D/R/U/G/S

D/R/U/G/S are free. The project of one Callum Wright, D/R/U/G/S craft some of the most euphoric, radical new music around . Made with the freeform attitude of synth visionary Oneohtrix Point Never, the fuck-you braggadocio of the Wu-Tang Clan, the cast-iron integrity of punk and the headlong desperate rush of rave, it’s untamed music for the moment.

23-year-old Callum spent his early years in “London council estate shitholes”, in his words, and moved to Manchester in his teens. Coming from a musical family (father, uncle, great uncle and granddad all worked as jobbing musicians), it was in his blood to make music. He’s been playing guitar since he was 15, but he only went over to electronic music a year or so ago, informed by the open-ended emotionality of Dan Lopatin, Clint Mansell and Tim Hecker.

Early tracks found their way onto the blogs and soon were being written about by Q, NME, The Fader, Dummy and XLR8R and played by Rob da Bank and Steve Lamacq on radio. This attention sent him on the road, and since starting out he has played around the UK and Europe, going down a storm at In The City festival, where he was given the title Most Buzzed About Act for the entire three-day event. No wonder – gigs, which see Callum pack his MPC unit full of samples to recreate his brave, warm synth music live, are closer to raves – a glorious journey into total freedom, total power, total moment.

2011 saw Callum tour extensively across the U.K and Europe. His summer schedule made way for his first Glastonbury experience after being hand picked by a number of the BBC’s tastemaker DJ’s to play the introducing stage. Reading, Leeds, Rockness and Bestival followed, as did a hefty number of European festivals. During such performances the NME stated that D/R/U/G/S are “The future of dance music”. In the autumn he took to the road with German electro duo Digitalism playing at over 20 sold out venues, garnering new fans with his specifically tailored support set. 2012 culminated with a home coming set at Manchester’s Warehouse Project, with a mind blowing performance set against a back drop of mind bending visuals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jHms-Pj81s ). It was the perfect end to a fantastic year.

Now early 2012 and Callum is taking a short hiatus from live shows and focusing on forthcoming releases and mini album. He is also busy crafting his DJ sets, a string to his bow that will be unleashed to full effect this year. This trip to SXSW festival will provide America with their first taste of D/R/U/G/S.