Club kids no more: Electronica collective Yung Dumb turns a corner
After almost a decade, group is shaking things up — and a record label is in the wings
After a decade of hosting wildly popular parties featuring local, national and even international talent — not to mention popsicles —Yung Dumb is changing its direction.
A collective of DJs, promoters, musicians and visual artists who combine DIY ethics of local art and visual installations, along with up and coming disc jockeys, Yung Dumb is known for its grassroots approach in creating a unique underground electronic scene in St. John's.
Yung Dumb was created in 2010 as an events series, originally run by Jeremy White and Jared Kennedy, along with Amy Fisher and Shawn Hynes (also known as Remix86).
Their plan: to create an alternative nightlife to the George Street scene.
We kind of accidentally created that space for a lot of people without knowing it.- Adam Harding
Adam Harding joined as a tastemaker with a long-running passion for electronic music, DJing and beat production, splitting his time between Toronto and Montreal from 2008 to 2016.
"Being there taught me a lot about underground dance music culture, which helped me apply that ethos to events in our own city while I ran Yung Dumb remotely," Harding said.
"I'd sporadically come back for shows, and to eat a fin and feather from Leo's."
Harding, now based in St. John's, is one of 20-plus actively working people involved in Yung Dumb.
He described the collective as having "inadvertently created something that was consciously alternative," working to create safe spaces, inclusion and ensuring gender parity in music line-ups — years before conversations about these ideals were being held in the local music industry.
"We kind of accidentally created that space for a lot of people without knowing it. That isn't being self-complimentary, it just kind of happened that way organically because that type of space was missing from St. John's for a long time," Harding said.
"It's also encouraging for people to see that there are DJs in the city within a wide spectrum of gender, race, and sexual orientation. I think now we acknowledge it more and push that agenda because we think it's important, but I think the impact of the event came from creating something new to the city where weirdos and people from different walks of life could feel safe, and hear music that they haven't heard before."
DJ collaborations
One particular instance comes to mind for Harding, when Yung Dumb brought Brian Wong, a.k.a. Gingy, to DJ in a collaboration with Lawnya Vawnya, the annual festival of alternative music and culture in St. John's.
"Seeing 400 people go absolutely wild to techno music in its pure grassroots form, I think that show reinforced the fact that people here don't necessarily want to hear music that they're always completely familiar with," said Harding.
"Our DJs play every type of event from your run-of-the-mill club gigs to morning yoga classes, but it's always the most special when we get together and throw a party on our own terms in an unconventional space, and bring a guest DJ to St. John's for their first time," he said.
We watched a very small scene grow into something bigger with a lot of different champions riding for the cause.- Adam Harding
Harding said he never gets bored of showing St. John's to people who barely knew the city existed before they were booked.
"Most of them leave after the show with a pretty great outlook on our province ... Ches's impresses," he said, referring to the iconic fish-and-chips restaurant.
And their accomplishments are just as impressive as a good feed of fish.
In 2018, Yung Dumb sold out the Johnson Geo Centre for a Pride event. The headliner was a New York DJ called Shyboi, represented by Discwoman, the biggest booking agency in electronic music for representing women and non-binary artists.
"It was really special to see [it] happen here, and in a science centre to boot. We have Ariel Zetina, another Discwoman artist, playing Pride this year, at the St. John's Farmers' Market," Harding said.
People looking to groove with Yung Dumb before the July Pride Week can check out 'Yung Dumb x Selenium ft. Justin Cudmore,' at Velvet Club & Lounge in St. John's on April 27.
Selenium is a group of women promoting techno parties in St. John's, while Cudmore is a DJ from Brooklyn, N.Y. The second instalment of Brent Mac's Best Kind BBQ and the autumn Sound Symposium will also feature the multi-talented Yung Dumb crew.
"2019 is our last year of events, and there's lots going on, so we're trying new things and planning to go out on a high note," said Harding.
In 2020, the collective will commemorate its 10-year run with a complete shift in focus, redirecting their energy and resources towards creating a brand new record label, boasting local and international talent.
"The plan is to connect our local electronic music artists with different producers and DJs internationally," Harding said.
"Our first release was by John Pac, out of Barcelona. We have records lined up from artists from Berlin, to San Diego, to Vancouver, and of course, releases by local artists … I run the business side, Adam Martin runs the design side."
Yung Dumb has recently worked with Romesh Thanavathan from Hey Rosetta!, and Diego Medina, owner of the Old Confidence Lodge, a Nova Scotia recording studio and venue.
"We're connecting with lots of new people outside of our circle by virtue of just putting new music out into the world," said Harding.
While some may mourn the loss of their favourite bi-monthly bash, Harding is confident that Yung Dumb's departure from events won't leave a void in the local electronic music scene, thanks to groups like Selenium, sharing similar values and throwing similar events.
"We watched a very small scene grow into something bigger with a lot of different champions riding for the cause, so in that sense, it only feels right to shed the exoskeleton and do something totally fresh and exciting with it," he said.
Does this shift from partying to production mean that Yung Dumb is getting older and wiser as it nears its 10th birthday?
"I'm kind of sad that this might be the last time someone drops this joke," said Harding, "but I'll finally admit it after all these years — yes."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
