The Detroit artist DUANE has gone by a number of names.
“I’ve lived a lot of lives, is what I say,” the artist tells Detroit Metro Times.
Over the years he has performed as the Teenage Weirdo (a self-described lo-fi ’80s-themed “performance art act” that caught the attention of Jack White, who released a single on his Third Man Records), the house-influenced Brand New Dog, and the Jet Black Eel, a project he describes as “’70s glam rock, a little bit country” that was inspired by Detroit’s indie rock scene and the death of David Bowie.
For his latest act, he’s dropped the titles: he’s just DUANE, now. But he’s not alone.
For the past year or so, he’s performed his own version of Detroit ghettotech, a genre of electronic music made popular in the ’90s and 2000s known for its repetitive hooks. But DUANE is no DJ act: he performs complete with a crew of backup Jit dancers, a high-energy footwork-based style that originated in the Motor City.
Last week, the group performed as part of the Hamtramck Blowout music festival, and it is set to be part of a fashion show on Friday for 313 Day.
“I feel like it’s something I’m supposed to be doing,” DUANE says of the new project.
On tracks like “Up D Scoe,” DUANE says he draws equal inspiration from turn-of-the-millennium pop acts like Britney Spears and NSYNC as well as Detroit ghettotech and techno artists like DJ Assault, Blake Baxter, and DJ Godfather.
“With this project, I really wanted to reference things that really made me, and my earliest memories, way back in ’99, as a little kid,” he says. “One was seeing Britney Spears on TV playing ‘…Baby One More Time.’ And my neighbors next door, they always had loud parties when I was a little kid, and they would play ghettotech and booty music. It wasn’t until much later, as an adult, I found out about it. It was a sound that I just grew up listening to. It was just around me, you know?”
He adds, “I wear my influences heavy on my sleeve.”
He says as a child, he and his classmates would even sing, “soap and water, soap, soap, and water” as they washed their hands — not realizing the line came from DJ Assault’s raunchy club banger “Ass N Titties.”
“I’ve always appreciated the sounds that Detroit’s known for, as far as electronic music,” DUANE says. “I have a long playlist of great techno tracks that I listen to when I go to the gym, just nice background music. But when it comes to ghettotech in particular, I really like that it’s very more stripped back and focused more on a personality. It’s very close to pop music. DJ Assault is, he’s a hook guy, you know, very repetitive.”
A cousin of sorts to Miami booty music, ghettotech has seen a revival in recent years, with other Detroit acts like HiTech riffing on the genre. And you can still catch DJ Assault perform at clubs around town.
“When I want to hear some of Detroit’s classic electronic music, I tend to go to that genre because it’s the closest thing to pop music,” DUANE adds. “Versus, like, listening to the Underground Resistance guys — which, you know, I appreciate. I like it. I sometimes sample some of their work, too, and I reference it, but it’s more atmospheric when compared to ghettotech and booty music.”
DUANE says he also wants to give his performances more of a pop music flair by incorporating choreography into his shows. To that end, he has collaborated with King L1 and other backup dancers from Jit Masters, a Detroit-area organization dedicated to teaching and preserving the dance style.
“I really wanted to do something like what Madonna did with vogue dancers,” DUANE explains.
“Right now, our main focus is making the best live show I can do,” he adds.
DUANE has a new manager now, Nicky Baby LLC, and says he’s seeking a producer to work with to help bring his music to life.
“The big difference between now and all the other projects is that I was doing everything myself,” he says. “And there’s a lot more people connected now. Things get bigger and spread more when there’s collaboration. That’s something I’ve never really learned until now.”
He says he has been particularly grateful for the mentorship of Stacey “Hotwaxx” Hale, a pioneering DJ, producer, and educator known as the “Godmother of House Music.”
“She volunteered to do my sound for the Blowout Festival,” DUANE says. “She just can’t help herself. She wants to make sure everything sounds good. … She’s got that old-school wisdom.”
At a time when economic pressures favor DJs over bands or other live music projects, the artist says he’s trying to do something ambitious and fun.
“A lot of things are all in place right now,” he says. “It’s just all right there. We just have to just put the work in.”
DUANE performs as part of The Spirit of Detroit Gala Fashion Outlet from 6-10 p.m. on Friday, March 13. Tickets are $33.85. More information is available on Instagram @DUANE_313.
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