Derek Miles
Audio By Carbonatix
Dandu makes some of the most challenging, instrumentally proficient music in the entire state. Made up of synthesist Ben Weirich, drummer Dylan Johnson and bassist Sean Dandurand, the band weaves a sonic web that is profound but never feels pretentious. “We spend a lot of time trying to make this music the least pretentious it can be. There is no doubt that people listen to our music and think we don’t listen to any pop music,” says Dandurand.
Dandu rides the fringes of the Denver instrumental music scene: It’s not quite jazz, electronica or prog. The band is similar to a modern Weather Report, where jazz-fusion sensibilities meet the abstract psychedelia of artists such as Flying Lotus and Aphex Twin. The challenge of labeling Dandu with a certain genre has presented itself in different ways for the band, but mostly on the business end.
“The biggest trial for this band is getting booked,” Dandurand says. “You’re going to get ignored by a talent buyer very, very, very often, and you have to not take that personally. The worst response [from a booker] was, ‘Why did you think this would work here?'”
When it’s hard to figure out where a band’s sound fits, the band has to take an alternative approach to booking and look to where its peers play, Dandurand says. Dandu tries to book venues where the jam bands that make up the fabric of Denver’s music scene play.
“We do kind of ride the outskirts of the jam scene. Our best shows in town are when we’re opening for people,” Dandurand says. “Just because of the nature of the music we make, we only draw 100 people to a headlining show, but for a support show, we will draw those same 100 people plus the crossover crowd. One of the best shows we played was opening for Victor Wooten at the Boulder Theater, and that was this perfect mesh of instrumental nerds and the jam scene.”
Dandu’s members also found that even with relatively short tours, they would end up losing opportunities for gigs at home. They now realize that bands don’t have to always be on the road when there is an infinitely larger audience online.
“I think everyone who is coming into town who is famous got big on the internet. At this point, if you’re a new band, you got famous on the internet,” Dandurand says. “We’re opening for Louis Cole, and he got hella famous because of it. Another example is Vulfpeck or the comedy looper Mark Rebillet. Many of the people who do well touring have a huge internet persona.
“It’s harder to do the decade-long, jam band tour grind,” he continues. “It just doesn’t seem as feasible. We don’t need the mental stress of going on the road, playing shitty bar gigs, usually to thirty people. And while they’re dope, we can’t keep on doing that.”
Dandu will open for Louis Cole Big Band at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom on Wednesday, December 15. While touring with Cole in Chicago, Boston and New York City, Dandurand says, he realized his band can target its content to those cities and just fly there for shows rather than stopping by on a tour that includes cities where Dandu hasn’t built a following. “The flying makes it so we can go do a weekend of gigs and not have to spend all week driving and playing markets that don’t suit our music,” he says. “Instead of playing Lincoln, Nebraska, because it’s on the way to Chicago, it just seems smarter for us to go straight to Chicago.”
The band is also working on an album after its members realized they don’t have enough content out there that reflects their musical vision.
“The songs we’re recording for the album are all songs we made together on two separate music retreats. We went to two different cabins near Fairplay and spent three days at each making up music. We’d jam for a couple of hours and work on tunes and sections separately. After doing our most recent two EPs in [a] studio, we decided to do [this album] at Ben’s home studio. We’ve never had enough money to spend unlimited time in the studio, so by doing it at Ben’s, we no longer have to rush. It’s been a game-changer. It’s the most fun we’ve had yet,” Dandurand says.
Dandu had its first taste of internet success with the music video for the 2018 single, “Butter Wave,” which was directed and animated by Mitchell Pond and features an animated wave of sentient butter consuming a fantastical representation of the universe. While it isn’t a huge track by any means, it’s Dandu’s most popular.
For the internet push, Dandu will meet with publicists and marketers to figure the best way to advertise its music. Dandurand also says the band will be stocking its YouTube channel with content and attempting to get its music licensed to other media.
Dandu opens for Louis Cole Big Band, Wednesday, December 15, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom, 2636 Welton Street. Tickets are $20.