A brisk, damp rain had descended upon the city of Portland one fine night earlier this month, but the trap beats bursting forth from the Whiskey Bar were blazing enough to warm even the most chilled of patrons. That evening, Los Angeles based Dane Morris, better known as Great Dane, was to close out the night in proper fashion. Known for his eccentric beat-making and overall production prowess, this man has been a force to be reckoned within the industry for years. One of the original creators of the infamous Team Supreme, which has hosted over 150 cypher submission competitions, he’s helped create a platform for up-and-coming producers to put their work on a pedestal. In 2017 he started his own label in the form of ADBC Records, which he has big plans for in 2020. Before he entranced the crowds on the dancefloor, I had the chance to catch up with him and discuss an upcoming tour, album, and plans for 2020, which you’ll find a full transcript of below.
So you’re going on tour with StayLoose in February! Can you tell us what you’re most excited for that?
I’m stoked because StayLoose, even though I’m familiar with his productions, I’ve never met him in person, and he has more traditional live elements in his shows. Like he’s still a DJ obviously, but he incorporates a lot of instruments and live pieces as well, and I’ve never gotten the opportunity to tour with someone like that. That’s ultimately where I’m trying to end up. I’ve dabbled with certain elements of live stuff, but not to the extent that he does. I’m excited to learn from him even though I’m not sure how live this particular tour will be. It’ll just be cool to be able to pick his brain about that kind of stuff.
How did you guys get connected in the first place?
I signed with Madison House and we have the same booking agent. We have the same agent now and when he asked me I was like, absolutely I’m down! It was kind of random when they hit me up, but I respect StayLoose’s music a lot, so I’m really excited overall for this opportunity.
From my background of cool LA bass stuff, it’s a risk to do these emotional pieces. But, I was doing that before I was doing beats, you know…That’s why I want to make an effort to show that to my fans because if someone’s following me and enjoys my music, I hope that they’d want to get to know me more, and that’s really the deeper side of who I am.
Going off of the use of live instrumentation, you actually majored in vocal performance in college, and in one of your older interviews you were talking about how at that point you hadn’t yet gotten a chance to combine the creativity and freedom of your beat-making with the use of your own voice on tracks. Have you since been able to make that work, or do you have plans in the future for attempting to make it work?
I’ve done it a little bit since that interview, most recently on my last album Gamma Ray. On that particular album there’s 4 tracks that include my voice, one of them is called ‘Tokyo Surfer’ and it’s very vocal-focused. A lot of the other tracks I’ve done that have included my voice, my voice has just been an accent, so I’ve definitely been dabbling in it and working up towards it more as of late. On this next EP or album, I’m still not sure what to call it, it’s 8 tracks. I’ve been calling it an album just because all the songs are diverse enough to be called an album, but there’s a track on it that is by far the most vocal-heavy piece I’ve done incorporating my own vocals and I’m a little nervous about it. But, every time I’ve taken a risk like that with a song that I feel might be a little too sensitive, it’s paid off. Like my song with Kayta Grasso ‘Fog and Fear,’ for example, it wasn’t me singing, but it’s really emotional. From my background of cool LA bass stuff, it’s a risk to do these emotional pieces. But, I was doing that before I was doing beats, you know. I was in choir and musical theatre and stuff, so that’s just as true to who I am as being the cool beat-maker guy. That’s why I want to make an effort to show that to the people who listen to my stuff because if someone’s following me and enjoys my music, I hope that they’d want to get to know me more, and that’s really the deeper side of who I am. When I was a kid I thought I was going to be on Broadway, that was my ultimate goal.
My whole life I’ve been a singer and I did it because I was good at it, but as a fan, my music taste at home was quite different. I wasn’t bumping Broadway, you know, I was on LimeWire getting all the freshest Lil Wayne shit, back when Lil Wayne was almost unknown. I’m just a musical person, I love all music, and my main thing that I loved throughout my whole life was rap music, so once I started producing that seemed like the right thing to try to do.
So how did the Broadway singing choir boy turn into the ‘Drop Top’ gangster beat-maker?
My whole life I’ve been a singer and I did it because I was good at it, but as a fan, my music taste at home was quite different. I wasn’t bumping Broadway, you know, I was on LimeWire getting all the freshest Lil Wayne shit, back when Lil Wayne was almost unknown. I’m just a musical person, I love all music, and my main thing that I loved throughout my whole life was rap music, so once I started producing that seemed like the right thing to try to do. I’m not going to go out and try to produce a Broadway song. The music that I have been making with vocals, I feel, like even ‘Fog and Fear’ is very Broadway in a sense. It doesn’t really firmly fit in the category of anything else, it’s theatrical in a sense, over-the-top, emotional. The track I’m doing on this next album, I was kind of hedging my bets, because if I’m going to do this and I’m going to be fully-exposed and sing this song, I could get ripped apart and get made fun of, so I’m going to hedge my bets and put Katya on it because she was on ‘Fog and Fear.’ The first verse is me, and then the second verse is Katya, and she absolutely knocks it out of the park. I think people will really like it. There’s always going to be some people that don’t like the new stuff you put out, but I like it and she likes it, so that’s what I’m focusing on. I listen to that track in particular more than the others, partially because I’m nervous about it, and I think that because I’m nervous about it I’ve really been trying to perfect it, but now it’s officially done and set for release. That one will be titled ‘The Lonely Ones,’ and the whole album will be Delta Fly.
There’s been a lot of talk about Grape Stain online, can you confirm if that is you, and if it was, what your intentions are behind making the separate account?
Yes hahaha, I mean it was never really a big secret, I never openly said I was, but I also did promote it on social media. Grape Stain just goes back to me having fun, it’s a throwback to my old SoundCloud days when I could drop just a bunch of random shit without a ton of scrutiny. Like the track ‘Empire Today’ for example, it’s good, but I definitely wouldn’t put it out through Great Dane. It’s like “meme music,” so I like to make it, but I’m trying to make Great Dane more serious, or at least somewhat serious.
Team Supreme’s been around for 7-8 years and we’ve had lots of big hiatuses, but I always feel like it’s going to come back. People are always really excited when we do end up bringing it back, but as of right now I’m not sure what the next chapter holds.
Can you tell us about the current state of Team Supreme? In the past you’ve mentioned you don’t play as big a role in the day-to-day operations, but you guys haven’t put anything out since Cypher 159. Anything big coming up on the horizon?
It’s kind of on pause at the moment. Everyone’s kind of branching out right now. Preston (Virtual Boy) has really been the lifeblood of it, and he’s been super busy with Icon as well as some health stuff. Recently I’ve had the idea to ask him if I could step in and take a bigger role in it for awhile, but it’s not really my top priority right now either to be honest. Team Supreme’s been around for 7-8 years and we’ve had lots of big hiatuses, but I always feel like it’s going to come back. People are always really excited when we do end up bringing it back, but as of right now I’m not sure what the next chapter holds. It’s tough though man. There’s almost no money in it, so it’s really been out of Preston’s love for it, but it’s understandable that it ends up taking a back seat sometimes. I do have a good feeling Team Supreme will be back, though. We all love and respect him, and when we do get the call we’re all down for the cause, so it’s a matter of time. I really do hope we can make something happen this year, even if it’s just a reunion show or something along those lines.
I wanted to start a label just on my own and basically be like the CEO. So far I haven’t been really active with it, but this year my album is coming out and about a week later we’re going to announce another EP from Samsin. So for 2020 I’m already doing way more for it than I have before, and ADBC is really whatever I make it. Ideally I want it to be a freeform, artistic label that has no agenda or timetable.
Can you tell me about ADBC Records and what’s coming next for that?
For awhile me and Preston were talking about making Team Supreme more along the lines of a label, and I was teaching at Icon Music School at the time, and I really wanted to branch out. Team Supreme has something like a democracy, there’s 17 people included in it, with Preston doing a majority of the work. If we wanted to become a label and put music out, there’s this whole thing where a lot of voices and opinions have to be taken into consideration. Going off of that, I wanted to start a label just on my own and basically be like the CEO. So far I haven’t been really active with it, but this year my album is coming out and about a week later we’re going to announce another EP from Samsin. So for 2020 I’m already doing way more for it than I have before, and ADBC is really whatever I make it. Ideally I want it to be a freeform, artistic label that has no agenda or timetable. For example, the Glitch Mob have their own label that they put most of their music out under, and I like that idea. It makes it somewhat like a home, ya know. We already do the Halloween compilations and we plan on continuing that, and I want to do all my own shit through it. The next step is slowly bringing on other artists, but I don’t want to be thirsty, ya know. Do it just to do it. The reason the Samsin thing happened was because he reached out to me wanting to do it and I was like, “perfect let’s do it, I love your music.” I didn’t like harass him constantly about doing it. He just tells me I want to do it with you and your label. The fact that anyone wanted to do anything on my label is fucking cool, and the fact that it was him was really cool. So, now we’re going to stagger the releases with the first single from my album coming out on the 15th and then Samsin’s will be the following week. His EP will come out before mine because I’m doing a longer campaign, so there’ll be almost back to back ADBC releases in the next few months.
What artists do you believe are currently making the most headway in changing the foundation of the music community, especially in the underground trap scene?
I’m a little biased, so I’m going to have to go with Samsin. I live with aedfx., another would be Jon Casey for sure.
What was the biggest highlight of 2019 for you?
Burning Man. It was so sick. I got to play at Camp Question Mark and those guys had booked me in San Francisco for years so they gave me this prime time slot. The lineup was me, Diplo, Flume, Carmack. Unfortunately Flume was a no-show, he did an apology set later on, but he missed his scheduled set. But that lineup was just like “what the fuck?” Everyone else ended up playing, and it was just overall sick.
I’m not expecting them to go on the radio, I’m just hoping they get people to look to me that have never listened to me before. A lot of people don’t listen to instrumental music, so I made an effort to put a lot of vocals on this album because ultimately I want to be known as an artist, not just a beat-maker. That’s my goal in 2020; to have people look at me a little differently.
What are you looking forward to most in 2020?
I feel like with this album and everything else that’s in the works right now, this is going to be the year I’m going to make the most gains in my career. I mean I want that every year, but with this album I really made the effort to put in a little something for everyone. Half of the album are instrumental beats, and in my opinion some of the best Great Dane beats yet. And the other half of the album is me trying to branch into mainstream rap and hip-hop. I’m hoping that my mainstream attempts go well. I’m not expecting them to go on the radio, I’m just hoping they get people to look to me that have never listened to me before. A lot of people don’t listen to instrumental music, so I made an effort to put a lot of vocals on this album because ultimately I want to be known as an artist, not just a beat-maker. That’s my goal in 2020; to have people look at me a little differently.
If you’re true to yourself, you can’t really fuck up. If you take a risk and do something that’s not really true to you, it could go well, or it could go horribly. I don’t really want to take that risk, I’d rather dig deeper into myself, over riding any wave.
What advice would you give a producer fresh on the scene in 2020 in terms of navigating the community and growing a following?
It’s hard man, I don’t really know. My start was in 2011-2012, so the whole world is different now. I’d just say try to be as original as possible. I’ve taught music for a long time so I’ve seen a lot of beginner production students. And I mean you have to start by copying someone, by sort of copying them because that’s how you get a start with anything really. It’s just the easiest way to learn. To someone new I’d say to try to get over that hump as soon as possible and then build on it with your own style. I think the reason I’ve lasted as long as I have is because I’ve made an effort to be different. I wish I could jump on all the trends, but I’m just not smart enough. I don’t know how to just copy every style, and I feel like it’s a good and bad thing. I feel like I could be further along in my career if I could do that better, ya know, like pick up all the styles that are the current fads. Made some riddim tracks. Make some house tracks. At the end of the day I just have a deeper goal of projecting my artistic vision, and it isn’t rooted in that. My artistic vision is rooted in hip-hop and the things I grew up with, like indie rock and dumb meme shit. As a fan of music I don’t put on a riddim track, so for now to try to do that would be almost disingenuous. I’d rather go towards the things that I’m naturally listening to. Like the album I’m about to put out has a lot of rap on it, and some of the Great Dane fans might be like “why?” ya know. A lot of people don’t listen to that, but I listen to that. So it’s true to me, and that’s why I’m doing it. I want to be true to myself, because I feel like that’s the only way you can’t fuck up. If you’re true to yourself, you can’t really fuck up. If you take a risk and do something that’s not really true to you, it could go well, or it could go horribly. I don’t really want to take that risk, I’d rather dig deeper into myself, over riding any wave. And I’m not talking shit to people that ride waves. Like I said, I wish I could ride waves better. But, I think when I die I want my music to be consistent from start to finish. Not like “Oh in 2019 he started making riddim,” that would be disingenuous. Although I do want to start making some house music. I have made some 4 on the floor tracks in the past, but they’re not like house house music. In the past, I didn’t want to try to make house music, but now that I’ve started listening to it I’ve gotten the urge to want to try it out. I feel like I want to make whatever I’m listening to honestly. So, to end, be as genuine as possible and make stuff that actually resonates with you. Find an artist that you like, and then do something that they didn’t do. Like if you really love Kaytranada, do a Kaytranada type beat, but put your soul onto it. Imprint it so no one will think it’s a Kaytranada beat. Just be yourself.
If there’s anything to be gleamed from speaking to Dane Morris, it’s that he has an immense passion and attention to detail for every aspect of the work he’s currently doing, and the music community as a whole. From home-growing a movement in LA with one of his closest friends, to now spearheading a solo career and blooming his own record label, he should be an inspiration for all those questioning if all their hard work will pay off. I’m happily left an even bigger fan of this man, not only from the masterpiece that Delta Fly will be, but also from knowing it’s coming from a genuine human being that is expressing himself through the avenue that he feels most comfortable. You can check out the first single from Delta Fly, ‘Former Friends’ below, and if you’re itching to catch a live show, he’ll be on tour with StayLoose in February which you can get tickets here.
