Today we’d like to introduce you to Dum Boy Sticky
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I didn’t always love dance music. In fact I used to hate it. In my teen years I would primarily listen to harsh Noise, industrial, metal and electronic avant garde or experimental music. This blend led me to enjoy some harsh EBM, then eased into music associated with the cybergoth aesthetic. Randomer’s Dekmantel Boiler Room in 2018 was the first real moment I heard techno music and thought “wow this is incredible” and I probably listened to that mix almost every day commuting to school for the better part of a year. It was then that I decided to switch to producing dance music.
I was awful at it.
I began taking it more seriously around 2020, then more so in 2022 when I started ETA45 with Human Part. We both wanted a space where we could dance to music that we listened to and express ourselves in the way we feel comfortable. At the time, it didn’t exist in SLC. No one was playing hardcore or alternative dance music.
We started with some cheap speakers off of KSL and just set up under the freeway, made flyers, and told people to show up. Once we had about 100 people show up we decided we should try to do an actual venue. Judgement day was our first ticketed event in January of 2023 at Black Lung. That punk venue was the only place that was down to host us and even they were apprehensive at first. Once they saw the energy and the crowd we brought, they were eager to work with us again and that started our monthly series of ETA raves throughout all of 2023.
2024 things took a big turn. Production greatly increased, as well as cost. Human Part left pretty early on in March of 2023 so I had been running everything exclusively on my own. Hysteria, our first event in 2024 was pretty hectic. I was way in over my head and got scammed hardcore but it set a new tone for the direction of ETA.
Due to financial and personal limitations there has only been one other event in 2024. The last time we tried to host an event, things went awry, and it had to be cancelled.
For now, that leaves ETA in need of a new direction on where things need to be headed. A rebirth in a sense.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest struggles have been financial and interpersonal.
Even though I’ve had more help in 2024 to divide the load, the financial burden is still entirely on me. Hysteria was a huge set back as the owner of UCC (now utah creative arts foundation) breached his contract and demanded a huge extra payment a day before the event or he would cancel.
That was a pretty big loss for ETA.
I’ve had a lot of personal struggles in this really as well. Growing up I was never someone who was very social. I kept to myself much of the time and kept a very tight circle. I was never considered attractive or interesting to my knowledge but after finding my own sense of style, sound, and expressions as an artist and individual, I suddenly found myself at the center of attention in many situations which is not somewhere I enjoy being, despite what others may think. Navigating how to socialize with people, make new friends, maintain them and weigh my own role in the community with these decisions has been incredibly daunting to navigate as I try to carry myself in line with my values.
I’ve made dozens of mistakes along this journey and for me, it’s hard to cope sometimes knowing there are at least a few people who may look up to me and see these mistakes.
The last thing I want to do is act poorly in the face of someone who looks up to me. So I try to do what I can to remain deserving of that position and be a positive influence to people around me. It doesn’t always pan out that way, but we’re all doing our best aren’t we?
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am founder of ETA45MINS which is a record label and event organization that specializes in alternative dance music. I am also a DJ and Producer known as DUM BOY STICKY with releases on my own label, UJF (New York), Fantastic Voyage (LA), and TSUM (Switzerland).
I am most proud of the design and creative direction of ETA. It is loud, bold, in your face, and unforgiving. It screams “If you don’t like it, get out.”
This has captured the hearts of a very niche culture in SLC and gathered together a very special group of like minded people. Rather than marketing to appeal to as many people as possible, ETA does the opposite to ensure we get the raw, gritty, weird shit that people like me want to hear. It also gives space for people to be inspired. They will hear something new every time they come to an ETA rave and they will find something they didn’t know they needed.
As far as my personal productions, I’m very proud of the quality in which my releases has increased. I always try to teach others locally and elsewhere when asked because I’ve been doing it for 10 years. And only 2 of those years have I actually liked the music I make. So if I can help someone who’s been making music for a few weeks make a track they love, that’s a huge contribution to the development of this community moving towards a fully autonomous scene.
The biggest goal and purpose of ETA is to foster and inspire artists in our community to get creating and contributing to the culture. None of us are great at first. But together we can define what SLC’s underground means in the context of the wider national underground. We can define our own sound, our own styles, and our own culture.
I also do leather work under @gorginagrimoires mainly creating pieces that feel alive. I’m very inspired by the organic nature of leather and want to emphasize that fact rather than take away from it by using clean lines and neat Geometry as you see in most leather work. A lot of my pieces look twisted, morphed, rotten, or raw as if crafted by a crude witch or something. This practice was entirely self taught out of necessity after I lost my beloved journal. I mainly use my own grimoires to write poetry and draw simple expressions of whatever I’m feeling.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
The thing that matters most to me is my values.
I often have conflicts with this which is a sign to reassess things but lately have had a lot of emotional bandwidth taken by other things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Eta45.world
- Instagram: Dumboysticky, eta45.world, @gorginagrimoires
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/dMCJX and https://on.soundcloud.com/Uv1kS
