Music / Interview
Interview: Duckland Bristol – “We had Dom’s mum flyering at the graduation ceremony”
If you go out somewhat often in Bristol, chances are you’ve paid a visit to one or two nights run by local promoters Duckland. They’ve exploded in popularity over the past year, owing to their relentlessness when it comes to putting on nights at a blistering frequency, with locally sourced up and coming talent on every single one.
The label is run by Dom Garnham and Rob Mills, two unassuming, friendly looking ex-students from the city who’ve decided to make it their home whilst they build their party empire.
“We’ve averaged an event every two weeks.” Dom says. “I counted it up and we’ve done like 23 events over the last year.”
is needed now More than ever
With no clear genre emphasis, Duckland have managed to pull in crowds from all corners of the dance music spectrum, from drum & bass to house & techno. This wide ranging taste has allowed them to gain rapid mass appeal city-wide.

One of Duckland’s more recent events was a collaboration with Queer Haus of Bristol at underground venue The Island | Photo: Sofia Stephelle
Rob says “A lot of promoters will stick to their niche, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we just do a bit of everything, which is different from a lot of other crews in Bristol.”
They certainly have the city itself to thank for this fluidity, too.
According to Rob, “The rave and music culture in Bristol, it’s such a big thing and there’s so many people doing it. When you go to uni in Bristol, you’re just naturally exposed to that world, there’s almost no avoiding it.”
Dom makes the point that “people in Bristol, they’re open to trying new things. A lot of people I know from home come up and they struggle to vibe if it’s not music they know. Whereas I don’t think we’ve ever had a complaint about the music that’s been played at our nights.”
Both of these things combined have allowed Duckland to become an almost household name in the Bristol club scene, so much so that they’ve landed their first gig further afield in London in July, and it’s set to be an exciting one. And fresh off the back of a sold out night at Crofters celebrating graduation the night before our chat, it’s got them thinking about their strategy for promotion in a new city.
“We need to change our strategy for promoting in new places slightly, as we can’t rely on word of mouth quite as much. Bristol is just such a close knit community.” Rob explains – “Last night, for example, pretty much everyone that came was there through word of mouth, and we can’t really do that to the same extent in London or another city. We even had Dom’s mum running around flyering at the graduation ceremony before, which was quite funny.”

The promoters have put on many succesful parties at Crofters Rights | Photo: Rozi Lane
The two have been working on Duckland together since its inception, and whilst others have come and gone through the organisation during this time, Dom & Rob have been able to lean on each other constantly for support and advice in a constantly changing club landscape.
“Rob and I have different tastes in Music” Dom tells me. “I mean, obviously they’re in the same realm, but we’re both constantly finding different producers and DJs. One of us will always play a tune and the other one’s like ‘who is that?’ It’s so useful for finding new artists to play the nights. The way we’re able to bounce ideas off each other just really keeps the rhythm going.”
Looking ahead, the future looks exciting for Duckland. With a London gig on the horizon, there’s a lot of exciting plans for the future of this growing events label.
“This year is the first time that we’re booking things months in advance.” Dom says. “We’re really aiming to become a name that people will see and will know it’s going to be a good night, regardless of who we’ve got on the lineup. We’re on our way there with the audience that we have.”
Closing it out, Rob talks about their schedule for the summer and moving forward. “We’ve got a party at Lost Horizon in June, and then the London one in July, but essentially going to chill for a bit over the summer, with all the festivals and things going on. But once it hits September and October, we’re going to do loads, because I think that’s just the best time to run events in Bristol. After that we’re just going to carry on going, see what happens. It’s been exciting so far, and things are only going up from here.”
Duckland’s next Bristol event is at Lost Horizon on June 9, and tickets can be purchased here.
Main Photo: Rozi Lane
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