Dean Turnley

A Melbourne ID that ended up at number one

In the clubs of Victoria, Actin' Tough started as a secret weapon: an ID that Dean Turnley and the Not Without Friends circle—Jordan Brando, William Kiss, and Luke Alessi—kept nailing on the dancefloor until DJs from half the world asked for the title. He premiered it to the public at Ripponlea Estate; on March 20, 2026, it was released via CHAOS alongside ROSSI.HOME//GRXWN, with the backing of Astralwerks and Intercord Germany. He built it on a Roland SP-404 sampler, with hip-hop drums, a spoken vocal with a 90s vibe, and a bassline taken from a Korg M1. In a few weeks, it reached number 1 on Beatport, with support from Chris Lake, Michael Bibi, Peggy Gou, Rossi., and Interplanetary Criminal, and it snuck into the charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Billboard dance chart. The track now exceeds twenty million streams on Spotify.

Detroit and Chicago house, raw and dancefloor-ready

Raised in Geelong and based in Melbourne, Turnley has been selecting Detroit and Chicago house for over a decade: dense, functional sessions designed for the club. He started producing with Ableton around 2010, and that criteria has led him to Australian festivals such as Beyond the Valley, Strawberry Fields, Let Them Eat Cake, and Pitch Music & Arts, in addition to a residency at Revolver and Bloom. In 2023, he independently released the seven-track EP Studio Diary, an afterhours log—from Afterclub to Late Night Drive—that already pointed to the contained groove that would later explode on a global scale. He himself summarizes his music as second beer, first dart kinda tunes.

Sundancer, Circoloco, and the international leap

Beyond the booth, he is the founder of Sundancer, a multi-day festival in Koh Phi Phi (Thailand) designed as a destination for underground dance, travel, and community. In 2026, the leap became concrete: Miami Music Week, a set in the main room of Circoloco at DC-10 (Ibiza, July 27), dates at Portola (San Francisco) and CRSSD (San Diego), and a sold-out show at the Northcote Theatre in Melbourne. Remixes by Mall Grab and A.B.C. have extended the life of the track. Today, he is one of the clearest exporters of the Australian underground: club house, anchored in the booth, and a career that continues to grow without letting go of the groove.