After moving to Dallas, he played drums for the metal band Thirty Called Arson and formed the electronic pop project the Secret Handshake, whose 2009 album, My Name Up in Lights, reached number seven on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Dubuc was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela until he was eight, when his family moved to Toronto, where he fell in love with dance music as well as hip-hop and metal. Skulls is an electronic dance-oriented neo-soul and vintage disco-influenced outfit centered around lead singer/songwriter Luis Dubuc. It’s music inspired by Otis Redding and Daft Punk. I was just a record store employee and I felt like I wanted to hear something that didn’t exist, so I made it myself. I think the main thing that sets me apart is that I fell into being an artist from being a fan. What sets you apart and inspires you as an artist why should people come out to see you play? I make this stupid joke all the time about how when people sell bootleg merch outside of your show that’s when you know you’ve made it, but the reality is probably a lot weirder, I’ll let you know. From the music, to my visuals, to the videos, I feel like they’re all extensions of me and that is something I’m very proud of. I dont know what my defining moment would be, I think so far it has been signing with Warner Brothers and really getting to do things without compromise. Its a tune called “MAGIC.” I’m really excited for it.įor you, what will be your defining moment in your career the moment at which you’ll know you “made it?” I have a collab on there with Nile Rodgers, which I’m really excited for. I just came off my first tour and I’m about to be back in the studio, so just finishing the album. What’s next for Mystery Skulls? Any new music or collabs in the works? The music video was a collaboration between a lot of folks, actually, and even though the Exorcist vibe sounds weird, it’s actually pretty fucking cool so check that out. About wanting to disappear completely and start over. I wanted a new start and this song is about that.
I live in Los Angeles now, but at the time I was in Dallas and it was a song about the idea of basically moving away and not telling a single person. Let’s talk about your latest single, “Ghost.” What inspired the track? The Exorcist-inspired video? I got a job at a record store in High School and I think that was the first time I really wanted to do music. Eventually I got super into metal and hip-hop. In Toronto a lot of UK stuff gets played on the radio and so I was super into dance music almost straight away. This was the first time I had ever really seen music videos at all and it blew me away. When I was eight or nine we moved from Caracas, Venezuela to Toronto, Canada. It’s aggressive and sweet at the same time. But thats not really all of it, you know.
I like to say it’s what would sound like if Prince was in the movie Blade Runner. Mystery Skulls is something people haven’t really heard before. Mystery Skulls is Luis Dubuc and Vice Versa. Who is Mystery Skulls? Describe your sonic style. Get to know Luis Dubuc, the man behind the Skull in the VIBE exclusive interview: