More popular than The Beatles?
Rufus Du Sol enjoying success
Sixteen kilometres west of Denver, Colorado, surrounded by giant slabs of Jurassic stone that jut from the earth, is one of the world’s most enviable amphitheatres. Performances date as far back as 1906, when it was known as Garden Of The Titans. Standing under the towering ancient sandstone, people would simply call it Red Rocks. The Beatles played Red Rocks in 1964, the only show of their American tour that didn’t sell out. It has hosted the world’s greatest musicians and performers. Capacity is just shy of 10,000, including the cheap seats, although it’s designed so the sound is good wherever you sit. It’s a venue that bands dream of playing. Electronic dance outfit Rufus Du Sol is no different. The magnitude of having played two soldout gigs there is not lost on the band’s three members, who will return to New Zealand in January to headline the Laneway Festival alongside The 1975. ‘‘It’s really hard to describe [playing Red Rocks],’’ Jon George says. ‘‘It’s surreal, there’s something really magic about it. We were trying to be as present as we could on stage and take it all in, which I feel like we did. It was amazing. The fact that we got to do two of them is crazy. So stoked.’’ The Red Rocks gigs were the result of a concerted effort by the three Antipodeans to break into, and dominate, the lucrative American market. They relocated from Sydney to Los Angeles ostensibly to write their album, Solace, knowing ‘‘that we’d be able to pick up and do a show here or there quite easily’’. George estimates they’ve played 200 shows in the past year, with no signs of slowing down. They scored the coveted sunset slot at their third Coachella festival earlier this year. ‘‘It’s all really been ramping up in the last two years. We had a really good moment at Coachella in front of about 40,000 people. ‘‘We’ve just been pinching ourselves ever since. Now we’ve played Red Rocks and we’ve got a 20,000-plus show in Los Angeles coming up that sold out really quickly as well.’’ Rufus Du Sol’s impressive success in the United States came after a fairy-tale start back home. Drifting through Byron Bay in New South Wales, George ran into school friend Tyrone Lindqvist, and they had an all-night recording session. Hoping they had something special, they invited another school friend, James Hunt, to join. The trio made a few EPs and played a few shows, quickly finding a foothold in clubs. Their debut album, Atlas ,wasa runaway success, reaching No 1 in Australia. ‘‘We definitely didn’t see that coming. Particularly because we’d written the album ourselves, we financed the whole thing ourselves, and shopped it around afterwards and there were a lot of big labels that weren’t really interested,’’ George says. ‘‘But we believed in it really hard and felt there was something special in there. ‘‘It was quite vindicating that it rose to the heights that it did. A lot of people came to us [later] and said they regretted that they couldn’t see what was in us.’’
They then set about proving it was no accident. In 2015, their second album, Bloom, also went to No 1 in Australia. The three writer/producers had found a formula that people loved. Blending house beats with singer Lindqvist’s emotive pop hooks gave them quick access to a large market. Their ambitions meant changing their name. Formerly Rufus, they added Du Sol to avoid a conflict in the American market. Their timing was perfect. EDM (electronic dance music) was peaking in popular music with acts such as The Chainsmokers and Major Lazer dominating the charts. Bookings started flooding in for festivals all over the world. While touring is often romanticised by fans, it is a gruelling undertaking for artists, but George says the trio approach it with zeal. ‘‘First and foremost, we love every night. It’s pretty hard to not fall in love with it each time, particularly with the crowds that we’re playing to and the way things have been going. ‘‘But you know it’s easy to fall into bad habits, particularly with your health, so we’ve tried to improve in many ways. ‘‘We push ourselves to go to the gym in the morning, and stay on top of our health in every way that we can. There’s a lot of things, though, that want to steer you down the wrong path. We’re on top of it and keeping ourselves honest.’’ The competitive international market also means bigger shows. More lights, more whizz-bang, constantly one-upping production values. They played to a 5000-strong capacity crowd at Auckland’s The Trusts Arena in March (‘‘a step up again, our biggest New Zealand show’’), but George says what they’re bringing to Laneway will be entirely new. ‘‘We’ve been re-writing our show for all these festival slots. It’s different to any show that we’ve played so far, in the way that it flows. We’ve been able to see a bunch of good music from Coachella . . . and pick up on what we think that audiences respond to best,’’ he says. ‘‘We’ve enabled ourselves to be able to jam in spots and have some freedom with that. It’s a really fun set for us.’’ First in New Zealand in 2010, the Laneway Festival has developed a reputation for discovering new talent, featuring some of the world’s most exciting artists just before they go supernova. Billie Eilish played Laneway before she was the Bad Guy. While Rufus Du Sol have never played Laneway before, they’ve been to a few. ‘‘I totally agree that they’re tastemakers and you trust in their vision for the Laneway lineup,’’ says George. ‘‘The stars have never aligned for the festival and the band before, so it’s great to be able to jump on this one, even if it is just for New Zealand, and make a big spectacle of it.’’ Rufus Du Sol plan to stay based in Los Angeles, ‘‘to be able to reach Europe and Australia without having to compromise’’. They’re a tight unit. When not playing together, they’re living together, sharing a house with their manager and their respective partners. ‘‘[It] lets everyone share their lives together in the healthiest way possible, while still being this band that plays really big shows. ‘‘It is quite hard with personal lives,’’ says George. ‘‘We’ve had some pretty big losses with relationships between us.’’ But at the Auckland show in March, Lindqvist proposed to his girlfriend in front of the sold-out crowd. Luckily for him, she responded pretty favourably. ‘‘He just had a baby boy with her,’’ says George. ‘‘That’s a good example, actually. They’re both here in Denver with us at Red Rocks right now, so we’re working out how to make that work. ‘‘It can be pretty tough, but generally we’re just trying to work on being the best that we can be.’’