Through Hardships and the Loss of His Father, Don Diablo Gets Real
It’s 1am in Amsterdam, and Don Diablo is wide awake. He sits in his studio alone, save for the seven glaring screens that surround him. The windows are open, letting in a cool breeze and silence.
“I sleep an average of three to four hours max,” he says. “I make music in the night because there’s nobody and no distractions. I look outside, and there’s literally nothing out there. It’s very calm and quiet. I try not to look at emails, just make music. That’s the whole idea of what we’re doing here. Somehow, it’s become secondary.”
As far as producers go, Don’s a pretty serious dude. Not in a stern-faced kind of way—he’s certainly a jokester—but he dedicates himself so fully, it almost drives him crazy. At 35, he’s no newcomer, either, but his success always hung on the fringes. He’s always had a reputation for great remixes, working with artists from Sean Paul to Gorillaz, but his anarchic style and refusal to stay in one genre make him hard to sell. He always feels like an outsider.
“When you want something really bad, it seems like the universe is not ready to give it to you,” he says. “I was just so disappointed in everything. I was pissing against the wind constantly. It was never a lucky break, never the benefit of the doubt, and it was always three times as hard as it felt.”
Things changed two years ago, when his father passed from cancer. Don never intended for his music to be emotional, but his father’s death was a smack in the face. We only get so much time in life, and he wanted to commemorate his father in a song.
“The Artist Inside” is a letter to the man who gave Don everything. It felt risky and vulnerable, and it became the biggest song of his career. Even today, he hears how the song has mended others’ familial relationships or has helped fans face a loved one’s passing. It changed the way Don looks at his music, what it can stand for, and it’s left him feeling more inspired than ever—so much so, that he’s found the courage to open up in his music. He recently founded a label, Hexagon, and launched a radio show by the same name.
“I was pissing against the wind constantly.”
“A lot of people say to me, ‘Why now? You’ve been doing it for a few years, releasing all these weird records, and the last two years, it seems like you’re possessed by a demon,’” says Don. “That’s where it comes from: to take something super negative—losing my dad—and make it into something super positive.”
He has kept busy the past few months. In addition to officially remixing Ed Sheeran, Madonna and Rudimental, he’s collaborated with giants like Tiësto and has signed his first artist to Hexagon, a soulful house maven named King Arthur. He’s also designed a limited-edition T-shirt to raise funds and awareness for the nonprofit organization Fuck Cancer.
So, things were really bad, and now they’re really good, right?
“I can see the signs on the side of the road, and it feels like I have a purpose, but I still feel everyday like the bullshit becomes too much,” he says.
Don is real about his music, and in this fickle scene, sticking to your guns makes it harder to succeed. It gets to him, even when things are good. He’s always one bogus interaction away from calling it quits. If it weren’t for his growing fan base, he’d be living on some island somewhere, maybe gardening vegetables. “It would be so relaxed,” he says. “You don’t have to fight all the egos and the stress. Sometimes I dream about it, just going to an island and not be stressed about pushing myself to the limits and creating, creating, creating—just living.
“I can see the signs on the side of the road, and it feels like I have a purpose, but I still feel everyday like the bullshit becomes too much.”
“Fans never lie, and that’s the foundation and the heart of the music industry, but it kills me that they are neglected,” he says. “They know and they find you, and that’s really saved my whole spirit the last two years. People do follow you; they do like what you’re doing, and they do take you in their heart. You can grow exponentially without the support of a big organization behind you, and it’s really warmed my heart.”
The way Don sees it, as long as people keep listening, he can keep fighting the urge to call it quits.
“My basic foundation is [to] just try to sleep as little as I can, and try to work as hard as I can, and travel the world as much as I can,” he says. “I am super blessed with this life, and the biggest blessing is meeting people and traveling the world. Having people stand by is the most gratifying—people that were there that believed in you from the start, and people that listen to your real story instead of just fast-forwarding to the good stuff.”
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