Dale Dale is both a drummer and DJ/Producer with a deep background in early electronic music, Afro-Latin percussion and progressive dance and folk music from across the globe. His first band, Aubergine 3 released their debut album “In All Things Modulation” in 2003 on Transistor Recordings and achieved some critical success, with local press and airplay in DC and some subsequent placements in films and TV shows by Warner Brothers, ABC/Disney, CBS and numerous placements for TV commercials. He dreamed of taking the group full time on tours around the globe, but with two other members who were 10 years older than himself and already well-established into their respective daytime careers, it was not meant to be.
In the ensuing years after Aubergine 3 dissolved as a live band (2004-2006) he went on play in numerous other live bands and collaborations ranging from real book jazz combos, percussion ensembles, and ambient electronic music collectives, to an experimental Appalachian Dub Metal band formed with high school friends called Roan Caliban. After this came a Flamenco Funk band called Palabra and several live shows with DC-area electronic music groups such as Holmes Ives, Rex Riddem and Fort Knox Five.
During these early years of playing drums and percussion on both the stage and studio, Dale was simultaneously honing his skills as an eclectic global bass music DJ with regular gigs in Washington DC, Baltimore, New York, Virginia and West Virginia and occasionally London, Mexico, Brazil and the Dominican Republic.
Scotland
In 2006 he decided to take a hard left turn in his music career by going back to school for a one-year Master of Science degree in Digital Composition and Performance at the University of Edinburgh (UK), one of the world’s top music schools. During this time he took a deep dive into audio engineering, computer music production and composition with Ableton Live, Max/MSP, and Common Lisp Music (CLM). He also continued to cultivate his global bass music DJ career with regular DJ gigs in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. In 2007 Dale joined an electronic funk band called Digital Jones and his final Master’s thesis composition “Syzygy” was awarded the Composer Shortlist award by the UK’s Sound and Music organization. Not a bad year, all in all.
Portland
After Scotland came Portland, Oregon. From 2008 – 2014 Dale Dale made his home in the city where, according to the (only partially) satirical show Portlandia, “the dream of the 90’s” is still alive and “young people go to retire.” In 2009 he released his first solo album, GhostHouseWork, under his former “Demdranger” alias.
Dale learned a great deal about studio music production and editing music for video and films during his time in Portland and had his first solo film score placement in the independent documentary “The Island President” (2012) with a track called “Mello Profundo”. The rest of the film’s score consisted mainly of tracks by Radiohead. Not bad musical company to keep for your first film soundtrack composition.
Portland in those years was what one might call a music-rich / cash-poor city, with a staggering amount of musical talent and diversity, but relatively little money to pay musicians the professional wages they would need to live on. So during this time Dale made his living mainly working in freelance IT and AV engineering gigs, as well as a 2 year stint at the Regional Arts and Culture Council. But he still played in numerous live music collaborations and put nearly 200 DJ gigs in both clubs and private events under his belt.
By 2014, he had had enough of Portland’s “just about to make it” music scene and never-ending rain and decided to move to what could rightly be considered the most geographically and culturally opposite city to Portland in the entire contiguous United States: Miami.
Miami
Almost immediately after moving to Magic City, Dale started DJing full time with a combination of club, cruise, restaurant, event and commercial DJ gigs.
It was in Miami that Dale Dale truly came into existence as a musical identity and hybrid DJ concept. With Dale actually being his real last name, it was probably only a matter of time before this ubiquitous Spanish expression became one half of his most enduring solo artist alias to date. Dale translates roughly to “Do It” and while it has probably existed Cuban slang for hundreds of years, it was probably made most famous by Mr Worldwide himself, Pitbull, somehow fitting it into the lyrics of nearly every song he has ever released. ¡Dale!
Miami has been good to Dale Dale and in his 5 years here he has shared stages with:
- World-renowned AfroCuban percussionist and singer Pedrito Martinez
- Miami’s psychedelic bass god Otto Von Shirach
- Electronic housepop luminaries, Afrobeta,
- El maestro of the “Electrópico” sound, Mr. Pauer
- Afro-Colombian DJ and selecta Ephniko,
- Space bass Hip Hop crew, Telekinetic Walrus
among many others.
Global Locos
Along with co-host and producer Chato, Dale Dale also created, co-produced and co-hosted the widely-circulated, underground, live-streamed web TV series “Global Locos” – which focused on showcasing DJs and musicians from a wide variety of genres under the larger umbrella of Latin and Global Bass music. Some of the guests and featured artists include: Happy Colors, Riobamba, Chancha Via Circuito, Ushka, Geko Jones, Kinky Electric Noise, Greg Fox, Stereo 77, Casero Loops, Mambo Inspector, La Negra Fabulosa, Mpeach, El Freaky Collectivo, Glenda Del E, Deltratron, Alexia Riner, Afro-Cuban House Experiment (A.C.H.E.), Kid Chaos, Corrvpt Criminal, DJ Mutis, Bonnie Beats, Mango Park, Hype Turner and Disidente.
Rumba Casa Live
In 2018 and 2019 Dale Dale has been working harder than ever producing his complete vision yet for combining electronic music with live percussion: Rumbacasa Live.
Rumbacasa Live is a tropical celebration of Afro-Cuban and House Music, combining old-school Cuban Rumba with modern house and global bass music sounds. For Rumbacas Live Dale Dale brings a tastefully curated DJ mix of live and sequenced Afro-Cuban and Electronic rhythms to Ball & Chain’s iconic Pineapple stage, with a rotating roster of Miami and New York’s best Jazz, Latin and Electronic musicians all sharing the stage to create a truly eclectic fusion of Latin and Electronic dance music.
With his years of experience as a touring and studio musician, audio engineer, electronic music composer and global bass DJ, Dale Dale employs cutting edge live remixing techniques into his seamless, hybrid DJ sets to both push the boundaries of modern DJ performance and keep bodies moving to a harmonically-balanced mix of both old-school and modern dance music. Currently working on his debut full-length album Dale Dale’s first single “Dada” – an insistent left-field, dub-house burner combining AfroCuban bata rhythms with live drums, African percussion and some hints of progressive rock and jazz – is out now on all digital platforms.