E -online HRH – Prince William listens to Dirty Vegas

E -online HRH – Prince William listens to Dirty Vegas

Prince William is not like just any regular prince—he’s a cool dad, too. A British radio DJ Gemma Cairney recently hosted a Google+ Hangout with the 32-year-old British royal and his 29-year-old brother, Prince Harry . Cairney said William told her before the online show that he has listened to her BBC Radio 1 program, which airs from 4 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., while taking care of his and wife Kate’s 11-month-old son, Prince George. “You know, sometimes when I’m up with George …’ ‘I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, ‘course, totes,’” she told listeners on her show on Thursday, July 10. “He said, ‘Yeah, you know, I have a listen.’ I was very flattered.” Cairney also named three bands that she says William has been listening to a lot lately. The groups are Linkin Park, British indie rock group Foals and the electronic band Dirty Vegas and their track “Days Gone By,” in particular. She said William told her, “Music is a big thing for me.” Cairney then played on her show what she dubbed a “Prince Willy mini-mix” made up of samples of four tracks: The Foals’ “My Number,” Linkin Park’s “Numb,” Dirty Vegas’ “Days Go By” and (since we are dealing

Dirty Vegas performance at The Grammy Museum LA

Dirty Vegas performance at The Grammy Museum LA

Spotlight: Dirty Vegas   When the GRAMMY Award-winning group Dirty Vegas was founded, the mold of the electronic fused bands was broken. Not a mere two turntables and a microphone…Dirty Vegas are true musicians. Founded by Paul Harris, Steve Smith and Ben Harris, the group has become one of the most recognizable names in EDM. The band’s 2001 debut single “Days Go By” appeared in a now-iconic television advertisement for Mitsubishi and became a benchmark that set a new model for the marketing music in advertising. The single, with its magnetic original video, catapulted Dirty Vegas to GRAMMY success winning the group Best Dance Recording in 2003; the first year the award was given in that category.  The two years that followed were a rollercoaster that included the release of their eponymous debut album and headlining their own worldwide tour supported such like-minded artists as Moby, Underworld and Groove Armada. Dirty Vegas also went on to sell over 1 million albums. Since then, Dirty Vegas has gone on to release two more albums; 2004’s ‘One’ and 2011’s ‘Electric Love.” The group has continued to gain numerous accolades and awards including a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Dance Chart.  In 2011, Ben Harris felt that he had fulfilled all that he could as part of the Dirty Vegas project and parted ways to pursue other interests.  The new Dirty Vegas are now emerging, and

Electronic dance music artist Steve Smith whips up wicked beats

Electronic dance music artist Steve Smith whips up wicked beats

It’s been a decade now since the rise of Dirty Vegas and “Days Go By,” the international house music smash that jumped to renown thanks to its placement on radio and in a Mitsubishi Eclipse commercial. Dirty Vegas frontman Steve Smith calls Scituate home. It’s been a decade now since the rise of Dirty Vegas and “Days Go By,” the international house music smash that jumped to renown thanks to its placement on radio and in a Mitsubishi Eclipse commercial. But fans of cultishly beloved musical acts tend to have long memories, so when the British house trio plotted a much-anticipated comeback two years ago, the response was massive. “2011 was a crazy year,” Dirty Vegas frontman Steve Smith said. “We reformed the band, we put out an album (Electric Love) on Om Records, a West Coast label well known to electronic musicians. That was an amazing success – we hit Top 5 on the iTunes dance chart and we had songs from the album featured in everything from HBO shows to Lucasfilm productions and Heineken commercials. We toured the world again, too.” The last time we caught up with Smith, who’s lived in Scituate for the better part of

An unlikely trip from Dirty Vegas to the South Shore

An unlikely trip from Dirty Vegas to the South Shore

By Meredith Goldstein, Globe Staff The story of how the London pop band Dirty Vegas moved to Massachusetts begins with “Days Go By,” the mega hit that made the group famous back in 2002. The song started as a guitar ballad that Dirty Vegas frontman Steve Smith wrote about an ex-girlfriend he couldn’t get out of his mind. When Smith played the song for his bandmates Ben Harris and Paul Harris (no relation), they liked it. But since they were a dance-music trio, they sped up the pace and produced “Days Go By” with electronic beats and distorted vocals. It worked. The track was huge on the London dance scene and caught the attention of the car company Mitsubishi, which asked the group if it could use the song in a commercial that would feature attractive hipsters dancing to the tune while riding down a city highway in an Eclipse. “They’re like, we have this car. We want every 25-year-old to go out and buy our car,” Smith said. “There was a young director, younger than us. We thought, this is the direction to go in.” Suddenly, thanks to the commercial and a video for the song on MTV and