2023 feels like a game-changer year for many of the artists we at FUXWITHIT have been carefully following. Those who already made a breakthrough (musically speaking) are now releasing full-length albums, playing more shows than ever, or even touring, while legions of producers who so far had given us a glimpse of potential are finally blossoming, leveling their music and careers.
Despite being an old acquaintance, Darby was one of the acts that most caught my attention in the last six months. With the debut of his ‘CRUSH era’, named after his brand new EP released via bitbird, the Australian producer has relaunched his project by displaying a new maturity and mindset, managing to stand out in both the crowded social media and streaming landscapes.
His own declination of the trending Garage sound, flavoured by Darby’s distinctive pop sensibility, arrived with impeccable timing, as did his communicative approach structured in a smart, entertaining, and terribly honest manner. In this interview I wanted to talk about this “new version” of himself, the foundations on which he built the well-deserved success of CRUSH, how his UKG fixation came about, and more. Enjoy the read as well as Darby’s exclusive high-energy guest mix, spiced up with unreleased music by himself, OOTORO, Moore Kismet, and Phrva.
We have been following you for several years now, and we can’t unsee that you’re having the time of your life at the moment. You’re making your best music, support from friends, fans and curators is massive and you seem more self-confident than ever. How are you processing all this?
It’s satisfying, I promised myself I’d work harder than I ever have before at the start of this year. I like to think of it as me being my own biggest fan, learning that self-confidence has paid off a ton, you really need to believe in yourself before anyone else.
At the epicentre of this momentum, there’s your brand new EP, CRUSH. I was very fascinated to read that this project was born out as an answer to your anxiety and burnout, concepts that clash with the joyous and exuberant nature of CRUSH. How did you manage to create music so different from your mood at the time?
Music needs to be fun, CRUSH was all about finding a constant amongst the chaos so I fought really hard to make sure this project was a colourful high-energy experience.
Talking about CRUSH, there are two major aspects I want to explore. First of all, the strong UKG influences on the EP and all your most recent creations. How and when did your record with the genre begin? Do you have specific artists in that scene you look up to?
The defining shows were probably Salute’s 2022 Melbourne Boiler Room and a Sammy Virji show I was behind the decks in December last year. I moved to inner-city Melbourne last year and finally had some quality house/garage shows around me. The UKG scene is mad fun, such good energy and culture.
I want my listeners to have a personal emotional connection to the music so I think it’s important to be super authentic with everything I do.
The second detail I couldn’t help but notice is how much you put your face and yourself as a person on the front line in the promotion of the EP. You’ve never been a shy or elusive type (on social media), but in this CRUSH era you leveled up your game with lots of photoshooting and videos. Was it a spontaneous evolution or was exposing yourself so much an uphill process?
It kinda matched the desire to be more confident in my music. Artists like Fred Again.. and Skrillex sorta proved that modern electronic branding requires a relatable character. I want my listeners to have a personal emotional connection to the music so I think it’s important to be super authentic with everything I do. On top of that if I want to be some big famous act I’ve gotta play the part, so I’ll continue with high-quality visuals for sure.
The collaborative aspect of your creative process is another thing you’ve spoken about several times. As examples, I could mention your tweets of appreciation for your team or public praises to everyone who worked with you on the EP. How important have these relationships been for the development of CRUSH and your artistic growth?
I absolutely love my team: my manager, visual artists, songwriters, collaborators, photographers, editors, and friends. They all challenge me to make the Darby project the best it can be. It’s naive to think I could’ve accomplished this all on my own so I try to acknowledge all the extremely talented people who make things like CRUSH possible.
Australia’s chill, the US feels very competitive and clique-y whereas Australia feels more like a bunch of mates who just love music
The video of you b2b Yash Bansal b2b What So Not at a random house party has been one of my favorite social media moments of the summer. From an external point of view, in terms of talent, the Australian electronic scene seems to be in a healthy situation with both globally successful artists, new faces in the limelight, and a buzzing underground. What is the situation like in terms of events, clubs, media support, and opportunities for emerging artists?
Australia’s chill, the US feels very competitive and clique-y whereas Australia feels more like a bunch of mates who just love music. The clubbing/festival scene is a lot less serious; think Fisher, Flume, Luude, What So Not or any other personality we export, they’re all super down-to-earth party people. The media/promoters out here can tend to “miss” a large amount of the talented acts, but I think it’s literally just due to our scene being too good. Australia remains such a massive internationally praised scene for good reason, I’m starting to make my own impact here too.
Let’s go trivial for a moment: you are tasked to curate a club night of all Aussie artists, who do you book?
I’ll put you on to some people on the come-up out here who deserve more limelight: Club Angel, Knoir, Yash Bansal, Boy In Nature, Pao, Equator & Harry Hayes.
Your Skrillex remixes did very well on SoundCloud and both got live support over the summer if I remember correctly. Do you have more bootlegs in the pipeline?
No Soundcloud dub stuff until early next year… I’m saving it.
I wrote down a motto for “embracing the chaos” at the start of the year, but it manifested into me not caring as much what other people think. Instead of making all these fake excuses I put my head down and got to work.
You named 2022 as “your growth year”. How would you define 2023 so far?
I wrote down a motto for “embracing the chaos” at the start of the year, but it manifested into me not caring as much what other people think. Instead of making all these fake excuses I put my head down and got to work.
We’ve talked about your productions but now is the time to introduce Darby as a DJ. What should our readers expect from the mix?
Classic 140 UKG/house/trap but I guarantee you’ll find something new and something you’ll love. Went more high energy for this one + got some killer IDs from me and some friends <333
Darby FUXWITHIT Guest Mix Tracklist:
Darby – PLAY
HYFINN & YÜTHE – It’s All About (House)
RL Grime & Juelz – Breach (KAVI Bootleg)
Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar – Family Ties (Young Earth Sauce Flip)
MPH – Show Me
Darby – Everything
Darby – Rock This Party Dub (Unreleased)
Rebound X – Rhythm N Gash (Pj Bridger Refix)
Missy Elliott – Lose Control (Chopsoe Flip)
Darby – ID
Moore Kismet – ID
Charli XCX – Pink Diamond (Clearcast Edit)
Fred again.., Skrillex & Four Tet – Baby again.. (Darby Remix)
Bleu Clair – Sand Dunes
Phrva – ID
Skrillex & Bobby Raps – Leave Me Like This (Darby Remix)
ID – ID
Merricat Black – BAILAMOS
G Jones, ISOxo – Say What (HIVE Flip)
Central Cee – Loading (Lizdek Remix)
Club Angel – Stronger!
Skrillex & Boys Noize – Fine Day Anthem
Baby Keem – Vent (Viperactive Edit)
Darby & OOTORO – ID
