Sahil Joshi & Urvil Shah, together known as the The Dirty Code are Electronic Dance Music Producer turned DJs from Mumbai who specialize in house music.
After a phenomenal 2016 which saw the duo receive support from the some of the biggest names in dance music such as Hardwell, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and plenty more, 2017 continued in the same rich vein, until yesterday. In a surprising announcement, the duo announced via their Facebook page that they would no longer be continuing as ‘The Dirty Code’.
Why would one of the most standout DJ/producer duos from the country, after receiving so much recognition, feel the need to call it quits? We had to know! Check out our chat where we speak to Sahil Joshi, and as it turns out, not everything was as rosy as it seemed.
Akshay – Hi Sahil, how’s it going? What have you been upto?
Sahil Joshi – Hi Akshay! All is good. Being a musician, I’m always up to making some music and experimenting with new sounds, but off late I’ve ventured into other things and I am studying law as well.
Akshay – We can’t tell you how sad we are, to know that The Dirty Code is no more as you guys were one of our favourite DJ/producers in the country. How has life been since the split?
Sahil Joshi – Aah, I won’t call it a split. Urvil and I are on great terms and this decision hasn’t been easy but nothing got to do with any kind of creative differences between us. So, life isn’t that bad because we still discuss music whenever we find time.
Akshay – We understand that there was no fight between you and Urvil, unlike other similar cases. Why exactly did you guys feel the need to make this decision?
Sahil Joshi – The Dirty Code was financially overdrawn for a long time. Last year end we were at the peak of our production game and we thought that there was no stopping us, but we were terribly off base at that point. In fact, we did zero shows for an entire year after that and believe it or not we ourselves haven’t played ‘sultans’ at a gig yet (Hardwell has played it at least 5 times that we know of) haha. We gave it our best, we stayed genuine to our cause and delivered as producers by grabbing worldwide support/chartings and working with top labels, but the dynamics of the ‘club’ or ‘festival’ industry in India somehow works very weirdly which to be honest we couldn’t understand even after so many years in the industry.
I remember once we were playing a set for a major festival, we were 10 mins in, there was barely any crowd at the venue but the momentum was building. 2 female DJs, famous of course, came in and asked the organizer to pull us off so that they could do their set now and just move out in an hour to attend another party. The Dirty Code has releases on Showtek’s and Deorro’s labels. It’s astonishing that 2 obviously fake female DJs could just throw us off the console and the event managers expect us to go along with it. I don’t understand is this what we were working for?!
Akshay – You guys were one of the most standout Indian DJ/Producers this year, with receiving support on your releases from the world’s biggest DJs like Hardwell and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. This sort of goes against the norms, as people usually make such decisions if they had nothing going on for them. Why did you guys still feel the need to call it quits?
Sahil Joshi – We’ve been on 2 different Dutch managements in the past 2 years who signed us for the pure love of our music but not a single Indian agency wanted to sign us and the best part is no one really gave us a solid reason as to why not. Don’t know if it was the $$ that played the role or just plain old luck but it did affect our financial situation quite a bit.
Moreover, it feels like the scene is confused right now. Big DJs are still playing bigroom at festivals but are not willing to sign bigroom tracks. The audience doesn’t know what to expect and has become far too uncertain. That’s some really whacky shit going on!
Not just TDC, but a lot of artists are confused as to what style will work at the moment. Just that we weren’t in a spot to put in more years of our life to a project that might not yield into anything lucrative, especially in our country.
But, the main reason is that Urvil and I got a calling from something else and it was time for us to let go. Urvil got into CMU and I got into law college here in Mumbai, and ventured into other businesses, which are doing decently well. It was the right time to let go of The Dirty Code and focus on our individual lives in the real world!
The day we both decided this, we were smiling, we were not sad at all which makes this decision probably the right one to make! :)
Akshay – We are surely going to miss you guys! What are some of your fondest memories as The Dirty Code??
Sahil Joshi – Loads of them! I remember this one time in Goa a girl walked up to Urvil and had the drink he was holding, gave him a compliment and just walked off with another random dude before he could say anything.
One time in Hyderabad, Urvil and I performed in an open venue while it was raining and I was holding the shade over the CDJs with one of the waiters and Urvil was trying to mix. It was so damn hilarious mainly because due to the shade we couldn’t see the crowd at all. For a while we played groove music just to realize the dance floor was packed and it was about time we threw in the bangers!
Akshay – What’s next for you on the music front? Can we expect to see you launch a solo career?
Sahil Joshi – As a musician, I’m always working on some interesting music, if not for The Dirty Code. I am also a mixing engineer for other artists. I do arrangement work for Bollywood from time-to-time. I’m seriously considering starting a consultancy for new artists and maybe an academy later on, seeing that I get so many messages in my inbox almost every day!
As far a new artist alias is considered, I’m not sure. I need to get over The Dirty Code for the time being because it is way too close to my heart.
However, I intend to remain close to the music industry, and you never know, if things work out, soon I could make a comeback! Never say never!
Akshay – Thanks Sahil! Wish you the very best in your future endeavours.
Sahil Joshi – Thanks Akshay! I remember T.H.E – Music Essentials starting around the same time as the dirty code 4 years ago and seeing your team still go strong is a real motivation for full time EDM enthusiasts in India, wishing the best to you and your team!
What do you think? Does the Indian electronic music industry provide a good platform for upcoming artists? Let us know in the comments below.
No India does provide opportunities for EDM artist.. We are still stuck with fucking bollywood music.. Its really painful to see the dirty code will no longer be around.. this really depressed me as i m also a beginner and want to be an EDM artist..
nobody cares lol. tell these 2 kids to publicly reveal the indian djs they ghost produced for lol.
No. The Indian music industry does not provide platform for upcoming artists. Till today it was just the DJs who weren’t being recognised but now even the Producers like you guys who are signed onto some major labels are losing their platforms, except very few artists.
in present time, indian music and indian people are fill with shits. they won’t understand music. they know how to twerk, how to drink. even in india, there are so many big organizers, who don’t support any house genre. they need that type of djs, who played commercial songs remix in gigs!!!!!!!!! very heart-breaking news for indian edm culture. SHAME.
I was really shocked to hear this.. these days just craps and shits float through ears in the name of bollywood.. and i dont understand why in India number of worshipers of shits are still growing.. I see many of the people dancing on the shitty track just because his pal is doing same.. nobody has got their own taste.. Even i find myself as alien when i tell people what i listen or when i hear what they listen..!!
If you want gigs in india, you need to have a source like marry the a hole manager’s daughter otherwise we are told to f ourselves.
And yes if you are beautiful and just know how to press sync and play shit you are welcome in every fcking gig at clubs. Trust me, I’ve seen all that.
As an artist from Tribetonez I really feel sad about Dirty code their tracks are phenomenal.Sahil gave us great tip when we started production as a team a year and a half back and it helps a lot to us as a Dj from past many years I guess I know how our industry works it’s all $ even though u play a great promoter and even guy ask you to bring a crowd with no $ Very sad to c it’s all became a Filthy business .THANK YOU URVIL & Sahil .THANK YOU DIRTY CODE
No. Indian Electronic music industry does not provide platform for upcoming talents. Till today it was just the DJ’s who weren’t being recognised but now even the big producer like you guys who are signed onto some major labels are losing their platform. Except very few Indian artists.
India is not a right place for some serious talent!
And there’s no support for a Dj or mp from the club side or promorter side, all they need to be played at their club is some commercial crap remixes and another shit call e Bollywood. I myself had to drop down like these two days being a DJ and get into some MNC’s for living.
Quick tip for upcoming DJ’s : It’s hard to live in this country being a DJ, so better find some other 9 to 6 jobs! Or You’ll regret like me later.
PS : still working on productions for my satisfaction