Dave Aude Takes 'Pride' in NYC Gig
"It’s exciting just being able to be part of something like Pride — just being able to be part of the celebration and celebrate something that is very important to me."
L.A. party king Dave Aude has a smash iHeartRadio XM show, has had 75 Billboard #1 dance hits and played pretty much every major festival and club across the globe. He's even been nominated for a Grammy.
But the acclaimed producer says this weekend’s gig at New York City Pride ranks among the top accomplishments of his storied career.
“New York is one of those prestigious places to play for DJs straight or gay,” Aude says from his L.A. home. “I’m excited I was able to break that barrier. I finally made it to the cool table at school. I’ve had a lot of things happen in my career in the last few years. But this to me, NYC Pride, definitely holds a very big spot in my heart because it kind of tells me somebody is really taking notice.”
“It’s an opportunity for me to say that in a way, I’ve made it,” he continues. “It’s another thing I can check off my list of things I haven’t done. And there’s not many things in dance music I haven’t done. This one is very important to me.”
Aude’s list of collaborations reads like a who’s who of the Billboard charts over the past decade: Lady GaGa, Will.I.Am., One Direction, J.Lo, Beyonce, Coldplay, Selena Gomez. And the list goes on. He’s even collaborated with U2 and nu-metal legends Korn.
For NYC Pride, he says he’s planning a set heavy on pop remixes, as well as some very familiar, new special mixes he’s concocted, including a reworking of Tammy Wynette’s classic, “Stand By Your Man.” Aude plays Saturday at Pier 83 at 42nd Street and Westside Highway in a Pride event co-sponsored by Société Perrier.
“It’s exciting just being able to be part of something like Pride — just being able to be part of the celebration and celebrate something that is very important to me, even though I’m not gay,” he said. “I’ve been remixing and producing for 20 years and have a big gay following but have only been playing a lot of gay events the past couple years.”
“I think where music is at right now, dance music has really gone huge into the pop world and I think the gay crowds, and straight crowds too, want to hear more than just a circuit sound. They want to hear some of the more popular songs too. I’m not just playing tribal mixes, I’m playing the more pop mixes. For the most part, it’s very song-oriented and I think it’s refreshing.”
As for the differences between L.A. and New York crowds, Aude says the L.A. clubs are often filled with people there “more for the scene” rather than the songs, whereas in the Big Apple, “they’re really there for the music.”
He likes to stay in Union Square when in NYC and has a soft spot for Central Park, because that’s where he proposed to his wife a few years back. His other big connection to New York is the avalanche of tracks he’s done for Yoko Ono, including seven that hit #1 on Billboard. The pair have a new track debuting this summer, which will be Ono’s first original track in years.
“My all-time musical hero is John Lennon,” he says. “Being able to be one step away from John, is really cool.”
