DASH30 is an artist that shows impeccable musical finess, creating emotional electronic ballads that capture his thoughts and feelings and envelope a world of their own to share to a wider audience. In this interview we talk about his beginnings, his EP on Montaime and more.
Montaime: So, why did you choose the name DASH30?
DASH30: Ah! I was waiting for somebody to ask me that actually. So, my birthday is July 30th 1998 and phonetically when you type it out with numbers and you phonetically say it, it’s 07-30-98. I just liked the little section where it was -30, for some reason it just fit really well – it just felt nice to say it.
Montaime: That’s cool actually. I think its a more ‘inspired’ name than some people?
DASH30: I wasn’t really inspired by anything else besides creating my own music and having a fact about myself encompassing all my music is kinda cool.
Montaime: Here’s the golden question: What got you into making music?
DASH30: deadmau5.
Montaime: deadmau5?
DASH30: Yeah, because before I was listening to deadmau5, I was listening to heavy metal bands like Of Mice And Men, some Christian heavy metal bands like August Burns Red and also the likes of Linkin Park and I still listen to them to this day. As soon as I heard deadmau5, though, there was something else to it, like I’ve heard guitars before, I’ve heard drums before, I’ve heard all of those acoustic instruments, but listening to something making sounds that I’ve never heard before, was exciting to me. There’s endless possibilities with sounds and with oscillators, it just depends on how you use it.
Montaime: Who are you most influenced by?
DASH30: Currently, I would say Justice (quite obviously), Madeon and Boards of Canada.
Montaime: How did you find out about those three musicians?
DASH30: So for Boards of Canada, I heard this song on one of Billboard’s playlists and ‘Olsen’ from Music Has The Right To Children was on there and that song brought tears to my eyes when I first heard it. With Madeon, pretty much the exact same thing. I was in choir class and in Freshman year and we had some free time to do whatever we wanted, we were allowed to have our phones out and I saw this cover of ‘Technicolor’ had released, so I listened to the original with my headphones in and just the beginning notes *hums the notes* and it pulled at something, not my heart but my inspiration to make music. I started crying in choir class again and I ran to the bathroom and listened to it again and cried in the bathroom again and went back to class and was silent. You know, I found my new favourite artist. For Justice, I feel like they’ve always been in my life, I first heard ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ on Just Dance 3 and shook it off as some random song, but after listening to it again I had this indescribable feeling that the song felt so dance-able. I would argue that ‘Randy’ is their best track still, however.
Montaime: I guess you would say that Madeon is the artist you are most inspired by?
DASH30: I guess I would say that, yeah.
Montaime: Let’s talk about your Say It Again EP. How did it come to be?
DASH30: Oh man. So I just got out of a 5 year long relationship, my heart was still so raw and I didn’t know anything besides this girl I knew for 5 years. I forced myself to be happy, as unhealthy as a decision that was. I feel like a lot of the songs on the EP are just me talking from a hopeful perspective where I hopefully want to feel these feelings again. I immediately, maybe a week later, managed to hop into a relationship with somebody else and I was very “the next person that talks to me, they will be my girlfriend.“, I guess. I told her that I wrote this EP for her and at the time I did feel it, I had those overwhelming feelings of love but in hindsight they were just residual feelings that I had left over from the last relationship. As much as I love ‘Control’, it’s hard to think about. It was written about me not being able to control my words when I get into arguments. I was essentially writing the song as an apology to this girl that I dated. ‘Back and Forth’ was about my first time having sex with this girl. ‘Say It Again’ revolved around the fact that I told this girl that I loved her and she didn’t say it back the first time. She came around and told me that she loved me too in the end and I held my face and said “say it again” and she said it again. Then I wrote that song. ‘What It Looks Like’ was me apologising for breaking her heart. I broke up with her on a whim, so I needed to explain myself. I was struggling with things that I could have never have spoken to her about.
Montaime: How did you feel when Tasty posted ‘Control’ on their YouTube channel?
DASH30: Dude! I felt so weird at first. *laughs* I remember listening to Razihel and a bunch of Monstercat artists that were also being posted by Tasty in like 2011-12 and maybe even earlier than that. Looking at Tasty’s aesthetic, I thought to myself “I will never get to this point”. Then it fucking happens and I’m like “well what now?”.
Montaime: Did they email you about the song? Or did they just post your music out of the blue?
DASH30: So I also wrote a song called ‘Talk’, which is another song about me being in a previous relationship. I emailed them and sent the artwork and the track and they said they were going to pass on this one. They then immediately uploaded ‘Control’.
Montaime: How did you find out about Montaime and how did you eventually release on the label?
DASH30: Cyanblue… Cyanblue, dude. He just randomly found my music as I created DASH30. I had no idea what Future Funk was, I had no idea what French House was and Cyanblue… this guy came out of the fucking blue and said “Hey, I really love your music, you should submit to Montaime.” Then I wrote ‘Funk’, you guys liked it and the rest is history.
Montaime: It’s 2020 and we’re in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, how are you holding up at the moment?
DASH30: I’m doing ok. I still work a 9 to 5 and I’m very lucky to still have a job and to be getting a paycheck, I know a lot of people are struggling out there so hard. The time that I have is spent very wisely. Yeah, I’m just surviving.
Montaime: What can we look forward to in the future regarding DASH30?
DASH30: Lots of music. Up to about 3-4 weeks ago, I had only ever used computers that have sold for 120$ or less. I just spent 1300$ on my own PC build and a lot of the time when I was writing before, my lack of resources was getting in the way of my creativity. Now that I have my new PC, my creativity is through the roof. I’ve been finishing at least one song a weekend. Maybe at some point I’ll end up writing a concept album or something, but I’ll need a more tangible subject to write that concept album on.
Montaime: Can you talk to me about some of the stuff you’ve already released?
DASH30: I just released ‘Disbelief’. The song is channeling the feeling you get as a child when you see something so simple yet unexplainable, like as a kid you’re just so stupid. It’s just that feeling of astonishment, at least in my case. I also released ‘Complicated’. I wrote that song first, then I came up with the name, but it gives me the feeling of a very naive girl who doesn’t know about stuff thats going on – like this pandemic for example.
Montaime: Do you have any final closing words for this interview?
DASH30: I just wanna thank people, as I’ve never really had an outlet where people can show me appreciation for things that I enjoy doing. I’m not doing this for anybody else, I’m doing this for myself. People just keep coming through and amazing me with their compliments. All of my friends are so important to me. Alex, Andy, Louis of course – everybody who’s manning the show at Montaime is doing an incredible job. Shoutout snuggles, he makes really good hybrid EDM. He’s one of my very close friends and he’s so underrated.
This interview was conducted and written by Louis Chant, you can follow him here.
