Luke Dubber and Angus Stuart of Hermitude Photo: Supplied
It's not often you meet some one in your school band at the age of eleven and remain friends your whole life. But that's how Luke Dubber and Angus Stuart met and now they make number one records together as Hermitude. The Australian electronic duo return to New Zealand to start off the university year with a bang and a boogie, and their expectations of New Zealand crowds are pretty high after their previous gigs on this side of the Tasman.
“We love rolling in to New Zealand cos you guys have got sweet music taste, and everyone we meet seems really lovely. Last time we played in Christchurch there was a guy crowd-surfing in a wheelchair. That set the bar pretty high for Christchurch for us.”
The childhood friends have been making people dance since they began collaborating in the early 2000’s but the success of their last album ‘Dark Night, Sweet Light’ saw them reach a level of mainstream success that took them by surprise.
“When that record came out we got a number one record in Australia which was crazy and I’m not sure either of us thought that might happen in our careers. We were both kind of shell shocked when that news came in. and we’ve had some amazing shows since then.”
The albums success led to hectic touring the world over and the New Zealand tour will be their last little live soiree before knuckling down to create another album. Despite the changing behaviour of music consumers, and working within a genre that has an constant appetite for new tracks, the art of the album is still one they put a high value on.
“It’s true people are consuming music through streaming, and there are constantly dropping singles to maintain their audience. I guess you have to be aware of both angles but for us it’s always been a really exciting thing to put together a body of work and take people on a bit of a journey when they listen and they can get the full experience of how we wanted them to hear it.”
Hermitude are playing Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
