Photography by Flower Up (Alex Evans)

Words JOSHUA EVANS

Initially conceived by London-based producers, DanDlion (Joy Crookes, Tom Grennan, Little Mix) and Havelock, Dumb Buoys Fishing Club’s LP Wreckedfollows the story of two degenerate fisherman, as they embark on a tumultuous journey, in truly bombastic fashion. Informed by the unrelenting sound of noughties hip-hop, the album joyfully leans into Gorillaz and Beastie Boys waters, creating a vibrant and immersive listening experience. Detached from their solo work, Dumb Buoys’ has created a world where the pair’s creativity can flourish, inviting in friends and collaborators such as joe unknown and BROCKHAMPTON’s Merlyn Wood along for the voyage.

Fresh from a sold out show on Battersea Barge, the duo gives Man About Town and insight to what inspired the project, their passions for sustainability and environmentalism, and the desire to deliver spectacles in their live shows...

As artists and producers in your own right, what kicked started this project to bring you both together to create Dumb Buoys Fishing Club?
H:Well, to be honest, Dan and I were working in the studio a lot working on each other’s solo projects and we developed a really solid friendship in the process, and we kind of always toyed with the idea of starting a side project, but we didn’t really know how we wanted that to look. But we knew we wanted it to be conceptual because then you can fully detach yourself from your solo project. In those formative conversations, one of us said the name Dumb Buoys Fishing Club and it just sparked a thousand ideas and we thought it was such an exciting avenue to explore and we could surrender ourself to these characters and theme, which gives the music a really cool space to live under and we can have fun with it.

You recently just performed a sold out show on Battersea Barge, what was that night like for you guys?
D: Really incredible, it sold out in four hours and we were shocked! It wasn’t a massive show, but for our first show we were really pleased with that response. The show was mad, it was on a boat, so it fitted with the whole aesthetic for Dumb Buoys. It was great and everything we could’ve wished for and was a lot of fun.

Are there plans to do more of those types of shows?
H:Yeah, we’ve always envisioned this as a really live-driven project and we definitely don’t want to limit ourselves to nautical venues, we thought about doing a barge for our first show, but there’s more to this project than just the theme. The music takes itself seriously and it’s really a spectacle to see live and we think as performers and as a project, we’re fit to perform in any scenario.

D:We’re playing out first overseas show in Paris, in November, but the plan is to definitely put in some more shows in and around London and then hopefully head up north when the time’s right.

It seems that the visuals are such an important part of this project. Your aesthetic is so precise and clean when it comes to the story you’re looking to tell. Would you say it’s as equally as important as the music for you?
D:One hundred per cent. I think for us, from the get go, it was always such a visual project, spanning from the concept to the themes, it always made sense to put that into the visuals. When we’re performing live we want that to be such a key part of the experience and make it as immersive as possible. We’re very lucky to be working with a guy called Alex, who’s the third member of the band for sure, he’s in charge of all of that.

How did you decide what collaborators you wanted to bring into the Dumb Buoys world?
D: We were very adamant about not playing the project to anyone, until we thought it was there. It was at that point when we thought, let's play it to a few people, and the people we did play it to fully got it and were ready to go. It was a lot of experimenting.

H: We wanted to make sure we provided the context, that’s why we held it back for a while, it might have been confusing if we showed unfinished ideas of two degenerate fisherman, rather than a fully fledged project.

What were your influences when deciding how the project should sound?
D: We wanted to bring as much energy and chaos, and bring as much noise as possible. We referenced hip-hop on the production side of things, like Gorillaz and Beasties Boys, when making these types of songs.

H:We were listening to loads of The Neptune’s productions at the time, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo and all the stuff they produced in the early noughties, as well as Timberland and Justin Timberlake, we were really tapped into that type of sound, and I feel like that sound died out way too soon and think people still have a hunger for that.

You both have such passion for sustainability and conservation, which shines through in some of the tracks. When did you decide you wanted to focus on those particular issues?
D:It’s so important, in art, to shine a light on fishing and going out and being a part of that culture. We don’t necessarily fish the whole time, but this definitely allows us to shine a light on things and bring more awareness to the world we’re living in and the ocean is a big part of that. At the moment, it’s so important to keep fish sustainable and keep the oceans clean.

H: I feel like it’s also a conversation people aren’t willing to have, so dressing it up in music makes it easier to have those conversations and we’re trying to be active in that conservation mindset, we’ll be launching our merchandise in a couple of weeks and we’ll be donating a percentage of profits to various nautical and sea conservation charities.

Finally, what can listeners expect from the album?
H: I think there’s a song for each emotion on this project, it’s eclectic in that sense and hoping there’s stuff on there for everybody.

D: It’s a real story as well, threaded through each track. When creating the project, we wrote down a whole story about these two degenerate fisherman going on their travels and each track is a moment in their timeline. So, we wanted the album to feel like you're going on a journey.