Interview and words by Christopher Thompson

–

Lad larrikin Dillon Francis is no stranger to platforms built purely for selfies and hashtags – with characters of fashion faux pars and the odd Taylor Swift mimic he’s gained fan fair along with solidifying himself as a heavyweight in the EDM scene.

Getting his first break from Diplo and moving away from his earlier sound referring to his original music as “A bag of dicks, and no one wants a bag of dicks.”  With movie roles under his belt and a slew of originals and remixed tracks, it’s no wonder we all know who Dillon Francis is. Class clown – improv comedic genius, love him or hate him he’s engrained in the media, looking to Netflix and MTV for his next project may see him become a household name amongst the Dyrdek and Kutcher’s of reality television.

Francis, who is known for his collaborations with Diplo as well as for popularising the moombahton sub-genre, last toured the country following the release of his This Mixtape Is Fire EP last year.

Which saw him ease back to his moombahton roots after having gravitated towards EDM with his first album, Money Sucks, Friends Rule. Dillon says he’s been “in the studio a lot” making “fun, weird records” and remixes while figuring out his next musical moves.

His latest work brought the unlikely pairing of trop house maestro Kygo and getting a slew of plays with endless remixes.

With all that being said, the Moombahton bass proponent and beloved slashy of all things music and social media. Dillon Francis is officially returning to our shores for an extensive nationwide tour.

Christening the string of shows as the ‘We Are All Lee Lin Chin’ tour, complete with an 11/10 face swap artwork.

 

Much to the disapproval of the SBS fashionista herself tweeting – “There can be only one.”

If you’re still on the fence, read what the man himself had to say about the tour – “anyone who follows my career knows I thrive on surprises.” There’s only one thing left to do – get your hands on tickets ASAP, and read my Interview below.”

Dillon: Please announce yourself.

Dillon?

Dillon: Yes.

Can you hear me?

Dillon: I can hear you.

This is God.

Dillon: God? Is that really you? How’s it going? I always knew you were Australian.

I hear you’re now unemployed and into pool toys?

Dillon: That is currently my life right now. All I’m doing is playing in Vegas and blowing up pool toys.

Do you even work, or is this actually what you do…

Dillon: I do, I do. I blow up like one a day, so I take five minutes out of my day, blow one of the pool toys up, and then I go and work on music.

As long as you take an hour for lunch, I guess that’s all above board.

Dillon: No, I don’t take lunch breaks anymore, since we got postmates over here.

That’s, that slave wage.

Dillon: Exactly.

I guess you’ve probably heard every question under the sun, so I’m going to start with, is there one question that you’re completely fucking bored of answering?

Dillon: That I’m – I haven’t been asked that many questions yet, so I’m not really bored of answering, I haven’t done many interviews in a long time, so I’m not bored of anything yet, but the one that I used to hate was, where do you see the future of music going? If I fucking knew that, wouldn’t I just do that? And then why would I want to tell someone, as well? It’s like, I know where it’s going, I’m going to tell you right now, so that I can’t do it, and someone else can.

Keep those secrets to yourself.

Dillon: Exactly.

So I guess, what was some of your earlier music like, before your Moombahton sound?

Dillon: It all sucked!

I’ve heard that.

Dillon: It was a bag of dicks, and no one wants a bag of dicks.

I think some people may want a bag of dicks.

Dillon: Some people might want a bag of dicks.

That’s a general statement. There’s a population out there that may enjoy dick bags.

Dillon: Okay, I was making music that was a bag of really disgusting, used dildos. And I don’t think anyone wants that.

That’s terrifying. What nightmares are made of.

Dillon: Now the music I make is new, nice dildos that are in a bag. Sterilized and neat. – using the metric measure of dildos that is.

It’s a measure of strength, clearly. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard dildos be referred to in mathematical equations as a measure of strength.

Dillon: I think so too. Now that’s where I see the future of music going.

Who were some of your key influences when you were starting out producing in the early days?

Dillon: It was Crookers, Rusko, Diplo, I loved Calvin Harris’s stuff since the beginning… when he put out ‘I Created Disco’, I was obsessed with that album for so long. I think that’s the main ones from the beginning.

Thoughts on SoundCloud, and why the fuck can’t they fix their app?

Dillon: Oh my god, that app is just the fucking worst. The thing that sucks about Soundcloud right now is that they don’t have enough deals with the major labels, and then a lot of the major labels are making it really weird – for instance, I did a remix for a DJ Snake song, ‘Propaganda’, and they said that I can only put up 30 seconds of a clip on my Soundcloud, or else it might get striked. So I did that, and then I noticed that Tilda Noise’s was up fully, and I tried to put mine up fully, and I got struck down. I have no idea – it’s just insane. I don’t know. Major labels don’t like us and they don’t like Soundcloud.

Exactly and I think they just like money, so they’ll shut down anything that’s a free housing for expression of music.

Dillon: Yeah. They definitely want the money back that they gave me.

Exactly. This is a bit of a foresight question, I hope it doesn’t fall like a bag of dicks, but what do you see as the next realm of free social music housing if Soundcloud crumbles beneath its own weight?

Dillon: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I feel like Spotify may – either Spotify or Apple Music will figure out some easy way for people to officially release stuff on their own, or maybe just more independent labels happen. I don’t know.

That’s a good thought, because it would seem like remixes are the entry and the expression of artists in the beginning, and if there’s no way you can house them, then the industry is just backwards.

Dillon: Yeah. that’s actually so funny, because that’s how I got my start, was doing remixes for tons of people. It’s such a bummer that people can’t post their remixes, because I feel like it spreads the song out more, but they’ve got to make that – they think that one listen on that remix could have been a listen for the original. That’s how I think the labels think.

Who are you chasing to collab with at the moment?

Dillon: Right now, I’m not chasing anybody actually. I’m workingwith Anderson Paak on some stuff. I sent him a bunch of instrumentals, and then I’m trying to work with Kai right now, as well. And that’s about it. I’m really focusing on making more instrumentals before I go out to other artists and seeing if I can just make the samples myself by messing up my voice on something or trying to sing on something, not sing-sing, but make some weird vocals sample. I don’t know.

I was hoping that you were going to say that Blink-182’s Dude Ranch was finally going to get that Dillon Francis treatment.

Dillon: Oh my god.

I want someone to pay that $50,000 bounty on that bad boy.

Dillon: I really don’t, because that is going to be the hardest thing for me to do ever, to remix those songs.

You’ll have to dig deep.

Dillon: Exactly. I have no idea what I would do if someone bought that. I would probably end my music career because the remixes would be so bad.

Finish it and just… “drops mic” and live in isolation.

Dillon: Boom. Add a snare to it and then call the remix.

What’s the fear in being a vegan?

Dillon: I cannot be a vegan. I have no idea what I would eat. I do know what I would eat but I wouldn’t want to eat that.

A lot of lentils and a shit load of soy.

Dillon: Yeah, fuck plants, dude.

You had your music featured on Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, along with your Dillon of the Dead cameo. If this were real life, what would your final hours look like, and what the fuck would you do?

Dillon: I would just send out so many tweets to girls that I want to sleep with. Like, please, I’m going to die soon, it’s been a dream of mine, and then see if it happens. Maybe I could go to the Make A Wish Foundation, because I could be like, look, I know that I’m going to die soon from this zombie attack. Can you help me make a wish come true?

Your DJ Rich as Fuck parodies are on point. Are there any other things DJs shouldn’t do on social media?

Dillon: Everything. Everything. We suck. I thought it was really funny that Calvin Harris tweeted a while ago, I feel responsible for all these DJs taking their shirts off on instagram now. I definitely thought that was a good one.

Does Calvin Harris know that you’re in love with Taylor Swift?

Dillon: Am I in love with her?

I don’t know. There’s that Vine of you and her at the mansion party.

Dillon: Man, that was the best. That was so much fun to make that video. I love both of them. I love both of them together, because they’re awesome, and then Calvin’s just so funny. I love making videos with him, even though they’re very rare when they happen, but he’s a good director. If I could have Calvin Harris direct all of my instagram and Vines and all of that, I would do it. I don’t think he’d do it though.

What’s your affinity with the SBS broadcaster Lee Lin Chin, and what are your thoughts in relation that we can’t all be Lee Lin Chin, there can be only one?

Dillon: She’s lying, she knows we can all be her. And we all will be. Take that, Lee Lin Chin.

I reckon in year 10 I had the same haircut as Lee Lin Chin, just saying.

Dillon: She’s so awesome. She just reminds me of me, but as a woman, because she’s hilarious, and she does this green screen stuff all the time, and I fuck with her, man, I fuck with her vibes.

2016 is about good vibes, and Lee Lin Chin’s got good vibes. She’s a fashion icon, as well. She lives in Sydney. She’s got it going on.

Dillon: She’s definitely chilling on Bondi Beach right now. Being like, fuck you, haters and living that SBS dream.

What’s the worst “cooked” thing you’ve seen at any of your gigs?

Dillon: Okay, the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Vegas has always got some really interesting characters that come in, and I remember a couple weeks ago playing, and this guy, he looked like Macho Man Randy Savage, like a cowboy slash some other wrestler with really stringy hair. I think he was at some table with some people, and he decided to stand up on the back of the table, and he was just swaying so slowly. He looked like he was supposed to be at some weird capillian or something. He was just dancing so bizarre, and everyone – my tour manager and all of us were just flipping out, because he was staring at everybody and everyone was staring at him in the crowd, and it was like, this guy is a fucking G, he does not care. He doesn’t care.

Dillon: His skin was so leathery, too. Like a good old catcher’s mitt. I really want to paint that picture for the people that read this or hear this. He looked like leather. You could wear his skin as leather pants. He just had been sitting in the sun forever. He was baked. He was well done. He was literally cooked.

Lastly, where do you see Dillon Francis in years to come? More movies, obviously music, and like I mentioned before, a mini-series?

Dillon: Definitely more acting stuff. More acting stuff, and then working on putting out more new singles that are the vibe of ‘Coming Over.’ That’s what I’m really doing right now.

And blowing up inflatable toys.

Dillon: Exactly. All fucking dayyy.

The future is bright with this one.

–

TOUR DATES

Supported by Branchez (all shows) Paces (all Aus shows) +

more special guests TBA!

Fri15 April – Studio, Auckland

Sat 16 April – Max Watt’s, Sydney *SOLD OUT*

Sun 17 April – Argyle House, Newcastle *JUST ADDED*

Wed 20 April – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney *JUST ADDED*

Thur 21 April – Electric Circus, Adelaide *SOLD OUT*

Frid 22 April – Platform One, Melbourne

Sat 23 April – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth

Sun 24 April – Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane

Tickets for all shows here.