Dick Johnson teams up with The Peacekeepers on euphoric dancefloor banger, ‘In My Arms’

Legendary UK-born, Auckland-based producer and DJ, Dick Johnson, is celebrating 20 years at the heart of Aotearoa’s electronic music and club scene, with an upcoming full-length album of collabs with some of NZ’s hottest musical talent.

And the celebration starts today, with the release of the record’s first single, the highly infectious, dancefloor banger In My Arms, featuring The Peacekeepers.

Listen to In My Arms Here

In My Arms is an uplifting and euphoric tune that masterfully fuses techno soul, house, EDM and electro. The idea for the tune first emerged during the Covid lockdown when Dick sent a demo to The Peacekeepers – the side project of Shapeshifter members Sambora and P Digsss.

“They sent the vocal back within a few days. My reference for the vocal was Bobby Womack and I just loved what Digsss did. It just took me  four years to finish it!”

P Digss adds: “Inspo for the tune came about from taking a lunch break from the studio randomly playing the 80’s arcade game Pacman at a fish n chip shop in town, feeling like I was on the road a lot away from home and my girl. Got the hook in my head; went back to the studio, jammed out then booya In My Arms came alive.”

Helping to elevate the feelgood vibes of In My Arms is a pulsating club-inspired visualiser created by Kit Lawrence from Serious.NZ.

“I wanted the video to feel like it was the visuals on a big screen in a rave from back in the 90’s but with some modern elements. I started DJing in the early 90’s so that era of rave culture means so much to me. I collaborated on the visual side with Kit who was also a 90’s raver!”

With more than 50+ international releases and remixes to his name; thousands of roof-raising sets; a long standing radio show on George FM and his role as the music director of the hugely successful Synthony shows (NZ and AU), Dick is a formidable force in Aotearoa’s music scene.

As a way of marking the 20th anniversary of his move from the UK to NZ, and to pay tribute to the country’s rich tapestry of musical talent, Dick is preparing to release a studio album. It features an A-list cast of collaborators, which includes Jujulipps, Kings, Jeremy Redmore, Anna Coddington and of course, The Peacekeepers.

“The album is a collaboration of people I’ve worked with in the last 20 years as well as some bucket list producers/musicians I’ve always wanted to work with,” he explains.