Meet Thomas Dumont | DJ & Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Thomas Dumont and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Thomas, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
My “career” in music started the same as many; No instant hit successes, no big paydays, no tickets to fame and fortune. Instead, I spent my first years of musical pursuit working retail and coffee shop jobs between playing in dingy clubs and going on tours that oftentimes barely broke even. Trying to make ends meet as a young musical artist proved challenging given the spontaneous and sporadic schedule of opportunities. Living in Southern California, musical work consisted of jumping between different live bands as a “hired gun” as well as the occasional studio session. Burnout was on the horizon and the stress and financial pressure was becoming too much to remain practical long term. I found myself falling out of love with my passion.

Upon moving to Denver and in an attempt to switch things up I found a new passion for DJing. I had about given up on making a career musically and shifted to a more hobby focussed relationship with my musical crafts. I took a job at a bar and would pick up the occasional gig playing records as background music for bars, breweries, and special events. This shift in my approach allowed me to once again enjoy what I was doing without the pressure of relying upon it to pay my bills. Having that passion return seemed to make all the difference as it was only a short matter of time before I was being approached by more and more opportunities to DJ in a more serious and lucrative way. It’s almost as though “giving up” was the trigger to find success in this art form, and now I’ve returned to working with music virtually full time.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a classically trained musician who spent the first half of my life playing instruments in live settings, I never had much interest or respect for the craft of DJing. I presumed that pressing play and pause on a DJ controller couldn’t involve that much skill or talent.

I quickly found out after my first series of more serious events, and subsequent trainwreck performances, that there is much more to this artform than meets the eye. DJing requires focus, attention to detail, musical knowledge, and patience, among other things. We create memorable experiences for people and curate culture in our respective scenes, just the same as fine artists, film directors, and instrumental musicians. Developing my skills as a DJ took years of learning and practice. I see my tools as an extension of my person and those people who see me play often can tell when I’m having a bad day. As with any artform, I have a very self critical mindset which has always been challenging, especially in a city where there is so much talent.

Beyond the performances, I have to wear many other hats to make this work. I am a graphic designer, web designer marketing manager, artist manager, booking agent, bookkeeper, stage crew, street team, etc… In a way, I am single handedly running my own small business and any episode of Shark Tank will teach you that you have to fail repeatedly to maybe eventually find something that clicks. There is no handbook for success in these sorts of entrepreneurial endeavors.

It’s too easy to stop having fun when there are so many plates to spin but I think FUN is a key signature to my brand if I had to identify one. When I’m having fun, the audience is having fun, and then I have more fun and so on. I had to put my ego aside and stop taking myself too seriously so I could really just enjoy that I’m fortunate enough to find viability in something I love doing. I try to approach each of my performances with this mindset, and when I really do, I end up playing and feeling better than ever and that individual experience often transfers into the audience.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Bars – Pon Pon, PS Lounge, ESP HiFi, Desert Social, Fort Greene Bar, and Finn’s Manor(of course because I play there weekly)
Food – Mak Fam, Pit Fiend BBQ, Twan’s Burger, Cart Driver, and if we’re feeling fancy; Safta
Sights/Activities – Red Rocks(either just to see it, or to see a show), Clyfford Still Museum, City Park, Deckers(for a float on the river), Rocky Mountain National Park, and Denver Botanical Gardens.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Massive shoutout to Michael Stone(aka. Pleasurewave). Michael taught me how to really DJ and held my hand through a lot of my learning process. Michael on top of being a good friend, was also a great resource who pushed me into genres and artists that I maybe would have never discovered and been influenced by otherwise.

Website: https://www.dommytumont.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/dommytumont

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dommytumont

Image Credits
@acallas213 Acallas Productions