San Franciscan producers, Dave Dresden and Josh Gabriel, have been fixtures among the electronic music scene (in the US and abroad) since 2001. In that time span, they have released some absolutely quintessential dance records in the forms of G&D originals: “As The Rush Comes,” “Zocalo,” “Tracking Treasure Down,” and “Dangerous Power,” as their super group Motorcycle with Jes with: “Deep Breath Love,” “Imagination,” and “Around You,” and as remix duties for an absolute plethora of tracks. Not only this, but the duo is launching on a North American tour schedule with a simple theme that will allow longtime fans to experience most of these tracks live for the first time, dubbed as: “Classics Only“! The Gabriel & Dresden tour format is unlike nothing that US markets have been privy to, until now.
EDMTunes chatted a bit with the duo about their headspace in deciding to execute a tour with a theme such as this, and their hopes and expectations from launching such an often-requested live set format.
Firstly: I want to thank you deeply, with some additional praise as well, for executing a wish that I have expressed over and over again throughout the past few years: “I WANT TO SEE SOME CLASSICS LIVE SETS!” So again – much congratulations on your “Classics Only” tour. What sparked the desire to embark on this kind of themed tour?
“We were just getting a little bored with current dance music, which made us start to look backwards on the music. From a time when it inspired us to make music. Which led us to some of our lesser played classic tracks. And we begun to think of how we could get back to playing some of this music.
One night in Toronto, at our final show at The Guvernment, we decided to play more classics than normal because we had so much history in that venue. When we saw the reaction from the crowd, we thought to ourselves “why don’t we do a tour where we only play our own music, and the music that inspired that music?” And thus the idea for “Classics Only” was born.”
Once I saw the announced tour schedule, I was pretty shocked (yet pleasantly surprised) that you guys were kicking off the theme in US markets. Many posit that the US dance music scene is too inexperienced to accept/respond to this type of approach. How did you ultimately come to this decision?
“We’re really just doing this for our fans. They have asked for this kind of show for years and we thought that right now was a perfect time to do it, a time of great change in dance music, trance music and EDM in general.”
Not only did you indirectly respond to my personal lament about classics live sets; you also hit on another personal confusion: why DJ’s tend not to spin their own discography more throughout their live sets. As a music fan, I am most likely coming to see you as a DJ because I love your productions – not because I want to hear a bunch of mainstream crowd pleasing tracks. It’s been announced live sets will consist of : “Playing only their classics and remixes”
Are all of your sets really going to be purely your own?!
“We are hoping to play as many of our own productions and remixes as we can, but we’re probably also going to play a lot of the music that was on our mix CD’s and even some of the tracks that inspired our music. It will all make sense once you hear it live.”
What were your specific hopes and goals for taking this type of approach to your US tour?
“We’re just hoping that everyone is as excited to hear this music as we are to play it for them.”
You have one set down so far, at Portland’s Whiskey Bar – how were the reactions from the crowd and venue?
“It was a very good start to the tour. We haven’t practiced and figured out which songs go best together yet so it felt like a very freeform approach which was fun for us. And it felt like people really enjoyed it. The club was packed from start to finish and they still wanted more after encore 2!”
Assumedly, you will be taking this tour to our counterparts abroad in the future…any hints you can give us in regards to that?
G&D: We definitely have plans to do this show all over the world. We’d love to visit our old haunts like Greece, Russia, Romania, UK, Ireland, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Singapore, etc. But first we do North America!
For eagerly-awaiting fans – are you taking requests for song selections for each tour stop? If so, how do fans submit their requests to you?
“Social media always works, such as @gabrielndresden on Twitter, @gabrielndresden on Instagram or facebook.com/gabrielanddresden“
Once again, thank you so much from longtime dance music fans who have been longing to jump in the Delorean and experience the past NOW. As of now, you have also inspired Myon & Shane 54 to announce a classics night in Texas, too! Hopefully you guys will be trailblazers yet again – this time in the live performance arena versus the studio. Can’t wait to see you at Avalon in L.A. this Saturday!
Tickets are available for purchase HERE
Tour Itinerary:
Sat. May 30 | Los Angeles, CA | Avalon – 6.5hr set
Sat.June 6 | Phoenix, AZ | Monarch Theatre – 6hr set
Sat. June 13 | Beta Nightclub | Denver, CO – 5.5 hr set
Fri. June 26, | Ten Nightclub, Newport Beach, CA – 4.5hr set
Sat., June 27 | Austin, TX | Kingdom – 6.5hr set
Thurs., July 2 | Calgary, AB | Bespoke – 4.5hr set
Fri., July 3 | Toronto, ON | The Mod Club – 6hr set
Sat., July 4 | Chicago, IL | The Mid – 7hr set
Fri., July 10 | San Francisco, CA | Ruby Skye – 7+hr set
Sat., July 11 | Seattle, WA | Foundation – 5hr set
Fri., July 24 | New York, NY | Cielo – 6hr set
Sat., July 25 | Houston, TX | Stereo Live – 5hr set
Fri., July 31 | Atlanta, GA | Opera – 5hr set
Sat., Aug 1 | Dallas, TX | LeVu – 5hr set
