The best part about music festivals is that everyone has a story. Whether you’re a punter or an artist or something else entirely, everyone has that one festival story that they keep up their sleeve to share with a few mates over a couple of cold ones. Now, chances are that story doesn’t involve you almost losing your entire life’s work. That is, unless you’re Dugong Jr.
Producer Dugong Jr. is the latest guest to stop by the MUSICbible Australia studio, and he told host Jackson Langford the story of how he almost lost all of his unreleased music at Splendour In The Grass thanks to some particularly bad weather.
“I was at Splendour the year it was really, really muddy,” Dugong Jr. said, which could honestly mean any number of Splendours. North Byron Parklands in mid-July is a famously wet affair.
“I played my set, but I wasn’t staying in the artist’s area. I stayed with some friends who were camping so we would just trek in to see the other artists every day.
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“The night that I’d played my set, I’d finished, met up with some friends and got some drinks. We were seeing Tame Impala on the hill and it was really muddy. I slipped over, fell down and I was covered in mud.”
This is arguably a classic Splendour in the Grass experience — a rite of passage, if you will. But what happened next is hardly relatable.
“The USB I was using to DJ with,” Dugong Jr. continued, “fell out of my pocket and I had no idea until a few days later. A guy messaged me on Instagram and said, ‘Hey man, I think I found your USB at Splendour with all your unreleased stuff on it — do you want it back?’”
Needless to say, Dugong Jr.’s answer to that question was a resounding “uh, yes please” — he got his work back, but at least he got a great story out of it.
Of course, it wasn’t just the low moments Dugong Jr. discussed on this episode of MUSICbible Australia. We also talked through his new music, what he’s got coming up, and got his take on what being a ‘fan’ means in the year 2025.
Stream the full episode below, and stay tuned for more episodes of MUSICbible Australia coming soon.
Jackson Langford