15 questions with… HERMITUDE

The Australian duo of El Gusto and Dubs have just taken on the world with the single Spotlight with Daniel Bedingfield. Here they talk two decades of music production, from an Atari ST to LA…

- Daniel Bedingfield

Production duo Hermitude – Luke Dubber (aka Dubs) and Angus Stuart (aka El Gusto) – have had major success in their native Australia with singles including HyperParadise and The Buzz. After more than two decades together, they’ve developed a production ethos unique in dance music, which ultimately led them to LA for a session with none other than Daniel Bedingfield…

1 Tell us how you got into music?

El Gusto: “We started playing in bands when we were at school in the Blue Mountains. Luke played piano and I played drums. We both had a real love of hip-hop and electronic music, and then at some point we started hanging out and making some tunes together in that style. Music was always around us growing up; both of our dads are musicians so we had no hope!”

2 When did you become successful?

Dubs: “It was around the time we wrote Hyperparadise. When we wrote that album we made a conscious decision to go into the studio everyday, like a 9-5 vibe. We both had savings we used to live off while we wrote that year and we released it at the beginning of the following year. Making that commitment to fully focus on Hermitude full time was the stepping stone to it becoming something we could both live off.”

3 What is your music philosophy?