East End Dubs: "I Make Lots of Music, but I Don't Like Putting it Out"

London-based East End Dubs is an artist held in high esteem among his peers for his continuous innovation of the house music sound. It might come as a surprise, then, that the DJ, label head, and producer isn’t too keen on drawing attention to his own music.

“I don't specifically enjoy releasing music,” he told Gray Area during our Spotlight interview. “I make lots of music all the time, but I don't like putting it out.”

The rare tracks that make it out of the vault include classics like “bRave” and his edit of Kelis’ “Bossy,” as well as new cuts like a “Goodies” rework and the funky original “What’s Going On.” All have amassed hundreds of thousands of streams.

Regarding his creative output, it took time and experimentation for East End Dubs to develop his identity. “I had a couple of other projects before, and I’ve done some anonymous stuff,” he says. “I also used to DJ for a couple of major clubs in London here and there. But after all that, it took some time to basically find my identity and decide on the sound that I really enjoy.”

So where does all of this unreleased music end up? The multitalented artist infuses his DJ sets with his original productions, making each of his performances a rarity with many unreleased tracks. He finds that often, these IDs are what resonate the most with audiences, allowing him to see their reaction to his music in real time.

“To be honest, I think the milestone tracks have been the ones that I didn’t release, or only released limited white label copies,” he says. “I basically just try to keep it all for myself, and play it out myself. That's what makes me quite exclusive in a way, because I play my own music most of the time.”