Distruction Boyz, the Durban duo whose gold-certified debut carried gqom out of the townships, play their first London headline night at Village Underground.
Distruction Boyz, the Durban duo behind the first gqom album to reach gold status, play their first London headline night at Village Underground in Shoreditch on Friday 27 November 2026.
Thobani “Que” Mgobhozi and Zipho “Goldmax” Mthembu were both born in KwaMashu, the second-largest township in Durban. They made their names playing gqom and house in its taverns and shisa nyamas, and joined forces in 2015.
Gqom, the broken-beat house music of Durban’s townships, was still a regional sound when their single “Omunye” went to number one in South Africa. It was certified gold and won Record of the Year at the 2018 South African Music Awards.
Their debut album, Gqom Is the Future, arrived in October 2017, and a second, It Was All a Dream, followed a year later. The pair also produced “Wololo” for Babes Wodumo, and in 2023 they paused the duo to work on solo projects.
They returned to London earlier this year at Labyrinth’s Major League DJz Block Party. This extended set gives them a room of their own, in a renovated turn-of-the-century warehouse that began life in 2006 as affordable studios for artists.