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Interview & Article by D. Painter
HATIRAS IS ON HIS B.I. For those not familiar with the terminology; he’s got his business down packed! Emerging as a one-man music factory, his massive release schedule has earned him international credibility as a DJ/Producer and allowed him to produce events, start a label, produce a radio show, and lord knows what other tasks that overload his day planner. Lucky for us, he has enough time to answer some questions so we can figure out his secret to success.Oh Canada. Land of Gretzky, beer, and dance music. In the 90’s Hockey sticks were traded for glow sticks as the Rave scene turned on a whole crop of kids, and we are now seeing the fruit from those seeds that were planted. George Hatiras was one of those ravers. “Throughout the ‘90s both Toronto and Montreal had a massive rave/electronic music scene. We got exposed to all the international talent, record shops were thriving and the culture was booming,” he stated about the early days, “those years were formative for artists such as myself, Deadmau5, MSTRKRFT, Tiga, M1, Jelo, Ritchie Hawtin, MC Flipside, etc. etc (all Canadians).” While most were indulging in the excess of the culture, Hatiras immediately found a way to profit. Selling energy drinks at events led to promoting parties that rose from 600 people at a Toronto church basement to 10,000 strong rave concerts. “It was during these years that I really got to know how the whole scene worked and got heavily exposed to the music.” By the late 90’s he picked up producing and was quickly signed to Chicago based IHR, a label helmed by superstar DJ Bad Boy Bill, which led to a demand for him to DJ in support of his music. These first releases included the international hit “Spaced Invader”, a funky spacey Disco style House track that earned him a Juno award (the Canadian equivalent to a Grammy), an accomplishment he repeated in 2005 with the release of the single “Spanish Fly”. His credibility and sales led to establishing Blow Media and Hatrax Records to capitalize on his own talents, a move similar to his Canadian counterpart Tiga, which was later echoed by Deadmau5 and many others. When asked why Canada seems to incubate major Electronic acts much more than his neighbors the U.S. he says, “As a nation we were also one of the leaders in internet connectivity which gave a lot of us a preview of where the music was going (digital). That allowed a lot of Canadians to jump on the whole online wagon before others (ie. selling music on iTunes, Beatport, marketing via Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Now almost everyone’s caught up so it’s an open playing field.” On a more political note, “As a Canadian, having had access to free, quality health care all of my life I’d like to see the US catch up. It probably has an effect on your creativity when you don’t have to worry about the possibility of getting into an accident and having a massive bill to deal with. Here, we can just worry about making music and not finding a “real job” just to be insured. If for some reason you lose a limb while tweaking knobs on a synth, you’d be worry free.” With politics on his mind I had to mention that the Chia Pet people recently issued a Barack Obama Chia bust. With a single called “Kill The Chia Pet” do you think the title could cause a U.S. / Canadian rift? “Well, that all depends on whether or not he lives up to his promises. If Obama can sort things out I’ll have to make a new tune called “Long live the Chia Pet”. If not, I’ll stick with the original title…” All jokes aside, Hatiras’ 2009 releases have been serious. “Kill The Chia Pet”, “Tear The Roof Off”, and “Out My Face” are just a few songs indicative of his recent turn to harder Electro production, a departure from his funky origins. “A lot of my move to electro had to do with me getting more interested in synthesis – so I’ve experimented with generating interesting and crazy tones and basslines. Electro also surpassed House in terms of demand and popularity.” That statement couldn’t be more accurate since the Underground actually broke into mainstream culture this year with the success of Kid Cudi & Crookers “Day N Night”, DJ Class’ “I’m The Shit”, LMFAO’s “I’m In Miami Bitch”, and mega group The Black Eyed Peas co-opting the popular sound to tremendous effect. Will this embrace by popular culture also be the kiss of death? “I don’t have a problem with commercial artists tapping into the underground. It’s good because it exposes new people to the sound and leads them into the underground stuff. I like all kinds of music but I’ve always been a sucker for new music. As soon as a song gets commercialized and gets overplayed I get bored of it. That’s not to say those songs are bad though – it’s just that commercial artists are usually a step behind the real trends.” So what’s next? “I think we’re headed for a bit of a division. New House and filtered Disco is going to come back big time. You’ll hear all of those funky sounds coming back with fatter, updated production. Electro will get nastier/darker and move closer to the whole Dubstep and breaks sound.” The newer cutting edge music can be heard weekly on Hatiras Presents, a radio show and podcast that can be downloaded at www.Hatiras.com. His current play list includes tunes by Laidback Luke, Wolfgang Gartner, Santiago & Bushido, Bam Bam, Afrojack, Will Bailey, Calvetron, and Fake Blood, some of whom have also been guest DJ’s on the show. With the death of vinyl and the rise of MP3’s there is never a shortage of music to debut, but this has also had a major impact on his business. “It’s made everything move a lot quicker. It’s also made music more disposable. Back in the day it would take months from the time I finished a song to it being in a record store. Now, I basically make a song and can post it to an online retailer [like Beatport and iTunes] within a week or two. That’s great. The problem is that people have a shorter attention span and demand new music all the time. Although, for me, that’s a good thing because I really enjoy making music and it’s allowed me to be more productive and experimental in the studio.” His studio experimentation has actually recently led him backwards by revisiting his funkier style and updating it on one of his classic singles “Digital Doom” originally released in 1999. The reworking of “Digital Doom” along with some new Disco influenced material will be featured on his The New Disco EP that will be released on October 20th. “I never abandoned my love for House and Disco. In fact, my forthcoming EP draws heavily from my old disco influenced sound. I also just finished a collaboration with Laidback Luke and another one with Dave Spoon that are both very funky/disco/housey. It really feels like the funkiness is going to come back.” Going into 2010 we can expect more music including a release that sees “Spaced Invader” getting the remix treatment. The strange brew that is Canadian Dance is only getting stronger, so next time you’re at the club give credit where credit is due, ey.
For more updates on new music and to download the Hatiras Presents radio podcast visit www.Hatiras.com
DOWNLOAD the 09-18-2009 episode of Hatiras Presents with a mix from Hatiras
THE NEW DISCO – EP :: AVAILABLE OCTOBER 20th at www.Beatport.com |
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