We were lucky enough to spend 5 minutes with Dowden and got to know about his life in music and listen to his latest track.

Tell us about your earliest musical memory?
Seeing an acoustic guitar in a store one day, and telling my Mother that I wanted it. Some months later, I opened that as my 12th birthday gift. Which was super exciting for me, because I always wanted to learn a musical instrument and never owned any. I would sometimes play on peoples piano’s, or keyboards, but this memory is the strongest for me as it was very special. It started my journey into music.

At what point in your life did you have that moment where you said to yourself “This is it. This is the type of music I want to create?”
My musical taste has grown quite a bit since I started listening to Electronic Music. I actually started when I was introduced to Dubstep and Drum & Bass. My first event I ever went to was at ‘The Guvernment’ in Toronto, Canada. Witnessing the energy inside the venue was something I’ll never forget. That was the moment I wanted to be apart of this culture and learn how to make the music that was giving that room so much life. I quickly came to enjoy multiple genres, and I moved into Electro House, which led me to Progressive House such as Eric Prydz, deadmau5, Jeremy Olander, etc. I’ve recently landed on the styles that I’ve considered to be shaping the sound that I want to create and play. I still struggle sometimes with identifying my music, because I tend to create music that is very broad as I am still discovering myself as a Producer. The more I write, the closer I get to establishing my “sound”.

In short, I still don’t think I’ve hit that “this is it” in terms of my style because I’m still growing into my exact style that I want to write in my music. But that moment I stepped into that club and felt the energy the entire crowd was sharing, was the moment I wanted to be a Producer & DJ.

Please list some of the most influential albums on your creative outlook and output:
Jeremy Olander’s older unreleased music is something that I reference all the time. I loved the movement and style of so many of his tracks that he never decided to release, but was able to listen to mixes of his to hear them. Another key inspiring artist of mine is Brian Cid. His percussion and synth work is incredibly well done, and it encourages me to be more creative and add more depth to my music.

What key pieces of gear/software are you using to define your sound?
Currently, I’m using Maschine, and Native Instruments A25 to create my sounds inside my DAW, FL Studio. I use NI Massive for a bunch of my sounds, Sylenth1, and a few other stock synths. I’m looking to expand my hardware selection, but with being on the road at the moment it makes things difficult!

What inspires you outside of music? What do you turn to when the creative well runs a little low?
I like to sit outside and meditate to get inspired and motivate myself when I’m feeling writer’s block. Holding myself accountable and forcing myself to wait a bit before jumping back into writing gets me very motivated and I can’t wait to get back in the studio.

What is your opinion on the ever-spreading sub-genre vine? Are there too many? Do you think there’ s perhaps a sub-genre that doesn’t get the attention it deserves?
I am a fan of Sub-Genres, personally. There are so many styles and different ways to write different genres, that I think it makes sense to divide them into different groups. Coming from a DJ, especially – it helps me organize my music efficiently. If I were to ask someone if they like Deep House, they might like artists like Oliver Heldens, but I might be asking about artists like Kora, or Tim Green. It helps to differentiate the styles of different artists by establishing Sub- Genres.

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, what do you prefer?
Both are extremely rewarding and host their own incredible moments, but if I had to choose one it would be creating the music. As amazing at it is to share the energy and vibe of a live crowd, the feelings from writing music really resonates with me. They’re a close tie, but writing takes the win!

As a music artist, it becomes apparent that there is a huge difference between the art and the business. Is there anything about the music scene that you would personally change?
I would definitely change the issue every artist faces – that the business is more important than the artistry. True art sometimes goes unnoticed, and business is more important in this industry than actual talent. You can have new untalented artists make it big while extremely talented artists who have worked for years and years don’t make it anywhere because they don’t know “the right people”. It’s a shame, and it’s a big hurdle most artists face, but it is what it is. I just wish that artistry shined a bit more than it does, and artists who deserve more attention would get it, rather than the ones who just know how to work the business.

Any new or upcoming artists on your radar? Who shouldn’t the world sleep on?
Oh, I have a few artists that I would definitely recommend off the top of my head. Simon Doty, Tim Penner, Dark Arps, and Crimsen. I tried to choose 4 different styled artists, but these are 4 up and comers that deserve more recognition. They are super talented and work very, very hard. Go check them out!

What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
A lot of new music! I’m on the road right now and have tons of time to work on new music so I am very excited about that. I’ll be playing a couple of European dates as well.

Famous last words?
Thank you for inviting me for an interview, and if you’re seeing this, then thank you, too!