Kat Harlton
Rising Australian electronic producer Luude, recently released a viral remix of the iconic Men at Work song “Down Under (feat Colin Hay)” via Sweat It Out.
With this new release, Luude brings to life a re-imagined version of “Down Under” that is high energy and festival ready, not to mention garnering a staggering 65 million streams since its release.
While maintaining the driving, upbeat feel of the original tune, Luude has transformed the song into a striking dub-influenced dance track and presents a whole new dynamic to the 1980 anthem, which went to #1 in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.
Christian Benson, aka Luude, has quickly risen to the forefront of a new wave of producers coming out of Australia. After bursting onto the scene in 2017 with a series of remixes and original tracks that amassed millions of streams, LUUDE quickly took hold of the local club circuit, becoming an in-demand name for all promoters. The hype quickly escalated into sold-out hard ticket touring and festival sets on the country’s biggest stages.
Fast forward, and Luude’s forward thinking approach to dance music has connected with listeners in Australia and beyond, skyrocketing in music charts globally and positioned to be one of the next superstars of dance music.
We had a chat with Luude about his reimagined version of “Down Under”, his creative process and what’s next.
Kat: Can you talk about the inspiration behind your reimagined version of “Down Under”? What sparked this creation?
Luude: I was just bored during a period of COVID without playing any shows, so I was trying to remix songs into DnB that you just wouldn’t ever think to do. It was just a bit of a laugh – but when I did it it actually sounded pretty interesting. I posted it online and people instantly started to love it. Some people thought Colin sounded like Kid Cudi which is funny.
Kat: What do you hope fans take away from the song? Have you played the track live yet?
Luude: It’s just a fun tune, so I hope people just have fun with it. I’ve played it out a couple of times now that festivals are back and it’s been insane, some of the craziest crowd reactions ever and people sing it SO loud! Haha.
Kat: What do you find is the most challenging part of your creative process?
Luude: It’s hard to juggle the schedule sometimes. I also have a project called Choomba, so writing for both projects on top of touring and doing the radio show we have is a lot. So the key thing is to really get in the zone to write things.
Kat: What have you learned so far in your career as a producer?
Luude: You’ve got to produce as much as possible. Sometimes you have days that it doesn’t quite come together, but you have to just do it and be consistent. When you eventually look back it’s crazy how much you improve over time.
Kat: What’s next?
Luude: I’ve got a couple of remixes dropping for Years & Years and Clean Bandit and then a heap of shows to be announced around the world. Hope to see you out there one day!
Connect with Luude:
Facebook: /Luudeofficial
Instagram: @luude
Twitter: @luudemusic
Tik Tok: @luudeaus