DozenQ – Gordon Duthie

admin July 3, 2015

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This entry is part 6 of 20 in the series DozenQ 3

Gordon Duthie is a music artist from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Duthie’s musical style would probably be classed as “alternative” but he prefers to not abide by the standard musical genres and his musical ideas come from a huge variety of inspirations and sounds. Duthie’s driven and ambitious personality is evident and he is always looking to improve the quality, breadth and production of his work.

01 How did you get started in music?

I’m 26 years old and I can’t really remember not having music as a significant part of my life. I started playing instruments properly at a young age – during primary school years – and I think I bought my first recording software program when I was in my mid teens. I started recording my debut album – “Shire and City” – in 2008 and it was released in 2012. It was a challenging time as I had to prioritise my education throughout those years, so it was a great feeling to finally get it out in the public domain.

02 Where did your direction come from?

“Shire and City” is an alternative album with a diverse range of styles and this reflects my taste in music. My upcoming project “Multimedia Monster” has some similarities to “Shire and City” but it is generally heavier and the production quality has improved significantly.

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03 Who were your major influences and inspirations and who do you despise?

I will listen to anything really, although I don’t listen to music that I see as a marketing rather than artistic project. If I was to highlight some major influences I would say solo music artists who do things a bit different from the norm like Beck, Eels and Ryan Adams. I don’t think it’s beneficial naming anyone I don’t listen to because I guess they are doing their own thing and just because I don’t like what they do doesn’t mean I should despise them. It’s impossible for any song to be liked by everyone, we’re all different and that’s a good thing.

04 What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?

I try to make all of my songs sound reasonably different, but somehow tie together into a coherent album. I’ve always been into music that pushes the boundaries and challenges the status quo. One of the themes of my upcoming album – “Multimedia Monster”- is a cynicism towards social media. Most music blogs / forums / websites encourage musicians to use social media constantly and basically say if you are not into it, nobody will ever take notice of your music, therefore this project could be deemed as career suicide, but it’s something which I believed was worth exploring. The last lyric on the album is “The music artist is the biggest hypocrite I know”, because I do have social media pages, I’m taking them down from the inside!

05 What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live shows then & possibly even now?

I haven’t done any proper live shows yet, so it’s a total mystery. I have been too busy producing music that I haven’t had time to really put together a proper show or get a band together. I have been offered quite a lot of live shows but I have rejected them all so far, I don’t think it’s something I will do unless there is a significant demand. I have done a small live web show which was just me, an acoustic guitar, a microphone, a laptop and a connection to the internet, it was fun and the people watching all seemed to enjoy it. Overall i’m more of a music artist than a performer, but you never know what might happen in the future.

06 How do you begin your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?

I always write the lyrics before I produce any of the music. I have done it the other way round before and found it difficult to get a proper message across. The lyrics are very important to me and I would rather have a song with a cohesive lyrical theme rather than words that just fit in, rhyme with the music. Every song I do covers something different, themes range from my surroundings, technology, materialism, politics, relationships, art and so on.

07 How did your music evolved since you first began playing?

The production quality has got better as the years have gone by. It’s a long and steep learning curve and I have a lot of respect for those who are really good at music production. My sound is always evolving, I’m easily bored and would hate doing the same record over and over again.

08 What has been your biggest challenge? Were you been able to overcome this? If so, how?

Learning the production side, as I said it is something you really have to put the hours in to get to a reasonable level. It can be really frustrating at times but you can look back in satisfaction when it’s all done. Before I started recording “Multimedia Monster” I hired a professional mixing and mastering engineer to make sure it sounded good across different listening systems and I also visited the studio of a well respected Scottish music artist – Steve Mason – to learn how he records music professionally.

09 Do you play covers? If you could pick any song, which would you like to cover most and why?

No, I prefer to spend my time writing and producing my own songs. I did a couple of remixes a few years ago and have had some ideas to do some covers in my own style, but they have been put at the back of the production queue!

10 Where did you envisage being in five years time?

Hopefully still being able to produce music which keeps evolving stylistically. I don’t really have any grand plan, just going where my mind will take me! The world may have been destroyed by computers by then!

11 Who would you most like to record with?

It would be interesting to do a collaboration with someone who makes totally different music to what I do. I really liked the “Collision Course” collaboration by Linkin Park and Jay-Z, that was two contrasting styles blending well together, doing something like that would be worthwhile.

12 What should we be expecting from you in the near future?

My new album “Multimedia Monster” is being released on the 6th of August 2013. This chronicles my experiences with technology over the past 20 years, from retro gaming and land-line phones to the saturated mobile and social networking platforms of the modern age. I am from the last generation who experienced life before the internet became an integral part of western civilisation. The material across “Multimedia Monster” portrays nostalgic, reflective, acerbic, positive and humorous anecdotes of the ever changing digital world. Musically, the album is an eclectic mix of styles, but is generally heavier than my previous work. “Multimedia Monster” inputs me away from the natural world, processes me through motherboards and telecommunication masts and outputs a monstrous character addicted to electronic devices and meaningless information. The first music video from the album – “Digital Virus” – is a parody of old science fiction movies, where robots and technology were perceived as powerful enemies. This matches the theme of the song which takes a cynical look at the way social media and the internet are becoming a major part of social norms.