Cast your mind back to the turn of the millennium.
Among the celebrations, countdowns and general excess, many breathed a sigh of relief as prophecies declaring the downfall of society proved as accurate as a professional cyclist's urine sample.
As Sydney prepared to host its first Olympics, across the Pacific Ocean, Del The Funky Homosapien, Kid Koala and Dan The Automator (with a little help from Damon Albarn and others) were putting the finishing touches to the debut Deltron 3030 album. Its ambitious marriage of sci-fi and hip hop captured the imagination of geeks, nerds and the paranoid, and critics showered it with praise. Highlights were in abundance from the sheer ambition of ‘3030’, to the paranoid tension underlying ‘Virus’ via the confident boldness of ‘Mastermind’.
The success of the album prompted further collaborations between Damon and Dan. Just one year later, they released the debut album of a new, high-concept project with Jamie Hewlett called Gorillaz. While the Gorillaz debut album went on to sell over seven million copies worldwide, with Del also guesting on singles ‘Clint Eastwood’ and ‘Rock The House’, Deltron’s popularity continued to spread organically via word of mouth.
Over time they built a cult following of loyal fans spellbound by the detailed world they created and helped with some of the strongest production work of Dan’s varied and illustrious career. Their live shows were few and far between and as time progressed the likelihood decreased that there would ever be any more stories of Deltron Zero’s battles against the corporations of the universe.
In the years that followed the core players moved onto other things. Dan worked on numerous other projects including a second Handsome Boy Modelling School album, Kid Koala continued to scratch and Del’s raps remained firmly on the earth’s surface. Despite production officially starting on the follow-up in 2004, and with release dates promised as far back as 2007, it wasn’t until 2013 that the long-awaited second album, ‘Event II’ arrived. It featured a plethora of collaborations as diverse as Zack De La Rocha, Jamie Cullum and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and continued the narrative a decade later in the year 3040.
Dan has worked with all-star collaborators on numerous past projects, an experience which doesn’t faze him. “I think true collaborations are when you get the opportunity to work with people where you can trust whatever they do, it’s going to work even if it’s not exactly what you had in your head.”
The most notable musical change between albums is a shift from samples to live orchestral recordings. “It kind of evolved from a sampled record and we tried to continue that way,” Dan says. Being a classically trained violinist, Dan is more than qualified to compose, though his stage role of conductor is something new to him. “I know how to play, read and write music; it’s not like I’ve never done it but it’s not a specialty. Keeping everybody moving, it’s rewarding.”
Since a 2012 comeback show in Toronto, the 22-piece live band have taken the show across America, around Europe and at long last arrive in Australia at the end of the month. After two years of touring, this is probably the longest amount of time Dan has spent on the road with one single project. Since his collaboration with Kool Keith in 1996 as Dr Octagon put him on the map, he has collaborated under a series of conceptual projects including the seductive Lovage or the pop punk of Head Automatica, and in more recent times has worked more as a producer outright.
Inevitably the question arises whether there’s going to be anything more from Deltron. “Not imminently, but in the next several months, we’re working out the detail,” Dan says. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait until 2026 for the next instalment.
Deltron 3030 Tour Dates
Wed 25 Feb – The Hi-Fi (Brisbane)Thu 26 Feb – The Gov (Adelaide)
Fri 27 Feb – The Hi-Fi (Melbourne)
Sat 28 Feb – The Hi-Fi (Sydney)
Sun 1 Mar – The Bakery (Perth)
