Dúné
ew-naywere a Danish rock band from
Skive. At their split-up in 2018 the band consisted of Mattias Kolstrup (lead vocalist), Piotrek Wasilewski (bass, keysboards, backing vocals), and Ole Bjórn (keyboards, backing vocals, production). Their style was comparable to British and American
electronic rock
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...
and resembles elements of 1980s
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
and 1970s
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
blend with a distinct and modern Scandinavian touch. The band was best known for their entertaining and energetic live performances.
The band released four studio albums: ''We Are In There You Are Out Here'' (2007), ''Enter Metropolis'' (2009),''Wild Hearts'' (2013) and ''Delta'' (2016) and toured extensively around the world and supported acts like
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
,
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...
,
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
,
Panic at the Disco
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reactio ...
, and the German group
Die Ärzte
Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.
History Ea ...
around Europe.
Dúné's won a number of music prices including three
Danish Music Awards
The Danish Music Awards (DMA) is a Danish award show. The show has been arranged by IFPI since 1989, and was originally called ''IFPI-prisen'' ("IFPI-Award") until 1991, when it changed its name to ''Dansk Grammy'' ("Danish Grammy"). It was chang ...
(Best Group, Best Rock Album & Best Newcomer), the P3 Gold Prize, the 2008 European Border Breaking Award (for best selling debut album outside of Denmark), plus various other awards. In 2008, ''We Are In There You Are Out Here'' was voted Album of the Year (2007) by the readers of ''Soundvenue'' and "Dry Lips" was voted the best Danish pop song of the last 20 years by the readers of ''PopLick''.
History
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
Skive is a town in Skive municipality (Danish language, Danish, ''Skive Commune (subnational entity), Kommune'') in Region Midtjylland at the base of Salling Peninsula, a part of the larger Jutland peninsula in northwest Denmark. It is the muni ...
. 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 (synthesizer) and Piotrek Wasilewski. Wasilewski, who was trained in classical music in his native Poland, 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 Kolstrup bought his first analogue Synthesizer the band started writing their own material, strongly inspired by 1980s pop bands like
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting).
Depeche ...
,
Erasure
Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...
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 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 members before releasing their two self-financed EPs ("Rock, Synth'n'Roll" and "Go Go Robot") in 2004 and 2005. The EPs received rave reviews in the Danish media for 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
DR P3 (referred to in Denmark simply as P3) is a Danish current-based hit music radio station operated by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. It is broadcast on FM radio, DAB, and Internet radio.
It commenced broadcasting on 1 January 1963 as '' ...
and performed at the
SPOT festival
Spot or SPOT may refer to:
Places
* Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States
* The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia
* South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse
People
* Spot (pro ...
and
Roskilde Festival
The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...
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
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Denmark and the band won several awards like three Danish Music Awards, the P3 GULD Award and two GAFFA Awards. They performed as the support band during
Panic! at the Disco
Panic! at the Disco is the solo project of American musician Brendon Urie. It was originally a pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson. They recorded their firs ...
's 2008 tour in Germany and supported
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
and
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...
in the same period. Furthermore, they were the opening band at the 2008 Jäzzfest tour of the German punk legends
Die Ärzte
Die Ärzte (; ) is a German rock band from Berlin. The band has released 14 studio albums. The group consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.
History Ea ...
performing for audience throughout Europe.
After graduating 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
Ebba is a feminine given name, the feminine version of Ebbe, which is a diminutive form of the Germanic name Eberhard or Everhard, meaning " strong." Alternately, it may be a form of an Old English name Æbbe, of unknown derivation, which was the ...
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
Alessandro Renato Rodolfo Lindblad (born 7 July 1991), better known by his stage name Alesso (), is a Swedish DJ and music producer.
He has worked with numerous artists, including Tove Lo, Theo Hutchcraft, Ryan Tedder, Hailee Steinfeld, Calvi ...
resulting in a world wide club hit.
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 11 September 2010 where they took a break to begin the song writing for their third album while having to deal with three shattering 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 14 February 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 were 12!''"
2012–2014: ''Wild Hearts''
On 21 June 2012, the band announced that they had started recording their 3rd album over five month prior (on 13 Jan). Furthermore, they announced that the album was being mixed by Kevin Paul who've worked with Depeche Mode and Nick Cave. In an interview with GaffaTV, released on gaffa.dk on 21 June, Ole Bjórn revealed that the album was self-produced by the band.
The first single off the album was "HELL NO!" It was released on 10 November and premiered at
Danish Music Awards
The Danish Music Awards (DMA) is a Danish award show. The show has been arranged by IFPI since 1989, and was originally called ''IFPI-prisen'' ("IFPI-Award") until 1991, when it changed its name to ''Dansk Grammy'' ("Danish Grammy"). It was chang ...
in Copenhagen. Released on 21 January "All That I Have" was the second single off the album becoming a radio hit. ''Wild Hearts'' was released on 4 February 2013 and debuted at #3 on the official Danish Album Chart. It was mostly well received by the Danish critics with an overweight of 5/6 star reviews. The biggest Danish music magazine
GAFFA
''Gaffa'' (stylized as ''GAFFA'') is a free Nordic music magazine with local editions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''Gaffa'' is Denmark's largest and oldest music magazine. It has been published since 1983 and has 320,000 print readers and ...
wrote: ''"Their strongest collection of songs to date"''.
Anders Houmøller Thomsen from
Jyllands-Posten
''Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten'' (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to ''Jyllands-Posten'' or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circulat ...
praised the band for rocking out instead of lapsing into "acoustic senior-nastalgia", while
Berlingske
''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749,
''Berlingske'' ...
reviewer Jesper Krogsgaard Christensen described the album as "the band's best album to date".
During 2013 and 2014, the band moved back 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.
2015–2018: ''DELTA'' and split-up
In September 2015, Universal Music secured a record deal with the band and released their major label debut single "Trying to Get to You" on 18 September.
On 23 September 2016, Dúné released their fourth album ''DELTA''. The album went top ten in Denmark making it their fourth consecutive album to do so.
From 21 January 2016 to 18 November 2017, Dúné played their biggest tours in Denmark yet, with more than 100 dates. "The Grand Tour 2016" and "DELTA Tour 2017" was mostly sold out and underlined the bands status as one of their native Denmark's most popular live acts.
In August 2018, Dúné split up to focus on individual projects. They played three goodbye shows at the SmukFest festival and twice sold out at the Copenhagen venue 'Vega'.
Members
Last-known lineup
Mattias Kolstrup – vocals (2001–2018)
Piotrek Wasilewski – bass, synthesizers, percussion (2002–2018)
Ole Bjórn – synthesizers, piano, programming, vocals (2003–2018)
Former 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–?)
Mikkel Balle Poulsen – guitar (2014–?)
Timeline
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Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:03/22/2001 till:08/25/2018
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:Vocals value:red legend:Lead vocals
id:Synthesizers value:orange legend:Synthesizers
id:Guitars value:green legend:Guitars
id:Drums value:blue legend:Drums
id:Bass value:purple legend:Bass
id:Lines value:black legend:Studio albums
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2002
LineData =
at:05/29/2007 color:black layer:back
at:08/14/2009 color:black layer:back
at:02/04/2013 color:black layer:back
at:09/23/2016 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Matt text:"Mattias Kolstrup"
bar:Piotrek text:"Piotrek Wasilewski"
bar:Ole text:"Ole Bjórn"
bar:Danny text:"Danny Jungslund"
bar:Simon text:"Simon Troelsgaard"
bar:Malte text:"Malte Sørensen"
bar:Cecilie text:"Cecilie Dyrberg"
PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Matt from:03/22/2001 till:end color:Vocals
bar:Ole from:10/01/2003 till:end color:Synthesizers
bar:Piotrek from:04/01/2002 till:end color:Bass
bar:Danny from:10/01/2003 till:09/01/2013 color:Guitars
bar:Simon from:03/22/2001 till:12/01/2011 color:Guitars
bar:Cecilie from:04/01/2002 till:10/01/2010 color:Synthesizers
bar:Malte from:03/22/2001 till:05/01/2011 color:Drums
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
*''Let's Jump'' (Demo CD, 2003)
*''Rock, Synth'n'Roll'' (2004)
*''Go Go Robot'' (2005)
*''Bloodlines EP'' (exclusively released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 2007)
*''Dry Lips EP'' (2007)
*''80 Years EP'' (2008)
*''Leaving Metropolis'' (2010)
Charting singles
References
External links
*
*
Dúné at Last.FMDúné at DREAMUSICMattias Kolstrup's blog(archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dune
Danish indie rock groups
People from Skive Municipality
Musical groups established in 2001