How HDTM's Future Is Evolving The Past

Sydney DJ Tom "Loud" Lowndes has made 'retro' cool, spinning classic pop in his Hot Dub Time Machine shows — and without layers of irony. He is reverential, and enthusiastic. Imagine Molly Meldrum as a super-DJ.

Lowndes began his career as a sound mixer/editor/designer in mostly commercial television (credits include Underbelly). The onetime heavy metal head DJed as a hobby, specialising in funk. He introduced Hot Dub Time Machine (HDTM), "the world's first time-travelling dance party", at Sydney Fringe in 2011. Describing himself today as "a professional nostalgia merchant", Lowndes DJs hit records chronologically, from 1954 to the present, using vinyl, dual turntables, a mixer and a laptop, all accompanied by bespoke visuals. He is an Australian festival favourite. But Lowndes is also established on the UK circuit. In 2015 he appeared at Coachella.

"If I don't play certain songs, I get in a lot of trouble from some people. So a huge percentage of the songs I never change, 'cause to me they're the greatest songs of all time." 

Now Lowndes is embarking on his inaugural Australian tour for 2016, having (briefly) slowed down with the birth of a second child. The first Sydney show has already sold out. Lowndes promises to stage his Hot Dub Classic, which traditionally launches with Bill Haley & His Comets' 1954 Rock Around The Clock. Indeed, Lowndes is disinclined to alter the show. "I always try to make it just better every single time. I'm never gonna come out with HDTM 2 or a show that's like a sequel, 'cause I think it's still about the best party ever. And people don't want me to change that much! If I don't play certain songs, I get in a lot of trouble from some people. So a huge percentage of the songs I never change, 'cause to me they're the greatest songs of all time." Nonetheless, Lowndes has determined to "evolve the experience", bringing in live musicians and a gospel choir. "I'm always looking for little things that we can just pop in to make individual songs, individual moments, really special." Lowndes will "get rid of" a song if he tires of it. "I can't fake it up there," he admits. "You can't stand on stage and pretend to like something if you don't like it."

Though this year pop lost those icons David Bowie and Prince, Lowndes honours a late personal local hero, The Easybeats' frontman Stevie Wright, deeming him "the first great Australian rock star". And Lowndes does follow contemporary music — after all, his set closes with a song from the current year. He checked out Beyonce's Lemonade on release.

Lowndes has tried other DJ concepts. During last year's Adelaide Fringe, he premiered his Hot Dub Rave, concentrating on dance music from 1990 onwards, while at Stereosonic he dropped a mix starting with '70s disco. But Lowndes is unsure if he'll revisit the rave, considering it a "one-off" for Adelaide, the city that initially embraced HDTM. "What people like about HDTM is that it isn't just dance music," Lowndes ponders. "You can go along in a massive room, [and] hear rock'n'roll — you can hear a proper recording, not a remix, not a mash-up, of Led Zeppelin, you can hear Whole Lotta Love, played on a giant PA and played properly. I think that's actually what is unique about HDTM. Maybe I had to do the rave to appreciate that."