Festivals, Hits and Mother Nature: Dom Dolla and the Puzzle Pieces of a Career-Defining Year

Performing at some of the world’s top music festivals for the first time is no small feat. Doing them all back-to-back in a matter of months is even more difficult.

Dom Dolla is one of a few DJs to experience this ineffable journey, where he sprinkled in a few miracles along the way.

The barnstorming house music artist and “Miracle Maker” producer most certainly has made an impression this year while enjoying some unique bucket list experiences, like DJing through a freak snowstorm that walloped his debut performance at Red Rocks. This kind of extraordinary occurrence has become commonplace for Dolla, whose career is amplifying at a breakneck rate as he achieves one milestone after another.

We caught up with the breakout Aussie to dive deeper into the puzzle pieces that came together to form his career-defining year.

EDM.com: On April 24th, you did a “B2B with Mother Nature” at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Can you walk us through this unforgettable evening and what exactly went down—or came down—that night?

Dom Dolla: That night, I just arrived from… I can’t remember where I was coming in from. But, I was very sleep deprived. And I think that we had to beat some sort of weather system that was in middle America—where we were flying in from—and I was like super stressed that I wouldn’t get any sleep. We landed in the morning and when I fell asleep, the show still hadn’t sold out, the weather was looking really grim, and all of my friends from Australia said they couldn’t make it. I was a bit like, “Well, this isn’t going to be what I expected.”

But by the time I woke up, the show had completely sold out, the weather had cleared up and all my friends were there. It was like the best day ever. My little sister came as well and some of my closest friends from high school, some of my team from back in Australia who hadn’t left Australia since Covid. It was just like the most incredible bucket list night of my life, to be honest. It was phenomenal. And then the snow started falling halfway through the set as we switched the lasers on and it was just unforgettable.

I’ve wanted to play that venue since I started DJing and writing music. To headline it was one thing, then to have such an unforgettable moment, surrounded by people that are so close to me was—you know—icing on the cake.

EDM.com: At the time, you said it was the best set of your life and the biggest headlining show of your career. It’s remarkable how quickly you eclipsed that feat over the past three months. Following Red Rocks, you went on to EDC Las Vegas, performing for 90,000 people on the festival’s mainstage. Did you know you were going to perform at kineticFIELD? 

Dom Dolla: I found out about what stage I was playing at pretty last minute. I don’t know whether my agent knew and decided not to tell me so that I wouldn’t freak out… but I had the right amount of time to prepare.

I DJ a lot. And I have been playing to big crowds for a couple of years now—I mean 5,000 to 10,000 people, sometimes 20—but to play to 90,000 people… I don’t really get nervous but my heart was playing psytrance in my chest.

The minute I started, it all went away. 

It was like I was right where I belong. That was career-defining for me. I didn’t think that those sort of house, techno sounds would ever make it onto mainstages at big dance events like EDC. And to see that happening is so exciting. Even on the weekend, I was having a chat about Tomorrowland and the idea that this sort of “left-of-center dance music” is now on the mainstage at the biggest festivals on earth is so exciting. 

I’m just so excited about the future of dance music. The lines of genres are becoming so blurred and scenes are becoming much less defined. Everyone is just having more fun, I think. Doing what feels right, and being true to themselves as artists is what is what I think is really important too. As opposed to “the crowd wants this, let’s give them this.” But its like, “What does the crowd not know they want, but are going to love when they get it?”

EDM.com: How long have you had “Miracle Maker” in your back pocket?

Dom Dolla: I started working on [“Miracle Maker”] last year, I believe. I was just playing the instrumental for months before I teamed up with Clementine Douglas to work on the vocal. With the instrumental, everyone was like, “Holy shit what is this?” Then I was like, “Okay, well if this is how it’s being received as it is right now, how much further could we level it up?”

I’ve never had a record that works every time. Any of my past records, they’ve “failed” in the DJ context someway or another. But “Miracle Maker” was one of those records for me that worked every single time. And then artists started hitting me up and all of my friends were like, “Give me this.” I’ve never had so many people ask for it either.

I am just so grateful that everyone is into it and that it seems to be getting this natural momentum. It’s inspiring for me, in terms of being a writer-producer.

EDM.com: How did you and Clementine Douglas meet?

Dom Dolla: I was introduced to her by my brilliant friend who’s a singer-songwriter named Caitlyn Stubbs. We were doing some writing sessions and she was like, “You’ve got to meet Clementine, a friend of mine,” and just brought her to the studio. 

We all started writing records together. We’ve written so many songs together, a lot of them from scratch and a lot of them just vocals. I’m probably stronger at melody than production in a lot of ways. I really connect well getting in the studio with other writers.

[Douglas’] voice was like perfect for that sort of nostalgic, 90s R&B sound. So, when we recorded it, I was like, “Clementine needs to feature on this, we don’t need anyone else.” They say the quick ones are the good ones, and that one was fast.

EDM.com: Kicking off July in style, you performed at the Brooklyn Mirage in New York City, selling out your debut show at the 80,000-square foot venue. Can you tell us more about this show?

Dom Dolla: New York is up for a good time and they like to party late. I know on the East Coast, the licensing hours are way later than they are on the West Coast. When I saw my set time as 2am, I was like, “This feels like I am playing in Miami or Ibiza… I’m so down for this.”

I was having the time of my life for sure.

EDM.com: Without a shadow of a doubt, this has been your biggest run of summer shows yet and you are still going strong. Having been to Brazil, Chile, Ibiza, Italy, Romania and now Canada, among many others, what do you do to keep yourself centered and on track while constantly on the road? 

Dom Dolla: Sleeping at every given opportunity. And, also surrounding myself with people that I love. I work with people that I’ve known for a really long time and they’ve become my closest friends. I am always surrounded by my mates, basically. 

My tour manager is my best friend Harry, we’ve been best mates since we were 14. He studied logistics and managed a travel agency and it was just so perfect. I was like, “You need to come and be my tour manager.” And my manager James has been my manager since the beginning—since I was like 19 or 20. He used to be a DJ and we’ve got very similar tastes in music. We were part of the same friendship group. It’s all just easy.

Surrounding myself with friends and people that I care about makes this job a breeze.

EDM.com: So, you met “God.” What was that like?

Dom Dolla: Yes, Tiësto. That was amazing. Obviously he is basically one of the founding fathers of modern dance music as we know it. I am such a fan of his old classics and I got to the point where on my social media I was trying to turn him into a deity and then he caught on. Then he got my number and we started texting, saying, “We definitely have to meet up.” 

We ended up meeting up at Tomorrowland and that was very funny. Everyone was just in stitches. All of the production crew from Tomorrowland, all of my team, all of his team, everyone’s just laughing before we have even linked up. It was gold.

He is such a lovely guy. No one is in an industry for a long time without being really dedicated to their craft and being a good person. Yeah, he has been really welcoming.

EDM.com: While you’ve had a noteworthy festival run so far, performing at Ultra Miami, Coachella, Tomorrowland and many more, the momentum continues. What shows are you looking forward to next?

Dom Dolla: I am excited to be back at Space in Miami at the end of September. Oh! Playing at the Shrine. I am doing my own headlining show at the Shrine in L.A. I am very excited for that one. I did a co-headline with Sonny Fodera just before Covid… and it was one of my favorite shows ever. So I am excited to jump into that one as a solo show and play the night out.

I am also excited to actually go home to Australia and play some shows. Since Covid, I haven’t really played in my home country and it feels well overdue. Hometown shows are always the best shows. Just the vibe is incomparable. We are about to announce a bunch of festivals and shows over summer in Australia. It’s going to be fun. Lucky for me, I live an endless summer.

You can catch Dolla on tour across Europe, North America, New Zealand and Australia for the remainder of the calendar year.

FOLLOW DOM DOLLA:

Facebook: facebook.com/domdollamusic
Instagram: Instagram.com/domdolla
Twitter: twitter.com/domdolla
Spotify: spoti.fi/3g2cuTm

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