"YUSSUS" is the debut album by Grunge-Pop band Dude Safari from Surrey in England. This fantastic collection of tracks is a perfect example of what this band is all about in terms of personality and inventiveness, highlighting their remarkable ability to seamlessly open up to different creative ideas and take their music to a whole new level. The band's singles from "YUSSUS" have hit over 20 editorial Spotify playlists, as well as Apple, Deezer, and Amazon editorials. They've been on BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio, Total Rock, Planet Rock, and this month they were on BBC Radio 1.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Dude Safari. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
Jamie - I find it hard talking about being a great musician, I still feel 15 years old looking up at all my heroes. I guess to be a great musician is a dedication to your craft, hard work pays off for absolutely everything. Even without realizing.
Ben - Yeah, I’d say it's probably worth asking that to a great musician haha, but it’s definitely down to passion and hard work above anything else.
Chris - I wouldn’t say I was a great musician, far from it. But what strives me to become a great musician is simply making the best music I can.
Fred - I am far from a great musician but I do have a strong desire to always hear more music and express myself through creating new music.
Who inspired you to make music?
Jamie - Local band nights when I was about 16-17, I'd wander up to the venue on my own and watch like 10 bands each month, that was the beauty at the time...everyone would just show up to listen to music. We didn't check them out before. But yes, it was those local band nights. I longed to be up there haha.
Fred - Growing up listening to various bands and artists always made me want to do it myself. Only when I finally learned to play guitar did I realize how nice it feels to make music.
Chris - when I was younger and watching Blink 182 music videos and thinking to myself, their lives look so cool. I wanna be in an awesome band like that too.
Ben - Much the same as the others it was all about seeing my heroes in the bands I listened to when I was a teenager and wanting to be just like them. Bands like Nirvana, ACDC, Greenday and even The Darkness. I remember spending a whole summer with my friends playing Air Guitar to ‘Permission to Land’ and ‘Nevermind’ in the local park drinking LIDL own brand energy drink. Man, we were cool.
Your latest release is 'YUSSUS'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Fred - It kind of created itself in a way. As we were releasing singles it just added new layers to itself. It captured quite a few good and not so good events in all of our lives and perhaps you can feel it in the record.
Ben - I think what Fred means by it created itself is that Jamie wrote all of the songs like the machine that he is and as a band we all added our own stamp to it.
Jamie - The album got started in during the lockdown in 2021, its all self recorded (aside from the drums) so we rarely recorded whole songs together, if any. Most of the process was virtually because we couldn't physically see each other but it does give you a lot of freedom, I think we demoed the record in full first this helped with the writing massively and strangely I'd never done that personally before. Hmm unusual? Well, initially the turnaround time between writing and releasing was crazy sometimes. 'Big Worse' was written in early February, then recorded...released in March. We were proper on the ball whilst cooped up in our houses.
Can you shortly describe each of the tracks that are on the album?
Chris - Ain’t got time for that mate!
Jamie - Haha that's asking for a long answer. I'll sum up the songs in one sentence if thats alreet?
Lead Balloon - A song about depression, using the moniker of a cockroach, a bug.
Bug Hunter - A song about hunting said bug.
Maybe It's A UFO - A song about feeling like an alien longing for a UFO to pick you up.
Big Worse - A song about escapism, a lazy daydream about moving to Easter Island.
I'm No Good (At Any Sports) - A song about not being good at sports, using sporting terms.
Mr Prickles - A song about imagining yourself as a cactus, ripped out of home soil.
Doom & Bloom - A song about the love/hate relationship with feeling sad and grief.
Born To Lose - A song about the realization of making mistakes. Treading Water - A song about being too sad to be sad.
Godzilla - A song about the man.
I'll Entertain Ya - A song about doubt and giving up.
Until I Disappear - A song about trying to make amends before you die.
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest musical trends?
Ben - I’m about as up to date as a computer with windows 2000 as its operating system and dial up internet.
Jamie - Erm, I listen to a lot of playlists we get added to, that's the beauty of it right? The bands that we share playlists with are usually very relative to us! Trends not so much. But new bands to me, yes please.
Fred - By listening to streaming platforms and seeing what gems it sometimes spits out. I prefer if someone suggests something new as well.
What makes you different from others?
Fred - Not sure that’s a question I can answer. You would have to ask our listeners.
Jamie - Nothing really, that's the truth. We're not trying to be different, we're just trying to fit in. We're the not so cool kids in the playground but we have good music taste and have cool backpacks, we also sometimes sell cans of 7up to the popular kids.
Ben - The full fat 7up too. Not sugar free. We are the fun kids. We deal in riffs and E numbers.
What’s an average day like for you?
Jamie - Working at a job to pay the bills, writing a lot. Most of the time in my head and in voice notes at work. So maybe I get paid to write music? Factually thats right. Alright I'm a paid musician now.
Fred - Feed the kids, make the design signs, eat, listen to music and stay in the moment.
Chris - At work…dreaming about making music full time.
Ben - Sadly, like the others working to pay the bills to have enough money to get out with the band and play a gig or record music that makes it worthwhile to go to work every day and earn that money.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
Jamie - As we would with any friend. That's the bottom line.
Ben - Jamie nailed it.
Fred - I love chatting and getting to know the people that come to watch our shows. They have given their time and money to see us so when I’m chatting with them then I would like to know a bit more about them and get to know them.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Jamie - Do it, do your thing but definitely ask for guidance from folks who know the deal and have done it before. Respect your elders, respect knowledge.
Fred - Just do it. If it’s something you feel like doing then don’t stop and think about it. Just do it.
Ben - Fred doesn’t work for Nike I promise. But yeah, don’t listen to any negativity or people that will tell you it’s not worth it or a waste of time. Do what you want and enjoy it.
Chris - Chris; Do it! 100%! I’ve never looked back. Making music, even if it’s just for yourself, is such a rewarding process. Even if it doesn’t turn into anything you'll always have your own music to listen back to that you created yourself. Priceless!
Ben - Chris doesn’t work for Mastercard I promise.
What are your plans for the future?
Jamie - Now the album's out we can just focus on shows! That's the plan.
Chris - To keep making music for as long as I can. And hopefully inspire others to do the same.
Fred - To keep going as we are but scaling up and reaching more and more people. Playing more venues and bigger stages.
Ben - Yeah, ideally it would be good if we can play some bigger shows this year. We just want to get out there and play in front of as many people as we can!