1. Hi Elian, great to speak with you. You grew up and currently live in Austria. Could you tell us more about your early musical influences growing up there?

It was around the millennium when I was starting in the DJ business in Vienna. There where rave parties  in and around Austria and I remember there was no record under 140bpm
Illegal parties and raves at the huge Gasometer (original build in the 1896 for keeping gas for the city of Vienna – now people are living inside) and others similar like Warehouse parties in the UK shaped the community, the raving society and me.

2. When and why did you decide to start DJing and producing electronic music, and how did you set about making it your occupation?

I grew up in the 80s with electro and synth pop and the 4 to the floor beat. Before I started going to raves my first experience in the nightlife was going into clubs and discos, listening to commercial dance music. I always watched the DJ while he was mixing and I thought “I can do it better”. At this time I had just enough money to buy one Technics 1210MK2. I had one record player and a CD player from my father at home, both of course without pitch control and a really cheap mixer. I was able to record my first tapes for friends with this setup. Then I started playing records for friends at private parties, but I was far far away from producing music at this point. It needed 10 years from then before I decided to make a business with making music and I started producing and releasing music on my own label Navida Records.

“Hey, we need a clean version, can you send it in one hour?” I was in the middle of nowhere on the hill with my snowboard and was screaming…

3. Can you tell us how you got in contact with Huambo Records in regards to your new ‘Oger’ EP that recently dropped?

At that Moment I decide to go back with my sound I prepared a nice showcase for the ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event) with the mission to get a minimum of 4 of my 8 tracks released on a label. I was pretty nervous but motivated by it all. I had a official registration and checked the database for labels and PR agencies for possible meetings. Meanwhile I started preparing my Soundcloud profile and thought it would might be good to check the Beatport Top 100 before.

At this time I noticed that some of the smaller labels were searching for a “newcomer” and wanted to get some fresh and motivated talents.. I wrote to Vagabond and Huambo and some others but these two believed in me and my music and released my first eps after my debut ‘Y’all’ on Seveneves Records. I was really happy cause Vagabond choose two really nice and matching tracks. Bari EP got into the ‘Deep Tech Beatport Top 100’ and in the first week in the Top 20.

Huambo took my secret bomb “Oger”with the very nice ‘Movin’ tech house Clubtool. After those label deals Amsterdam was just fun and every strain was blown away.

4. Congrats on the support from Pete Tong, how did you feel when the man himself played your ‘Movin’ track on his show?

Oh, what an honour it was that Pete played it 2 times in a row! I remember I was on the mountains when Joel my PR Manager from Dispersion texted me on WhatsApp “Hey, we need a clean version, can you send it in one hour?” I was in the middle of nowhere on the hill with my snowboard and was screaming “Oh My God” The first ‘clean version’ without the bad f**** words where made from him or his team, I really don’t know, but the next week I sent it over and yes, he did it again. I am still smiling when I remember these moments.

5. Can you go into a bit of detail on your creative approaches in the studio surrounding this EP?

Together with my studio partner we always do a jam session before we decide to work on a idea. For ‘Movin’ we had that nice groove and vocal cuts, and the break was in the making when I told my Phil about that interview from Moodyman I was watching the previous day and if that could fit into the break. 1, 2, 3 and we fixed it! There was the missing magic in the break. You should always go with the flow but we had a lot of sessions where nothing happened too, a lot of tracks and demos nobody was listening to but luckily not ‘Movin’. Of course you need to have the right label for a release and I was really happy that Huambo have chosen these 2 Tracks together. By the way, for ‘Oger’, that was just one session, we worked on it for a day, that’s it.

6. Could you tell us your essential bits of studio kit you couldn’t live without?

I started with Reason, did my first steps on the stand alone DAW. After my 6 months EMP SAE Institute I tried Cubase (at this time there where no tutorials on youtube, hahaha) side chain compression was not just a click here and there and that’s it, it was a complicated routing process. Then I met my former studio partner Daniel and he worked with Logic so I decided to work in my home studio with Logic as well. For my current alter ego Elian Dust I found a brilliant partner. New sounds where born, my creativity and his technical understanding.. but he is working with Ableton hahaha. But we found a solution where I can work out ideas on Logic, send them over and we finish the project on Ableton. Oh, my essential bits of studio kit? I love working with Geist for nice grooves and …

7 . The snowy mountains on your Instagram posts look incredible! Could you tell us a bit more about what you got up to during the winter season?

As you know maybe I am resident DJ at the Vienna City Beach Club in Summer. In Winter usually we have a lot of snow in the mountains. The traditional ‘Apres Ski’ has changed over the last years and more DJ’s are playing deep and tech house beats. Let me say the concept is like the beach club parties in Summer but now they do it in the mountains in the Winter. I was playing for the first time at the wonderful Holzhotel Forsthofalm, where the pictures were taken. When I am not on in the mountains I play in and around Vienna of course.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Elian Dust (@eliandust) on Feb 5, 2019 at 5:29am PST

8. Over the years of performing as a prominent DJ around many great clubs and festivals, where have been your favourite performances and why were they special to you?

Playing in my hometown Vienna is always great, my friends get to come over, we have some drinks and at the end I can sleep in my own bed. One of the highlights are the festivals of course but also the Open Air Events at my residency in the Vienna City Beach Club. Imaging a place, with sand, next to the new Danube, blue clear water (the water from the new Danube is best quality, you can drink if you want) and the best open air Soundsystem in Vienna. Great open minded crowd and a really nice team. Every night is magic and if the weather is fine at night its like in Ibiza, trust me

9. You must have incredible momentum pushing forward off the back of this ‘Oger’ EP after securing yourself some amazing support. What can we expect from you over the rest of the year?

My next EP is coming on Juicy Music. I’ve known Robbie, the living House legend from Miami, for a long time. I played on some Juicy Events and released Electro House 10 years ago on his label. Now he’s got 2 exclusive tracks, perfect for his label. Candyman and Call Saul. I try to live my dream and move straight forward, I love music and making grooves and sounds, working in the studio and meeting new people. I think I can say I found my life’s content.

Follow Elian Dust’s socials:
Facebook / Soundcloud / Instagram