“Yes, the rumour is true,” announced Dave Dresden in 2008. “Gabriel & Dresden have parted ways for the time being.” The duo had certainly gone out on a high. They’d just played a career-highlight set at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, built predominantly around their own club classics. “I will remember that hour and fifteen minutes forever,” Dresden wrote. “I certainly felt the love with all the hands in the air and the well-wishes.”

It wasn’t a lack of creative inspiration that undid Gabriel & Dresden. Instead, the collaborators were “growing apart as artists”. Josh Gabriel was itching to explore techier territory on his own, which led to the Eight album. Dresden continued on the anthemic path that had been G&D’s calling card, eventually pairing with Mikael Johnston as Dresden & Johnston. All the while, fans bombarded the guys with requests for a comeback.

“People just started to get excited that we were even talking again,” Dresden tells inthemix down the line from Florida. “And then there were offers we couldn’t refuse.” The first of those offers was to bring in 2011 at the Hollywood Palladium.

From there, the return of Gabriel & Dresden was set. Dresden picks up the story as we await the duo’s first tour in six years for Creamfields.

I understand we’ve caught you in the middle of the North American tour?
We are taking a few days off, ‘cause we had the gig on Saturday night in Miami. The weekend before we had two shows, one in San Francisco and one in DC. We have a gig tomorrow night in Austin, so I’ve just been relaxing in Florida. The Winter Music Conference is always very taxing on the body.

What was the feeling like in Miami this year?
It was awesome. Honestly. There were a lot of people saying the conference wasn’t going to be good this year but I had a lot of great experiences. I think that there’s a potential for the Winter Music Conference to carry on and really get back to the music.

The music is not about doing exclusive performances for a huge rave festival. The music is the music. I felt that the WMC this year was getting much closer to that again, and I think the industry really needs that now.

It seems like the Winter Music Conference in Miami has played a significant role in your career…
Absolutely. I’ve been going there since 1995, and so has Josh for different reasons. I was a club DJ in Connecticut and I had some radio mix shows, so I just went down there because there was a huge exchange of ideas. It was a chance to brush elbows with Todd Terry, David Morales and Paul Oakenfold – people I really looked up to.

That’s where I met Josh Gabriel in 2001, it’s where we unleashed As The Rush Comes, and every year is something different. This year it was just G&D performing again.

I know that before you went your separate ways, your DJ sets together were very interactive; it wasn’t a one-on, one-off situation. How has it been picking that up again?
Honestly, it feels like we never missed a beat. We just fell into our roles and assumed them. The gear is still the same, the music’s a little different, and we’ve learned a few things. It’s been a cakewalk again. We found that rhythm within the first 10 minutes of our set on New Years Eve.