Secret Garden Party Interview // Filthy Dukes

Picture the scene. If we said that we caught up with one half of Noizes’ favourite electro DJ kings dressed as a dinosaur (or was it a dragon?) right before they played a floating Pagoda, you might say that we’d been experimenting a little too hard with the medicine cabinet. But we weren’t tripping; such happenings are a dime a dozen here at SGP, and so it was that Mr. Olly Dixon filled us in on the Dukes’ love of festivals, the perils of partying too hard and what the future might hold.

Noize: What brings you to Secret Garden Party?

Olly: Well, we played here last year, also on the Pagoda stage, and it was just so much fun. It was a friend of ours who asked us to. We don’t actually get paid, we’re just doing it for a favour, but it’s such a great laugh - my girlfriend and some other mates of ours are here, so it should be good.

Noize: I assume you’re not short of offers for your services in the summer…

Olly: Last year we got offers from 35 festivals, which is just nuts. There was no way we could have done them all. This year we’re playing 8, which is a good number. It’s been easier for us to pick and choose.

Noize: Which are your favourites?

Olly: We obviously love here, but Melt and Bestival are also pretty cool. It’s the dressing up thing.

Noize: Care to share any particular memories?

Olly: I probably shouldn’t admit this cos our tour manager will kill us, but last year at Melt, we’d been partying pretty hard, continued after playing and arrived at Lovebox basically without sleeping. Which was great, except Tim lost his voice. We thought we were shit, but then we saw some reviews which said “The Filthy Dukes were great, shame about their sound issues” - so we got away with it.

Noize: Any news on a new Dukes album?

Olly: There might not be another one! There’s nothing lined up right now, but I’m sure we’ll do something - at some point. We are gonna do 3 EP’s soon, but we have no plans for a full album. I guess when it just feels right, we’ll get together and start thinking about what we wanna do.

Noize: Surely it can’t be the end? You’ve just got started!

Olly: I’m sure it isn’t, and we’ll keep dj-ing, but the problem now is we all have other interests and our fingers in other pies - we love making music, but it’s getting harder and harder to make it financially viable. Plus there is a difference between making the music that we want to, and making music that sells. We’re not sure we really like the second option…

Noize: Is there a big difference between doing a festival and your own gig?

Olly: There is actually. When we DJ at Fabric, we have to keep it fresh and play new stuff, you know, stay ahead of the crowd, whereas at a festival, everybody is in a really good mood, probably off their tits, and we can throw on some older stuff and some of the well known stuff. Almost like the hits.

Noize: Is that what you’ll be doing later?

Olly: Maybe, we’ll see. I’m dressed as a dinosaur, so all bets are off. Anything could happen.

Interview by Derek Robertson

Photos by Derek Robertson and Simon Owen

The Dukes get to work.

Mr. Olly Dixon. Fierce.