2025 Movement Festival preview: Father Dukes
The Detroit DJ talks techno, pizza, and post-rave recovery ahead of her return to Memorial Day weekend’s electronic music fest
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Father Dukes is the pseudonym of Detroit’s resident party-starter Hailey Dukes. After cutting her teeth at Seraphine Collective’s beatmatch brunches, Dukes quickly made a name for herself throughout the city, and has recently been headlining bills in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and beyond. With her second run at Movement on the horizon, we caught up with the mixmaster ahead of the festival, set to return to Detroit’s Hart Plaza Memorial Day weekend.
Metro Times: As a native Ohioan, and now a Detroiter for many years, what does the Midwest rave and electronic music scene offer that you just can’t get in bigger “club cities” like New York or Miami?
Father Dukes: I think each city offers something different to music and has some of their own proprietary and legendary sounds and history, which is what I love about music and being on lineups that include people from a bunch of different cities all at once, like Movement! As a Midwest girlie I think one thing I admire most about the music that comes out of the Midwest is that many of our scenes and venues are still a lot smaller and homegrown so there is a lot of room to experiment and get freaky and weird with song production and selection, many times in unbridled settings which allows for a lot of musical growth and development as an individual.
Metro Times: How does a Father Dukes set differ between daytime or early evening at Movement vs. peak time at the club?
Father Dukes: Not sure it will differ! I think sometimes playing chill and groovy is nice during the day but sometimes you just need to send it and get things turnt – at this juncture, I am leaning toward the latter :)
Metro Times: What is your go-to food or beverage item to help get you through a full day at the festival?
Father Dukes: Water, people.... WATER! Still, coconut, sparkling, hit them UP! Foods, I really treat the whole fountain area food zone like a true millennial old-school mall style and just hit all of the stations up throughout the day. All the food mostly slaps, but for easy crowd maneuvering and to not be super bogged down, my go-to is just a slice (or four) of pizza! Shoutout Andiamo!
Metro Times: As a selector, your taste runs deep. In a Father Dukes mix, you’re equally likely to hear deep Ron Trent bass lines, a drum and bass edit of Kelela, super underground Detroit ghettotech, vintage funky electro tracks, and… Jamiroquai. Is there a certain sound or genre that has been especially resonating with you lately?
Father Dukes: I did not grow up listening to much electronic music because in Northeast Ohio at that time there wasn't really a scene for it, so as you pointed out, I listen to lots of other kinds of music all the time. Becoming much more well-versed in electronic music over the years, I have deeply integrated it into my palate – but I’m not a “one genre” kind of gal! I will say though, a group I've been listening to a lot – and just bought tickets for their Detroit show – is Thee Sacred Souls from San Diego. They’re an amazing soul band with beautiful vocals and harmonies, just heavenly! When it comes to electronic stuff, I love listening to new releases from my local pals and playing their stuff out, especially when I travel.
Metro Times: If you could curate your dream Movement stage for a day, who are some of the acts you’d book to perform?
Father Dukes: Gyrofield, Steve Rachmad, deadmau5, Livin Joy, LSDXOXO, Lauren Flax, DVS1, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and Britney Spears performing only songs from the Femme Fatale album.
Metro Times: What is one of your favorite Memorial Day Weekend memories?
Father Dukes: Some of my favorite moments are when your internet friends materialize and you get to meet them in real life and be like, “ARE YOU [Instagram handle]? It’s me, [Instagram handle]!” It’s great to be able to meet people whose careers you’ve followed or that you’ve interacted with online and get to meet here in Detroit and talk. I also love the magical moments where you did not plan to see a friend from here or afar and end up hanging out all day totally unplanned because you randomly ran into each other — that’s the special magic of this festival week for me.
Metro Times: What’s the best thing to do post-Movement weekend to detox and reset?
Father Dukes: Sauna, sleep, sit in the bed and go through your phone camera roll and reminisce, call off work for days after (pro tip) and smash some barbecue OR just keep the party rockin till ya can’t no mo’.
Metro Times: Are you cooking up anything special for your festival set? Any extra pressure to show up and show out on your home turf?
Father Dukes: Last time I played I was a little more tame with my selections and just wanted a daytime two step kind of vibe but this time I’ll be doing a lot more techno, acid, electro sounds and just show off some of my favorite examples of our foundational styles! I don’t feel pressure to show out above anyone else, I love that everyone gets to bring their own creativity and style to the festival but I’m certainly honored to play and want to do the best I can for myself and the people who support me, always!
Father Dukes performs at Movement Music Festival on Saturday, May 24. Movement runs through Monday, May 26 at Hart Plaza; movementfestival.com. Tickets start at $169.
