L D R U leaves side project Carmada to focus on solo career, “the timing couldn’t be worse”

L D R U – one half of Aussie producer duo Carmada – today announced the end of his involvement with the project.

Posting on the group’s Facebook this afternoon, Drew Carmody wrote: “Unfortunately, I’m writing to you with a heavy heart – as of today, I will be leaving Carmada indefinitely.

“… For better or worse the two of us have grown apart creatively and personally over the last two years.”

Leaving the project in the hands of his partner Max Armata – who also performs as Yahtzel – the statement consoles fans by confirming that their tour, set to begin this Friday 14 September, will go ahead as planned with Armata at the helm.

“The timing couldn’t be worse, I know that, and I’m truly sorry to leave right before we had planned to head around the country together and see all your lovely faces,” continued Carmody.

“While we’re still friends, these differences have meant I need to remove myself from Carmada and the Club Carmada Tour and focus on some exciting things in the pipeline for LDRU – trust me, I wouldn’t be doing this now unless it meant good things for everyone involved.”

L D R U and Yahtzel first joined forces for the release of The Only One on Sydney’s Future Classic label, but the joint project wasn’t announced until after their surprise B2B set at Splendour In The Grass in July 2014 and their debut single Maybe.

They signed to Skrillex’s label OWSLA and released their debut EP Realise in 2014, which was certified Gold in Australia in 2015. They’ve also released tracks via Skrillex’s NEST HQ label.

From there, they inked a global deal with Sony, enjoyed a #1 debut on iTunes AU, secured a #41 spot in the triple j Hottest 100 with Maybe and dropped their most recent release, Ready For It (The Remixes) in August this year via Insomniac Records.

Individually, both L D R U and Yahtzel have become fast-growing names on the local and international dance scenes.

L D R U’s 2015 single Keeping Score was awarded an ARIA Platinum and came in at #22 on triple j’s 2015 Hottest 100, and received a nomination in the 2016 ARIA Awards for Best Dance Release, while Carmody was up for Breakthrough Artist.

Meanwhile, Yahtzel’s viral track High With Me lead to a US-wide tour support with ODESZA, and has garnered over 18 million plays since TheSoundYouNeed posted it in 2013.

“To be honest, Carmada blew up far bigger and faster than we ever expected – it’s signed us to some of our all-time favourite record labels, sent us on tours across the US playing festivals we’d never dreamt of and it even let us feel like real-life rockstars last Splendour.”

TMN recently accompanied Carmada to Splendour In The Grass, where they performed the biggest set of their careers as a live, triple bill for the first time. Read the exclusive long-form tour feature.