Dubai runs on music. You feel it everywhere — beach clubs, rooftops, warehouse parties, late-night dance floors that don't quit until sunrise. And the DJs who soundtrack all of it? Everyone knows their names.

But ask someone to name a local live band? Crickets.

Not because the talent isn't there. Dubai is full of it — rock bands, funk acts, indie artists, singer-songwriters doing things that deserve far bigger rooms. They just don't always get the spotlight they deserve. That is exactly the gap Out of Place is trying to close.

We sat down with founder Duane Mendes to talk about what it actually takes to build a platform for live music in this city, why local artists keep flying under the radar, and what he has got planned next. We will let him tell it from here.

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In many ways, founders end up telling their own stories through the things they build, and Out of Place is no different.

My name is Duane. I am a filmmaker, creative director, musician, and I have called Dubai home since 2003. But if I am tracing the beginning of this story, I would probably start in 2006 — the year I picked up a guitar for the first time.

This was the year my friend introduced me to Green Day, and honestly, it changed everything. Up until then, I mostly listened to hip-hop, but rock music opened up a completely different world for me. It wasn't just a new genre. It changed the way I thought about creativity and self-expression.

Throughout school, my friend and I played music together constantly. We would learn songs, teach each other riffs, and spend hours practising. Then life happened. We graduated, moved to different countries, went to university, and eventually drifted for more than a decade.

Fast forward to 2023. That same friend had returned from Ireland, and around that time we went to see Green Day live in Dubai. Standing there in the crowd, we had a bit of a full-circle moment. At one point, we looked at each other and said: "We don't want to be 70 years old regretting that we never tried." That was the catalyst.

Today, we have a band — Half Life Hero. We have written eight original songs and are currently refining the material before recording. The plan is to have everything wrapped up by the end of the year, press it onto vinyl, and release it properly.

But this isn't really the story of my band — at least not yet. It is about the last piece of the puzzle. Because the band ended up giving me something even more valuable than a collection of songs. It gave me perspective.

For years, I felt there should be more space for music like ours within Dubai's wider cultural landscape. As a punk rock musician, I often found myself searching for places where live music could exist alongside a city largely known for its DJs, house music, and venue-driven entertainment.

Dubai's music scene is diverse, but much of the city's public identity is naturally tied to DJs, nightlife, and electronic music — and that makes perfect sense. As the city grew into one of the region's major entertainment destinations, electronic music became part of its soundtrack. Beach clubs, festivals, and late-night venues created an environment where house music, EDM, and DJ culture could thrive.

And that isn't a criticism. Music is music. Art is art.

The question is whether there is room for other genres alongside it. My answer has always been yes — and the more I immersed myself in the local scene, the more I realised I wasn't the only one who thought so.

There were talented musicians, bands, and artists everywhere facing a similar challenge. The talent was there. The passion was there. What was often missing was the opportunity to connect with new audiences. And becoming one of those musicians myself — navigating the same scene I had been observing for years — only made that more obvious.

That realisation became the missing piece and eventually led to Out of Place.

The idea was simple: instead of waiting for the right spaces to appear, why not create them ourselves?

Out of Place brings local musicians into unexpected venues and builds intimate experiences around their work. The name says it all, really. We work with artists who feel their music doesn't quite fit the usual boxes, and we celebrate anyone who has ever felt a little out of place themselves — the punk rockers, the grunge kids, the creatives, and anyone who has ever felt different because of the things they love.

But the project goes far beyond organising a single performance. Every artist receives professional production, photography, filmed content, posters, and promotional assets — all at no cost.

The goal isn't simply to give someone a stage for one evening, but to leave them with tools and content that continue supporting their journey long after the lights go down.

People often say your first event is the one where everything goes wrong. Fortunately, that wasn't our story.

I knew the first Out of Place performance had to do two things: capture attention and show people exactly what made the project different. I also knew that when you are introducing something unfamiliar, people can sometimes be hesitant. So rather than presenting it as just another live music performance, we wanted to create something that felt closer to an art installation.

The concept centred around a musician called Lucio. We built an entire bedroom around him, surrounding the space with curtains so it felt completely separate from the outside world. Inside the room, we placed a vintage 1980s Handycam. Outside, an old television streamed everything happening within the installation. To bring that vision to life, we worked with Galbi from ENSO studios, who led the creative direction for the bedroom set.

Our first event took place at ENSO studios, which helped enormously. People arrived expecting to encounter art, so they were open to the experience from the start.

For two hours, they watched Lucio move through his environment, pick up his guitar, experiment, create, and simply exist as an artist. Instead of presenting a finished performance, we invited people into the process itself.

The response caught us off guard. People lingered for the full two hours, and afterwards kept telling us they had never seen anything quite like it.

For me, it reinforced the idea behind Out of Place.

Sometimes artists don't need bigger stages. They just need the opportunity to be seen. And if we can help create those opportunities, even for a handful of people, then we are doing something worthwhile.

I am happy to say that after only a handful of events, artists started reaching out to me directly on Instagram, asking how they could become part of Out of Place. The truth is, there isn't a checklist.

I don't care how many years you have been performing or how many followers you have. What matters is whether I genuinely believe in the artist. If your music makes my head start bobbing, that is usually a good sign. If I can imagine adding your songs to my own playlist, even better. If I feel your work deserves to be heard, I am willing to invest into helping make that happen.

And once that decision is made, the work kicks in.

Finding and securing venues is only the start. From there, it is about building concepts, organising photoshoots, producing content, designing posters, writing artist stories, sending invitations, and personally reaching out to people. Every event becomes much bigger than a single performance. The funny thing is that we have never charged for any of it.

In fact, I am losing money doing this.

Of course, the long-term goal is to find support and funding that allows the project to grow. But right now, I am doing it for a much simpler reason: I love discovering talented people and helping them find an audience. I believe these artists deserve that chance. And as long as I can help create it, the effort feels worth it.

The next Out of Place event is happening this Saturday at Club Swell, Al Quoz, from 5 pm, featuring Dubai-based funk band Grasshoppers.

As for what to expect? Every event is different. I told the band to showcase themselves in whatever way feels most authentic to them, so even I don't know exactly how the evening will unfold. What I do know is that it won't feel like a traditional gig.

There is no complicated booking process — just come along. Capacity is limited, though, so arriving early is probably a good idea.