Hello Duke Dumont. Where are you right now?
I'm in a hotel room somewhere in east London. It's nicer than my house, but that's true of most of the hotels I stay in.

Did you sleep well?
I did. It's the first proper night's sleep I've had in, no word of a lie, three weeks or so.

Your real name is Adam, so why did you go with Duke?
On one level, I just thought it was a lot more exciting than Adam Dyment. On a slightly deeper level – and this is something I only thought in retrospect – I figured it was important to have a distinction between your music and your real life and who you are. In a weird way I think it's healthy because people are cheering because of your music, not because of the person you are. I like to think it keeps me a little bit more grounded.

Who is your favourite duke out of the Duke of Kent, the Duke of York or the Duke of Cambridge?
One of the proudest moments of my life was around the time of Need U (100%), when I was about the third or fourth most-searched duke on Google UK (1). That's not bad. I think I was above the Duke of Kent.

It has taken a little while for you to make an impression on the charts (2). Were you never very interested in being a pop star?
I think it was that, yeah. I'd never really set my sights on chart success. Also, I don't think I was capable of chart success then. I wasn't proficient enough to make songs that could be played on daytime radio.

Are you ambitious?
I'm getting more ambitious. But I think "ambitious" can be misconstrued as stepping on people to get where you need to get to. I'm ambitious in myself, I'm relentless in my workload and I want to do the best I possibly can. But I don't wish any other acts ill. I don't think it's a competition, I see it as the opposite. If certain acts in a similar mould are having success then a lot of the time it can pull other people through. That's how culture works. In the UK, club music and house music is riding high again, like the mid-90s. Disclosure really helped change things and Need U (100%) was one of the first house singles to get to No 1 in the UK in 15 years, then after me came Storm Queen, then Route 94 and then Kiesza. It's a chain reaction.

Will it reach saturation point soon?
That's the challenge; you've got to keep refreshing it. I like to think if it does become saturated then I'll add a twist to it that's unique to me as an artist. Like with EDM, that's been prominent for about six years now and that's probably become slightly saturated. But people shouldn't tell people what they should and shouldn't like. If you get real enjoyment out of a genre of music, then great.

You worked with a big pop act before you started having hits of your own, but you've never said who it was. Can you tell me right here and now as a worldwide exclusive?
No. She's pretty popular now.

Can I try to guess?
You can try.

Was it Rita Ora?
No.

Is she British?
Yes. But I'm of the opinion that you should only shout about who you're working with if the song gets on the album. I've got some DJ friends who are on Twitter going: "I'm in the studio with Shakira," which is great, but have you made a hit record with Shakira? Or are you just in the studio?

It's like when people say they've given a song to Rihanna, but she's probably not actually heard it among the 75 others she's been sent that day.
Mate, I've given loads of songs to Rihanna. Years ago I did a track for Britney Spears, around 2007. A friend of mine was working on her album and I submitted a song and she ended up singing on it, but did it make the album? No. Did I go on social media talking about it? No. Because it wasn't good enough to go on the album.

Can you email me that song now?
I don't think I even have it. It probably wasn't very good. I don't like to name-drop or brag (3).

Let's just say you're doing the new Beyoncé album and move on.
I'd love to. After my album's all finished, that's the direction I'll be moving into, being a bit more behind the scenes.

Is that where the money is?
It's not, actually. The money is in DJing.

Calvin Harris apparently made $66m from DJing last year or something insane (4).
Again, it's a bit aggressive, isn't it? Like, here are my personal finances. It's fucking disgusting, telling people how much you make. Why are you telling me how much you make in a year? But also you're telling the taxman how much you're making. I do pay all my taxes, to clarify.

Need U (100%) also got into the news for keeping Ding Dong the Witch is Dead off the No 1 spot after Margaret Thatcher's death. That's you going down in music quiz history, isn't it?
Absolutely, I am that Trivial Pursuit cheese wedge. That was a slightly strange experience because I was getting direct messages on Facebook saying that if I didn't pull my track out of the charts then I was a disgrace. I guess the label could have pulled it from iTunes, and in all honesty I can appreciate people's frustration, but the way it was done was a bit distasteful.

Obviously being a proper journalist I asked around for some "dirt" on you and someone told me you enjoy listening to lift music. Is that true?
Nah, I hate lift music. If that's what someone told you [as dirt], then it's because he or she is censoring a hell of a lot of stuff!

And did you used to make ringtones?
That's true. I used to have to edit all the classic dance tunes, so if you ever bought a ringtone from O2 10 years ago, it was probably me that was responsible for editing that song and looping it so that it just played the best bit. I refer to that as my Karate Kid moment, in that I had to listen to so many classic dance and pop songs and find the best bits that it seeped into my subconscious.

Footnotes

(1) He is currently the second most popular after the Duke of Edinburgh.

(2) His first EP, Regality, came out in 2007. He has since had two No 1 singles in a row.

(3) He sort of did by mentioning the whole Britney thing, but never mind.

(4) According to Forbes' annual Electronic Cash Kings power list.