David Allen opens up about his origins, influences & latest single ‘Kubera’

Quickly becoming an unwavering fortress of talent, Dr. Shiver‘s Art & Music Recordings – which the Italian DJ, producer and label head honcho considers his “baby” – has been courting some of the most adept young producers of the Dance music scene in Europe. One such producer to join these ranks was David Allen, who – after his Demo was accepted by the label – was so mesmerized by the professionalism and atmosphere of the label that he put pen to paper and became one of their own – growing leaps and bounds in his ability and honed his talent further. The latest result of this mutual appreciation is David Allen’s latest Art & Music Recordings release ‘Kubera’. With the title being so powerful in its genesis, the track reflects the same as the perfect blend of synth chords and heavy beat-work takes the track to the promised land of European success.

And after being confirmed as the #9 success on 1001Tracklists’ newcomer chart in his recent post, David Allen has no reason to believe that track would fade away anytime soon from the scene. A name to watch out for, we have surely added him to the list of talented producers who ought to make it big in the Dance music scene in Europe.

We also took this opportunity to sit down with the rising Italian talent to let him tell us his origins, his influences, his plans and what are his views on production and his latest release on Dr. Shiver’s Art & Music Recordings. So join us and read on more about the personality behind David Allen himself.

How long have you been a producer/DJ for? Tell us about the origin of your music. What inspired you to pursue your career as an artist    

I have been producing for 3 years now and DJing for 4. At first it was playing some music with my laptop at my friends’ parties, then I moved to clubs and nicer venues.

I started playing piano when I was 8 with a private teacher, I really loved it but then I quit because classical music was not for me. At 14 years old I had a cover band with some of my friends, I was playing keyboards but, as a real ‪Jonas Brothers fan, I wanted to be like ‪Nick Jonas (he plays drums piano and guitar). So I started learning guitar by myself watching YouTube tutorials and drums asking the drummer of the band to teach me something everytime. As a band we had fun but after 1 year we split up. Nonetheless I wanted to continue producing music so I took ‪Owl City as a reference: he was making everything with a laptop so I thought “I should try”. At 15 years old I started using Fruity Loops and produce something with the help of a dear friend of mine: his alias is From Another World. Then I just sent a demo to Art&Music Recording, I still remember when I came to the the studios for the first time and I thought “Wow, what a sick studio”! Then I immediately switched to Cubase and bought a MacBook Pro, and it was all the way faster than my Windows laptop!

From that moment I became one of their artists, learning something new day by day, like recording real instruments, vocals, mix & master techniques.

Who do you consider to have been your biggest influences throughout your career that have made an impact on your productions?

I came from a culture made of Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Beatles, Dire Straits, Linkin Park and so on. Even if I’m Italian I never felt Italian music that much, except for artists like Gianna Nannini and Vasco Rossi. Anyway i can say that today i still get inspired from those past vibes. And last but not least I’m a big fan of Hans Zimmer!

You’ve just released a massive record titled “Kubera” on Art&Music Recording. Could you tell us how the track came to life?

The track came to life last September, as I was preparing something for the ADE and I came up with the first version of Kubera that was totally different from the final one. After a series of feed-backs I decided to redo all the track trying to combine the wobble sounds and the tribal one as well. So the latest version of ‘Kubera’ was born. As for the title, it was funny because in the breakdown there is an Indian vocal, so I started looking for Indian Cities, and the chances were “Brahma” or “Kubera”: we chose Kubera in the end

Speaking of your latest track, it received huge amount of support from the likes of Hardwell, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and David Guetta to name a few. How does it feel to get support from artists like that? And what’s the best piece of advice you’d give to aspiring producers?

I felt really satisfied, It pushed me to always go ahead and do more and more,but I’m very lucky to have someone behind me who can push my music and myself. Art&Music Recording is doing it in such a good way! I always think that I would not be where I am without their help!

The best advice I can give to my colleagues is to never get tired of something, if it’s needed keep on working on it, also don’t get rid of your old projects because one day you can pick something from there and make a new track. That’s what happened to me with a new track I’m working on, so don’t settle too soon, if there is any doubt on the production just solve it! That’s what happened with “Kubera”.

We saw that you were in the studio with Fraanklyn, Dr. Shiver and Michael Feiner last week. Can you give us more information about the session? Is there any interesting material you’re cooking up?

We met Michael for the first time in Miami in March for the WMC, he’s a super nice guy, I really like him and his attitude as a human but also from a producer point of view: he’s also a really great musician!  Michael came to our studios after a gig and stayed with us for 3 days doing jam sessions with Dr.Shiver, recording stuff for his next single and starting to work on something new, but I can’t tell more about it.

Fraanklyn now is part of the family: he joined our production team, and I can say he’s a very talented guy!

 What are some of your plans for 2017? Any follow-ups? Upcoming singles?

For this summer I have tons of new stuff prepared and few cool gigs.

There are lot of follow ups planned! I’m working on so many things at the moment, not only club bangers, but also Pop or Spotify friendly tracks. Which genres? Everything! Hybrid trap, Future Bass, 100 bpm stuff and so on. Expect something really cool in the next months, maybe an album due to all the stuff I have.

You can check out David Allen’s recent record ‘Kubera’ as a free download here.