‘Running Up The Hillside’ is the latest single from Dirk Da Davo, a Belgian electronic music pioneer best known as one half of the groundbreaking band The Neon Judgement, which helped define the early electronic body music (EBM) scene.

Today, Dirk continues to experiment through his independent digital label Dancedelic-D, crafting bold tracks that fuse industrial, punk, and electronic sounds.

‘Running Up The Hillside’ is a good single. Can you tell me, in your own words, what I’m listening to when I listen to ‘Running Up The Hillside’?

Dirk Da Davo: A semi-industrial track with a punky attitude.

What is ‘Running Up The Hillside’ about?

I wrote the lyrics when I was thinking about how difficult it is to market your work in today’s economic music model. It’s not easy, and sometimes I do feel like I’m constantly running up against a mountain just to stay afloat in this business. There are moments when you get discouraged. Hence: “Running Up The Hillside / I can hardly breathe, it’s a hard track / I think I might stop / Running up the hillside…” I could use a smartphone so I would be on track.

That last part is about the digital life of music these days. But I’m not stopping—I can work independently through my digital label dancedelicd.com, so I’m making my own plans and laying down my eggs. That’s the most important thing for me.

When and where did you make this single?

The song was recorded a while back, I think around the end of last year, in my home studio where I live in Spain.

How did you go about making ‘Running Up The Hillside’? What was the recording process like?

The song came about very spontaneously. I regularly collaborate in my studio with my German friend and bassist, Jorge Sanchez, who is also my photographer and cover designer at times.

We had just finished recording a track and still had some time left. I told him I had a demo drum track, and he wanted to listen to it. It was all very simple, minimal, and basic, but the bass was plugged in, and he said, “Let’s give it a shot.”

He played the track, and on the first take, it was perfect right away—one take! There was also a delay and distortion pedal on the bass during the recording, coincidentally, which gives the recording a wilder and somewhat punky feel. Afterwards, I created the arrangement with guitars, keyboards, and vocals. And that was it—the song was born.

What music influenced you in the making of ‘Running Up The Hillside’?

I try to be myself above all. I consciously wanted the track to have a more industrial sound, but I don’t think there’s a specific influence, really…

Why did you want to have remixes made of ‘Running Up The Hillside’?

Because it’s interesting to give a song a different perspective and thus introduce it to a different audience.

I’ve known Formshift for a while; we worked together on releases in 2016 and 2018—the 2016 ‘Crash’ EP and the 2018 ‘E Society’ EP. I’ve continued to follow him ever since because I love his work. After such a long time, I was happy to reconnect with him.

I discovered Mass Formation Audio by chance last year on YouTube and was immediately hooked. He has a nice, cool industrial/EBM sound, and I thought it would fit my release perfectly. I had to do some searching behind Matt’s back, but I finally found him, and he was immediately convinced to do a remix. I’m very happy with both remixes.

Will ‘Running Up The Hillside’ be released digitally only, or are you also planning a vinyl or CD release?

For now, I’m sticking with digital.

Is ‘Running Up The Hillside’ a precursor to something more, like a full album?

I do have quite a bit of semi-finished material that was intended for an album, but I’m not yet sure if I want to work that way. I have a primarily digital label, and if you always work and promote digitally, a digital album is released quickly but also quickly forgotten.

The digital audience needs constant new stimulation. If I release four digital singles a year, there are new stimuli for a whole year, and your musical lifespan is also prolonged. An album is so quickly forgotten in this fast-paced world. Times are different, and I’m adapting. So, for now, I’m sticking to digital single releases.

Joeri Bruyninckx

Headline photo: Jorge Sanchez

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