Hermitude

Early years

Multi-instrumentalists, Luke Dubber (a.k.a. Luke Dubs) and Angus Stuart (a.k.a. El Gusto), have collaborated in bands since 1994, when they were aged 16 and 11, respectively. Their first functional band was called "Funk Injections" and included Stuart's sister, Aja Stuart, on bass.

Explanetary

When a group of local rappers, including Tim Levinson (a.k.a. Urthboy) from the Herd, were impressed by Funk Injections' abilities, the two groups briefly incorporated in 1998, performing for a while under the name "Explanetary". Explanetary consisted of Levinson on vocals, Dubber on keyboards, Stuart on drums, Realfatix on vocals (and sometimes production), No Mumbles (a.k.a. Nug) on vocals, Aja Stuart (Stuart's sister) on bass and DJ ALF on cuts. Explanetary only released one EP, In On the Deal, in July 2001 following which the members went their separate ways.

Hermitude

After Stuart returned from a trip to the US in 2000 with a set of turntables, the two tried jamming together with Dubs playing keyboard, sans vocals. The combination worked so well that they realised they didn't need anything else, and Hermitude was formed.

Signing with the Elefant Traks label, founded by The Herd, Hermitude released the vinyl-only Imaginary Friends EP in 2002. The collection of esoteric instrumental soundscapes, with two vocal cuts provided by Urthboy and Ozi Batla, sold out and has never been transferred to CD, making it a collector's item. A year later, the band's first album, Alleys to Valleys, was released. The name referred to their moving between Sydney and a recording studio called Sound Heaven in the Blue Mountains, owned by Stuart's father, John Stuart, which allowed them to live like hermit crabs half the time. The other half of their time they spent coming down from the mountains to try out their new material in the clubs of the city.

The popularity of Hermitude's debut allowed them to earn support billing with touring international acts such as, Dizzee Rascal, RJD2, and DJ Krush, and then record Tales of the Drift in 2005. A more percussive, Cuban sound was created, inspired by Stuart's time spent there in his youth. In 2006 Hermitude embarked overseas to pursue bigger success, landing gigs in Europe, Asia and the US. They were invited to perform in Malaysia, Norway and Spain as well as at DJ Kentaro's Japanese album launch, and were booked for Aceyalone and Abstract Rude's West Coast US tour. Whilst on this world tour, Dubber and Stuart wrote the tunes that would make up their 2007 Rare Sightings EP release. Released in November 2007, initially sold at venues on their return tour of Australia, it was their fourth release on Elefant Traks. Hermitude then joined Urthboy and The Tongue on a national tour throughout Australia. Copies of the CD sold out during the tour and had to go back to press before copies could be released in stores.

In 2011, Hermitude released two new singles, "Get in My Life" and "Speak of the Devil", from the album HyperParadise, which was released on 3 February 2012. The title track of the album peaked at number 38 on the ARIA Singles Chart in February 2013. "Speak of the Devil" won the 2011 J Award for Music Video of the Year.

In 2014 they released the single "Ukiyo" without radio or video servicing, yet in a few months it had millions of plays. In October of that year Hermitude toured North America for the first time, supporting Rüfüs Du Sol.

In January 2015, "Through the Roof", the first official single from the new album Dark Night Sweet Light, and they were simultaneously announced on a run of prominent US festivals, including Governor's Ball in NYC, Buku Festival in New Orleans and SXSW in Austin, TX. In May 2015, second single "The Buzz" featuring Mataya and Young Tapz entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number 26, later peaking at number 20, becoming Hermitude's highest-charting song.

Awards

Hermitude won the Best Independent Dance/Electronica album award at the 2012 Jägermeister AIR (Australian Independent Records Association) Awards for the album, HyperParadise. The band's label, Elefant Tracks, received the award for Best Independent Label. HyperParadise was then awarded the 8th Annual Australian Music Prize (AMP) and the AMP website noted in a blurb for the prize winner:

HyperParadise is Hermitude hitting the bullseye of their artistic vision, a beautifully inventive record of future beats and electronica. It’s not just their meticulousness in production and musicianship, it’s the passion and love they have for instrumental music that makes them so special. The songs are bubbling with personality: choruses leap out of songs demanding an emotional response, differing for each listener.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015 the group were nominated in seven categories: Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Independent Release, Engineer of the Year (Mitch Kenny) and Producer of the Year (Luke Dubber and Angus Stuart) for Dark Night Sweet Light, Best Video (directed by Kess Broekman-Dattner) for "Through the Roof", and Best Live Act.

Other projects

Apart from Hermitude, Stuart has spent the last couple of years playing and touring with Paul Mac as percussionist and DJ, whilst Dubber has lent his keyboard skills to many local Sydney outfits including Gauche, The Tango Saloon and The Bird, as well as touring with Tom Tom Crew the internationally acclaimed Hip-Hop Circus stage production.

Singles

Albums

EPs

Remixes