It was a busy summer for producer/DJ Audien as he recently wrapped up his nationwide “Progressive House Never Died” tour, capped off by his biggest headline show to date at the Hollywood Palladium last month. If you were at one of the shows you were treated to an absolute treat as Audien and various friends brought the magic of golden-era EDM to enthusiastic and delighted crowds. We recently got the chance to chat with Audien (real name Nate Rathbun) about the PHND tour, his growth as an artist, staying close with fans and what’s coming in the future. Check out our interview below.
Hey Nate, thanks for chatting with us, it’s been a while since we last talked. You’re fresh off the Progressive House Never Died tour. Tell me what was the inspiration behind it, and how has the tour been so far?
“It was really just about carrying the torch for something that I feel was forgotten. Back in 2014, 2015, 2016; I felt like progressive house music, or at least, energetic dance music was really so momentous and huge. Everyone connected with it simultaneously, and seemingly, within a few months, everything kind of just tapered. I think there was a lot of saturation in that market; you didn’t hear a lot of progressive house being made. And, it became all about future bass, and now more, house, like tech house and stuff like that. But, it’s just about going back to those anthemic progressive house music moments that no one really gets to experience anymore. It’s unique, something that was once over-saturated is now completely unique, because nobody can get it anywhere. If you go to a festival, you know what you’re going to get; a ton of bass, a ton of house, and maybe a few prog-house guys.”
Obviously, the Palladium show was your biggest headline show to date. Tell us what was your first show, how do you feel to be playing such a big venue solo? What’s it been like seeing the size of your audience grow over the years?
“It was, first of all, the perfect room to have it. But, also, it was just that next step up, it was very ambitious doing a venue that size, but, something deep down was like, we can do this. And, so, I went for it. There was risk there, for sure, but, you can’t win if you don’t play, right? It’s been great, I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty blessed that it’s happened so consistently. For some artists, it happens overnight, and they get really shell-shocked by that. Or, maybe, it’s just like it goes up and then down all the way really quickly with some other styles of music. But, with me, it’s just been a slow rise, and I actually like that. It gives me a chance to have my footing and give people something that I really think sets the bar forward a little bit each time. And, I think that’s what having a great story is all about, with music. When I say story, I mean the progression of music, it shouldn’t be this rushed, quick, viral thing. It should be something that’s built over years of time. Everyone’s living their life, you can like a style of music, and enjoy it for many years, it doesn’t just have to be this trendy thing.”
Speaking of growing as an artist. How do you maintain a relationship with fans, how do you decide like, oh, I’m going to do a meet & greet, or I want to drop merch?
“Well, the meet & greets we try to do for every show. But, it’s funny, there’s a guy named Christian who’s become really close with me and he runs a fan group for the Audien project. But, he’s at most of the shows, and he organizes a lot of the close fans that I’ve come to know. And, we always set up meet & greets and stuff and just do it as much as we can within reason. But, merch is something that’s so fun for me, it’s just fun. All the merch ideas are my ideas, like all the clothes and stuff.
I’ve worked with a few people that are close with me to come up with those ideas. But, at the end of the day, it’s something that I would wear, and it’s something that I l really like. And, so merch is just extremely fun, it’s not about anything other than just having fun. It’s not that I’m like, oh, the fans would love this, it’s like, I want to put this out, because I would wear this. But, yeah, I’m so blessed with that. I have such great fans that are really open minded and cool. When you come to an Audien show, you’re going to make friends, probably, is my guess. Because they’re just really nice, happy people.”
What makes Los Angeles so special? Why did you decide to have your biggest show here? What are some of your favorite food spots here?
“Yeah, I’ve lived there for a long time. There’s one place I like called Sushi Fumi, down on La Cienega, West Hollywood. It’s like this hole-in-the-wall sushi spot, that, if you know about it, you go all the time. It’s why there’s a line at 5 PM, but, you gotta go, it’s amazing sushi and this tiny one-off place. But, I love a lot of places in L.A, I like some of the more bougie-er ones, but, I also like, I always got amazing acai bowls at this place called Copacabana, I think it’s a chain, but the ones in L.A. I always used to love.”
I feel like we’re due for an Audien album, what do you think the future holds for you? What would you tell fans to expect?
“Yeah, I’m going to do another one of those eventually. But, just a lot of really good prog-house songs, because that’s just where I’m at right now. I’m working with a lot of really good producers right now that definitely get it, they understand it. So, I’m going to have some collabs come out, but that’s just where I’m at. I’m making tons of progressive house, I have like four songs in the works right now that are all going to just trickle out, and maybe eventually waterfall into an album, but we’re thinking about it.
The one thing I want to say about albums is, you put out an album, and like three songs are really the ones that people care about, because they were probably the singles. And then there’s like seven songs that you love that no one hears. So, there’s got to be a way to do it where everyone can hear every song. The Chainsmokers are a great example, they do what’s called a ‘waterfall’ album. Where they just do like single, single, single. What I don’t like about that is when it’s album release day, you’ve already heard all of the songs. So, you’ve got to kind of weigh it out, but, definitely an EP for sure.”
What other tour stops or shows do you have coming up for the rest of the year?
“Tomorrow I’m doing Echostage with Deorro, that’s a big one, that’s going to be sick. But, we have a lot of really good shows being planned right now. I’m doing Lost in Dreams in Vegas which is a really cool festival. Some more shows with Zouk, I play in Vegas a lot with Zouk and Ayu at Resorts World, which has been amazing. It’s definitely the place to be in Vegas, in my opinion. Other than that, we got some East Coast shows, some Texas shows. I’m doing Freaky Deaky for Halloween, that’s in Houston, that’s a classic. There’s a couple that haven’t been announced yet that I just can’t mention. I’ve probably done more shows this year than ever before, it’s been a crazy year.”
Any last words or advice for the fans?
“Thanks for the support and look forward to more music and more progressive house, it’s coming.”
Check out the latest from Audien “Drifting Away” featuring Joe Jury, out now on Armada. Check out Audien’s annual Summer Mix as well.