Dúné

2001 - 2005: Formation and building a reputation

The foundation of what would become Dúné was founded in 2001 by elementary school class mates Mattias Kolstrup (Vocals), Malte Aarup-Sørensen (Drums) and Simon Troelsgaard (Guitar) in Skive, Denmark. After a couple of shifting band names and line up's at a handful of local gigs the three friends were permanently joined by class mate Cecilie Dyrberg (Synth) and the classically trained Polish immigrant Piotrek Wasilewski who got to hold an electric bass for the first time in his life at his first rehearsal with the band.

In early 2002 the five young musicians changed their name to Dúné and after Mattias bought his first analogue Synthesizer the band started writing their own material strongly inspired by 80’s pop heroes like Depeche Mode, Erasure and local Danish bands. In 2003 Dúné recorded their first demo CD entitled “Let’s Jump”. The demo achieved critical acclaim in Danish underground magazines foreseeing a bright future for the very young gang. The band also started building up a solid live reputation playing more and more gigs in and around their native town.

In December 2003 the band initially brought in Ole Bjórn (Synthesizer) and Danny Jungslund (Guitar) as live members, but soon made them full members. In 2004 and 2005 the band released two self-financed EP’s (“Rock, Synth’n’Roll” and “Go Go Robot”) receiving rave reviews in the Danish media and slowly adding both strong indie-rock and electro pop elements to the band's sound. The band started getting attention from the Danish music business and, while playing gigs all over Scandinavia in the time off high school and boarding school, got a reputation as a super intense and highly entertaining live act. After reviewing offers from many major and indie labels alike, the band decided to create their own record label New Gang Of Robots Rec. as a sister company to the Danish label Iceberg Records.

2006 - 2011: We Are In There You Are Out Here & Enter Metropolis

In 2006 the band had their national breakthrough in Denmark with their debut single Bloodlines. They were nominated as talent of the year at the annual music awards held by the Danish radio station DR P3 and performed at the SPOT festival and Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Same year Dúné signed a license deal with Sony Music Europe.

In 2007 and 2008 their debut album We Are In There You Are Out Here was released in Europe and Japan certified Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Denmark and the band won several awards like three Danish Music Awards, the P3 GOLD Award (Denmark's finest music award) and two GAFFA Awards. They performed as the support band during Panic! at the Disco's 2008 tour in Germany and supported Muse and Foo Fighters in the same period. Furthermore, they were the opening band at the 2008 Jäzzfest tour of the German punk band Die Ärzte performing in front of a 25,000+ audience throughout Germany and Benelux.

After graduating from High School in 2008 the band moved to the Danish capital Copenhagen and started writing and recording their second studio album Enter Metropolis with Jacob Hansen (Volbeat) as the producer. Normally producing heavy metal, Hansen helped push the harder guitar driven electro sound of the record. Enter Metropolis was released in Europe in August 2009 to positive to mixed reviews. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Danish album chart and No. 44 on the German album chart. Enter Metropolis is certified Gold på IFPI Denmark. The band went touring in support of the album and played just shy of 100 concerts in Europe.

In 2009 Dúné wins an EBBA Award. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) recognize the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.

In 2011 the fourth single off "Enter Metropolis", "Heiress of Valentina" was remixed by Swedish DJ and producer Alesso resulting in a world wide club hit. The remix is frequently played by Dutch mega-star DJ Tiësto at his shows around the globe resulting in a broader knowledge of Dúné's name.

In the summer of 2009 after less than a year in Copenhagen the band decided to move to the German capitol Berlin to strengthen their international ambitions. From Berlin the band kept touring until Kolstrup's 22nd birthday on September 11, 2010 where they took a break to begin the song writing for their third album while they had to deal with three shaking events. First the sole female member and keyboarder Cecilie Dyrberg decided to leave the band to focus on her own music and to “live a life outside the band she’d been a part of for half of her life." In May 2011, Malte Aarup-Sørensen and Dúné parted ways amicably. Then again in November 2011 Dúné parted ways with guitar player Simon Troelsgaard leaving the band as a quartet with Danish session ace Morten Hellborn filling the drum seat for the shows and recordings. On the band's homepage lead singer Mattias Kolstrup wrote a blog on February 14, 2012 saying: "I’m well aware of the fact that losing three band members in between two albums seems like a pretty big deal, but for some reason it feels like a natural development for us. You’ve gotta remember that we’ve been a band for almost 11 years already. We began when we where 12!"

Before Troelsgaard and Dúné parted ways Dúné released a single and an EP as a quintet. On October 3, 2011 they delivered a cover version of Talk Talk's classic Life's What You Make It as the soundtrack for Christian E. Christensen's Danish action thriller ID:A. On December 1, 2011 the band released the low key 4-track holiday EP Echoes of December, which was the last release with Troelsgaard as a band member and the first original material released by the band since their 2010 EP Leaving Metropolis.

2012 - present: Wild Hearts and the future

During the course of 2011 and 2012 the band played new songs like "Wanted Out", "Renegade", "Remember Valentina (It Takes Will)" and "The Sun Over Green Hills" live on several occasions. On the Danish morning TV show Go'morgen Danmark Ole Bjórn and Matt performed an acoustic version of the song "All That I Have."

On June 21, 2012 the band released a video on their homepage and social media sites announcing that they have been in a Berlin studio recording their 3rd album since January 13. Furthermore, they announced that the album was being mixed by Kevin Paul who've worked with names like Depeche Mode and Nick Cave. In an interview with GaffaTV released on gaffa.dk on June 21 Ole Bjórn revealed that the album was self-produced by the band and that bass, guitar and drums were recorded live in the studio

The first single off the album was "HELL NO!" It was released on November 10 and premiered as the final at the Danish Music Awards show in Copenhagen on. Released on January 21 "All That I Have" was the second single off the album becoming a local radio hit. Wild Hearts was released on February 4, 2013 and debuted at #3 on the official Danish Album Chart and was mostly well received by the Danish critics with an overweight of 5/6 star reviews. The biggest Danish music magazine GAFFA wrote: "Their strongest collection of songs to date". Anders Houmøller Thomsen from Jyllands-Posten praised the band for rocking out instead of lapsing into "acoustic senior-nastalgia," while Berlingske reviewer Jesper Krogsgaard Christensen described the album as "the band's best album to date."

During 2013 and 2014 the band moved back from Berlin to Copenhagen while touring intensively in Denmark and Germany. Guitarist Danny Jungslund decided to stay in Germany and take an indefinite hiatus from the band while focusing on his studies and family.

In November 2014 the band released the Spring Summer 15 clothing collection Dúné/minimum in collaboration with the Danish fashion brand "minimum". To promote the collection the band released the new song "Antidote" accompanied by a short mood-film written and directed by Mattias brother Jeppe Kolstrup.

At their spring tour in March 2015, Dúné announced that they were writing and recording new songs and debuted the tracks "This Guy's Not The Limit", "Tryin' To Get To You" and "Bittersweet Surrender."

In September 2015 the band secured a record deal with Universal Music and released their major label debut single "Trying To Get To You" on September 18. The contract was signed on October 27.

From January 21 - March 11 Dúné played their biggest tour in Denmark yet. The Grand Tour was mostly sold out and underlined the bands status as one of their native Denmarks most popular live acts.

Current members

Mattias Kolstrup - Vocals (2001–present)
Piotrek Wasilewski - Bass, Synthesizers, Percussion (2002–present)
Ole Bjórn - Synthesizers, Piano, Programming, Vocals (2003–present)

Past members

Simon Troelsgaard - Guitar (2001–2011)
Malte Aarup-Sørensen - Drums (2001–2011)
Cecilie Dyrberg - Synthesizers, Guitars, Vocals (2002–2010)
Danny Jungslund - Guitars (2003–2013)

Touring/Session members

Morten Hellborn Drums (2011–present)
Mikkel Balle Poulsen Guitar (2014–present)

Extended plays