Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque!
It's been a hot minute since there was an interview on the blog - and to make up for that, tonight we have somebody extremely special in the virtual hot seat - the incredible Ghosts of Venice. Known for his illustrious career spanning over a decade and a half - he's released on some of house music's biggest labels, produced some of the hottest tracks and remixes around, has over a billion streams under his belt - and he's also a pretty cracking DJ and promoter. With all of this in mind - I knew he had to get onto the blog!
So, without further ado - I'll let him do the talking!
For those who don’t know – who are you, what music do you make and where are you
from?
My name is Lee Dunn, and I’ve gone by many monikers over the years, but most people know
me as Ghosts of Venice. These days I mostly make Disco, and I’m from North Yorkshire,
England.
If you had to describe your sound to someone who’s never listened to your music,
what would you say?
My older stuff was heavily influenced by French and Chicago House - and labels like Crydamoure,
Roule, and Dust Traxx. It’s since evolved into more Boogie, Funk, and Disco stuff. It’s changed
so much over time that it’s hard to really pinpoint a sound. I just like to make music that’s funky.
You’ve had quite the career over the last seventeen years – however, let’s start way
back. Before you started doing solo work, you were in a duo known as Youth Attack in
the late 2000s. How did that come about, and can you share some good memories from
that time?
That was a project I did with Chris Petty, a friend and former bandmate of mine. We played in a
Grindcore band before we dabbled with making electronic music together. It was around the
time when blog house gained in popularity.
We started being exposed to more and more music
of that vibe and fell in love with it. We’d spend most of our time just hanging out with people in
that scene, discovering new music, and seeing how we could make something cool that was still
rooted in our old band’s sound. As a nod to that, we named ourselves after an album by the
Thrash Punk band Charles Bronson.
Building onto that – you started making music as Ghosts of Venice during the peak of
the blog house era – can you tell us a bit about why that era was so special, and also tell
us how you ended up in various crews such as the Solid Bump and GrooveTraxx
rosters?
The blog house era was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. There’s a lot of diversity in dance music
today, but you often see festivals and events separated by genre. In the blog house era, it
wasn’t uncommon to see a Baltimore House DJ open for an Indie band, or a Dubstep DJ share
the stage with a Techno act on a regular club night. I think I met those guys through MySpace,
which was the holy grail for finding new artists back in the day. We started chatting about music,
and just clicked.
What equipment and programs do you use to make your music – and how have they
changed over the years?
I started out using Cubase, but I’ve been using Ableton for the last twelve years or so. I
originally just used it to make Disco edits, but eventually switched to using it for everything. In
terms of equipment, I’m pretty much all inside the box, except for bass guitar.
What music have you been bumping a ton lately?
I’ve been listening to a lot of dubby and Balearic stuff recently. One of the venues I’m a resident
at likes that kind of vibe, so I’ve been playing it out a lot more. On the other end of the spectrum,
I’ve been really enjoying the latest Turnstile and Angel Du$t albums.
Your music has featured loads of amazing vocalists over the years – and you’ve
collaborated with the likes of Josh Jakq, Errol Reid and Liam Mockridge. When
approaching singers, how do you go about writing lyrics, and including their awesome
work into your tracks?
Honestly, the lyrics are almost always written by the vocalists I’ve worked with. I admire them for
their writing as well as their voices, so I always just let them do their thing. Sometimes we’ll
tweak and change certain things together, but most of the time, they knock it out of the park on
the first try.
On a completely different note, for the release of your single Her back in autumn
2010, you did an interview with White Girl Lust which is absolutely hilarious. I’m really
curious to know how you guys pulled that off!
I always forget about that interview until someone brings it up. It was the first track I had
released as Ghosts of Venice, and the Solid Bump guys wanted to try something whacky. They
pitched the idea to me, and I thought it would be really fun. We just recorded the audio from a
Skype call, and they synced the footage afterwards. I remember playing the whole thing off as if
it were a serious interview. I think it’s still on YouTube.
A few years ago, you released an epic, funky nu disco rework of Wrong Note by Moon
Boots. Can you give us an insight into the production process for that remix?
Moon Boots and I go way back. We were almost roommates back in the 2010s in Chicago. I just
messaged him out of the blue and said that it would sound great as an Italo Disco track, so he
sent the stems over. It’s more synth-heavy than a lot of my stuff, and that lead synth is modeled
after the lead in ABBA’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” - I had no intention of it being officially
released, but the label loved it. It’s one of my favourite remixes to date, and he still plays it in his
sets.
You were initially based in the UK – but you’re now living in LA! Can you tell us
some things you like about living in California?
I’m still discovering things I love about it every day. Everyone always says the weather is the
best thing, but the diversity is up there. Not just the people, but the landscape too. You can drive
a couple of hours in any direction from Los Angeles and experience a whole different vibe. Go
north, and there are snow-capped mountains. Go east, and you’re in the desert. Go west, and
you hit the beach. Los Angeles itself feels like a collection of unique villages with their own
cultures connected by freeways, rather than a single large city. Oh, and of course, the food.
You’re a resident DJ at the Gin Rummy bar in Venice – could you tell us about the
nights you play there alongside a bunch of other awesome artists?
Gin Rummy has graciously allowed me to throw parties there for the last 12 months. I use it as
an opportunity to book people I admire locally, as well as people that I don’t see DJing often
enough around town. It’s a very young crowd, and most of the DJs on other nights play Tech
House, so I feel like I’m doing a public service to the youngins by playing older funky stuff.
Building onto that – you’ve played many, many shows in your career – where’s the
coolest place / club you’ve played a gig at?
Smart Bar in Chicago is definitely in the top 3 off the top of my head. It’s one of the greatest
clubs in the world. One of the strangest was a club that was just a series of underground tunnels
in Marseilles, France. I was also briefly a resident at Leeds Warehouse, which is the club where
Marc Almond from Soft Cell worked on the night he heard a DJ play the original of “Tainted
Love” and decided he wanted to record a cover of it.
Back in July 2024, you released the amazing Disco Nouveau on Super Spicy Records
– how did that opportunity arise?
At the time, I hadn’t released any original music in ages. Most of my time was spent making
edits or producing music for other artists. I had a track that I was really happy with, but labels
were reluctant to release it because of that. Others were reluctant because I don’t really use
social media that often. But I sent it to Monsieur Von Pratt over at Super Spicy Records, and he
loved it. I think he agreed to release it on the spot.
Building onto that – over your career, you’ve released for some of the biggest labels
in house and disco music, including Strictly Rhythm, Defected and Salsoul. How did
those once in a lifetime signings happen – especially so early on in your career?
Strictly Rhythm signed the second track I’d ever made as Ghosts of Venice. Their A&R guy at
the time, Andy Daniell, reached out to me after he saw a video I had made for the demo using
footage from the movie “Mac and Me”, which is a ripoff of E.T. and may be the worst movie ever
made. The remix for Defected came off the back of that.
The Salsoul release happened by chance. Ultra had just acquired the back catalogue and the
rights to the label, as well as West End, and a few other Disco labels. They pretty much gave
me free rein to remix anything in the discography.
Aside from music, do you have any other creative hobbies?
I like reading a lot. I also did a lot of creative writing during the pandemic. I stopped making
music for a while and would just write most of the time. I think I’ve found a good balance of all
three these days, though.
Okay, now here’s the big one. You did a remix of Hold Tight by Nicholaas for
legendary label Italians Do It Better, and it ended up going viral, with it being viewed a
billion times. It is a stunning remix – so first, can you tell us some of the production
secrets – and secondly, did you ever expect it to get that big?
I jumped at the chance to do a remix for Italians Do It Better. That remix is a bit poppier than my
usual stuff. I was experimenting with different VSTs at the time and created the pads and synth
parts using the OP-Xa V, which I’ve never used before. I just wanted to create something
laidback, almost RnB sounding, and it really fit the vocals.
As for the remix going viral, it was
completely unexpected. I just opened up TikTok one day to use the track for a video I was going
to post, and saw there were 15,000 videos using the track. I thought it was an error or a glitch.
The number just kept going up every day. Now it’s been used on over 60,000 TikTok videos and
has clocked over a billion combined views to date, which is crazy.
In contrast, let’s go back to your very beginnings once again. In an interview for
Illictronix back in December 2009 – you mentioned that you’d been in bands for years
before making house music – so I’m curious to know what instruments you play – and
also, what are some of the differences between playing in bands, and producing house
and disco? I can imagine it was quite the switch!
I play bass and drums. Both come in very handy for electronic music production. When you’re
playing in bands, there’s a lot more compromise. When it's just me working on stuff by myself, I
have to make every creative decision, which comes with pros and cons. I do really like having
other people to push me creatively, though. I didn’t feel like it was that big of a switch-up
because Punk and electronic music have had a pretty consistent crossover since the 70s and
80s, and I feel like they share some similarities.
What's planned for 2026? Is there anything readers can look out for?
There are a couple of tracks that I’m working on with some really great vocalists. Hopefully, they
will be out before the end of the year. I’m also about to start writing for a new band project with a
few friends, which I haven’t done since before the pandemic, so I’m excited for that.
Do you want to give any words of advice for producers and DJs that want to follow
in your footsteps?
I think in the day and age of social media, there’s immense pressure on smaller artists to do
everything themselves, to constantly create content, and push their music. Don’t get burnt out
trying to juggle too many things at once. Do everything in your own time. Just post your music
and get it out there for people to hear. Even if it's not perfect or polished. Also, support your
peers, local artists, and your local scene as well.
Want to give any shoutouts?
Shoutout to all the musicians that don’t rely on AI to create music, and shoutout to the younger
crowd that are just discovering House and Disco for the first time. It’s been nice to see a
resurgence of it from younger generations lately.
There you have it, everyone!
Be sure to check out Ghosts of Venice everywhere - he does some absolutely amazing music - and I want to take this opportunity to thank him for reaching out and asking for an interview - it is such an honor, and I implore you to check out his tracks, or come to one of his shows.
Here are some of his links below.
As always - keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
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