{"id":4235,"date":"2025-08-04T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/what-hes-got\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:30:00","slug":"what-hes-got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/what-hes-got\/","title":{"rendered":"What He\u2019s Got"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/250507_DENM_CALIVIBES_TANNERHARVEY_BW_V1-5967_VSCO.jpg\" width=\"\" height=\"\" alt=\"DENM (Credit: Tanner Harvey)\"><\/figure>\n<p>DENM still remembers hearing Sublime on the radio as a kindergartner. The SoCal native, born Mac Montgomery in 1990, grew up with songs like \u201cSanteria,\u201d \u201cWhat I Got,\u201d and \u201cGarden Grove\u201d serving as the soundtrack to his life. Just 6 years old when lead singer Bradley Nowell died of an accidental drug overdose, DENM didn\u2019t immediately grasp the dark circumstances surrounding Nowell\u2019s death. Frankly, it could have been DENM\u2019s story, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As a teen, DENM bounced around from his hometown of San Diego to Santa Barbara, where he was kicked out of his mother\u2019s house for his self-destructive behavior. Drugs and alcohol were already omnipresent, and he started going down a treacherous road.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/08\/doechii-plots-fall-headline-tour\/\">Drain The \u2018Swamp\u2019: Doechii Plots Fall Headline Tour<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/08\/evan-felker-is-back-in-the-saddle\/\">Evan Felker is Back in the Saddle<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/08\/every-public-enemy-album-ranked\/\">Every Public Enemy Album, Ranked<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cMy family has a lot of that,\u201d he tells <em>SPIN<\/em>. \u201cMy aunt died from heroin and I was in my third rehab by 16. I struggled with heavy addiction my whole life. It\u2019s not necessarily something that I ever wanted to do. I have four kids myself and I\u2019m trying to stick around for the long haul for them. But I understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly an \u201cangry\u201d kid, DENM sought solace in music and learned to play guitar at 14. His first group, FMLYBND, carried a more alternative, indie rock sound than the stoner-friendly, reggae-flavored tunes he\u2019s making these days. FMLYBND was short-lived and he soon ventured down the EDM road. But it was a cover of the 1992 Sublime song \u201cBadfish\u201d that began to steer him in the right direction, and defined the music he was destined to make.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The parallels between Sublime and DENM are uncanny. DENM\u2019s latest release, <em>Hot N Glassy<\/em>, could have been written in the 1990s. His voice, tinged with a sun-kissed rasp, screams SoCal and has a way of transporting the listener to another era, when the region\u2019s bands like No Doubt, Sublime, and the Descendents were in full bloom.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1290\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/537ACC00-2C8E-4184-AD42-E598906735A0.jpeg\" alt=\"(Credit: Rian Diener)\" class=\"wp-image-469766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/537ACC00-2C8E-4184-AD42-E598906735A0.jpeg 1290w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/537ACC00-2C8E-4184-AD42-E598906735A0-340x450.jpeg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/537ACC00-2C8E-4184-AD42-E598906735A0-768x1016.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/537ACC00-2C8E-4184-AD42-E598906735A0-1161x1536.jpeg 1161w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/537ACC00-2C8E-4184-AD42-E598906735A0-498x659.jpeg 498w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Rian Diener)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSublime was obviously an influence, but I guess more so just seeing how Bradley used the cultures around him and the sounds he heard to blend into something special and unique,\u201d Montgomery says. \u201cThat\u2019s more what I\u2019m going after, like a different chef cooking with similar ingredients being from similar regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sounds, landscapes, and people are all still very much the same. I feel like I\u2019m carrying the torch of the Southern California sound but also making honest music from my heart that\u2019s not necessarily trying to be anything else but that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And that pureness comes across in his music. As his manager Adam Stroul notes, \u201cEvery artist that I\u2019ve worked with on a management level, it\u2019s never felt like this. I am in love with every aspect of this human being. Whether it\u2019s on the human level or an artist level, the way he moves and everything he says carries a lot of positivity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even the way DENM views the music industry is a refreshing change of pace from artists chasing streams and chart numbers. While there\u2019s a sense he knows his music should have an even larger audience, especially coming off a tour with Nowell\u2019s son, Jakob, where he had a chance to perform for massive crowds, he\u2019s playing the long game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re just making music we like and I\u2019m not looking at charts,\u201d DENM says, bluntly. \u201cI\u2019m not listening to what\u2019s popping and how young everybody is. I\u2019m having fun doing this. I feel like I won the lottery by being able to play music as a real job. I get to go surf. I get to spend time with my family, and then when it\u2019s time to work, it\u2019s time to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continues, \u201cGenerally speaking, it feels like hits are made and manufactured and it doesn\u2019t matter. You could be the biggest artist in the world making the worst music or you could be the smallest artist in the world making the best music. It seems like a lot of entertainment has become propaganda versus art and I don\u2019t really care for any of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>DENM\u2019s priorities have shifted greatly since beginning his music career. Coming from a family without disposable income, he admits he used to struggle with comparison and thought he wanted something different out of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was super inspiring seeing these young people living these affluent lives in L.A., and I was kind of starstruck by it all,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut through the years, I\u2019ve just re-grounded myself, tapped back into who I am, spent a lot more time in the ocean and I have a much more clear head than I used to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<lite-youtube videoid=\"VvCAwm_yuHI\" style=\"bottom: 0; height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; width: 100%; max-width:100%;\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Now, his focus is on running his new label, Slum Beach Records, and making music on his own terms\u2014both his own and other artists\u2014while taking care of his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see a lot of massive artists being real fucking miserable and I\u2019m trying to go be happy,\u201d he says. \u201cIf my music touches enough people to be able to provide a life for my kids, to have a roof over their heads, I\u2019m like, \u2018Hell yeah.\u2019 The goal is to be able to have a little piece of land, and just keep making music and inviting people out to come heal, grow, and express their ultimate freedom in their artistic ways. It\u2019s our therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Hot N Glassy,<\/em> released in March, boasts features from Cypress Hill\u2019s B-Real, Slightly Stoopid, and Pepper. Slum Beach Posse\/DENM band members Benny Ranks and Jesse James Pariah also make appearances, giving the project an immensely rich, SoCal flavor. They didn\u2019t push a particular single from the album. Instead, they opted to let the fans dictate the tracks. Based on their feedback, DENM and his team decided which songs would get videos. The first one, \u201cLittle Love,\u201d dropped on July 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to see via all the streaming platforms what songs people were vibing with,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe chose the first four songs based on that: \u2018Little Love,\u2019 \u2018I\u2019ll Be Gone,\u2019 \u2018Swimming Lessons\u2019 and \u2018Ride Slow.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As the album continues to bubble, DENM has remained patient instead of worrying about how many units he\u2019s sold or getting that one viral hit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019ll grow,\u201d he says of the album. \u201cIt has legs and I think it\u2019s more about preparation meets opportunity. The live shows are there. I\u2019m not in any hurry. I\u2019ve honestly seen so many people come and go in this industry. I\u2019ve been doing it full time for almost 15 years now. I\u2019ve never had a hit for myself, but I\u2019ve written other people\u2019s songs that have done well. I\u2019ve gotten to win a Grammy from producing a record that won.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That Grammy Award win came in 2022 for his work on SOJA\u2019s <em>Beauty in the Silence<\/em>, which won Best Reggae Album, a monumental moment for DENM. With <em>Hot N Glassy<\/em>, an upcoming Slum Beach Posse record, touring, and Slum Beach Records, there are many more of those moments on the horizon. In the interim, he\u2019ll be at the beach, soaking up the sun and relishing the reality he\u2019s created for himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re bringing the right parts of the attitude back from the roots,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not making music necessarily for other people. We know it blesses other people, but this is really for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DENM still remembers hearing Sublime on the radio as a kindergartner. The SoCal native, born Mac Montgomery in 1990, grew up with songs like \u201cSanteria,\u201d \u201cWhat I Got,\u201d and \u201cGarden&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3178,31,24,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-denm","category-features","category-pushly","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}