… but it’s a fucking shithole. It’s made me the man I am.

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Does growing up somewhere less lively and more authentic, as you say, help you evolve as an artist?
Definitely. There’s not a lot of opportunity to get into the line of work I wanted to get into. You do have to fight a little harder to put food on your plate. It’s the least cool place in the world, which actually makes it cool, ironically. I actually applied to go to the Westminster Harrow campus to study commercial music, but I didn’t even get in. Two number ones and a number two on the UK charts now. And I wasn’t good enough for them. I’m not bitter!

The author, left, with Duke Dumont

So you were nominated for a Grammy. Do awards like that matter to you? Or do you just care about the live performance?
First and foremost: the Grammy nomination is fucking great. And I love the recognition. I will still do what I always do, though. I don’t need adulation to keep me going. I rarely check Twitter. I don’t need to see someone say, ‘Oh, you’re great! I love your music.’ Or, “You suck, you’re a fucking cunt.’ I’ve matured enough that neither affects me. With the Grammy it’s a tick on the box. There’s some amazing artists who’ve made some of the most forward thinking music in the world that probably have 20 plays on Soundcloud. You know when you’re doing a good job. You don’t necessarily need the recognition. But when it does come, I do embrace it. From the performance standpoint: Just play good music. I don’t know why a DJ will wave his hands in the air at a certain point in the song. Just play fucking good music. And just represent the corner of what you represent.

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I’d like to ask about the music video for, “I Got U.” I think it’s a very interesting concept, but it seems like some viewers didn’t understand the concept so well and have called it racist.
I’ll tell you a story about that. What was funny is the video was… it had a crazy deadline and was crazy rushed. It’s great that we got the results that we did. The pressure was on. But what happened was Rique, who’s in the videos, we had the idea to bring him to London as the guy who goes into the virtual reality device. However, the parts in Thailand had already been shot. The guy in the virtual reality is noticeably whiter than the guy in the headset.

I’ve read YouTube clips saying ‘Illuminati puppet!’ which refers to me being a preacher of masonic… It’s weird to be called part of the Illuminati and some masonic Poobah or grandmaster. That’s the internet. I love the internet. I love the fact that the Illuminati is completely blown up because of the internet. I love the way that pop stars try to get more power and suggest things to the Illuminati when they probably haven’t got a fucking idea that it’s a Bavarian society started about 300 years ago…They haven’t got a clue what it is. The reality of the video was human error. I actually didn’t notice it [at the time], either. When I got back later, I did notice it and thought, ‘That’s not cool.’ I’m good friends with Rique. I love him. He’s been in all the videos for fuck’s sake.

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So what’s coming up next with Duke Dumont?
Going into next year: Album, live shows, still DJ. Try and live life. Stay healthy. Don’t go too crazy. Don’t go Amanda—How do you pronounced? Bynes? Boynes? Baynes?

Yeah, it’s Bynes.
I’m obsessed. I’m signed up to her.

Did you grow up watching her in “All That”? It’s mindblowing for us Americans because our generation grew up with her. I had the biggest crush on her.
She was like the girl next door. That film where she played the man?

She’s All That. No, wait, She’s the Man!
Yeah, where she played football. That was a confusing film for me. I was at that age where… that’s fucking hilarious. Did you see her Twitter today? Where she accused her dad of doing stuff.

I haven’t. You never know what to believe with that stuff, though.
It’s just like either the best art display ever made or she’s crazy. It’s either genius or she’s crazy.

Last question. Mac DeMarco, Lykke Li, Duke Dumont. There’s a lot of alliterated names at this festival. Can you speak on that?
If you could just define the word alliteration for me.

It’s just, like the repetition of a certain letter or sound. Like the D and D in your name.
Oh, like Coca Cola. It’s an Illuminati conspiracy. I’m knees deep in a Bavarian lodge.

Jonathan Peltz is Noisey's Miami correspondent. Follow Jonathan Peltz on Twitter.