Description
Hatiras, is a multi award-winning artist originally from Toronto, Canada. He has established himself as one of the planet's top, and most consistent electronic music DJs & producers.
Throughout the '90s Hatiras was involved in the scene as a rave promoter. He formed and led a promotions company called "Liquid Adrenaline" that attracted up to 10,000 people per event in zany venues including airplane hangers, train stations, hotel suites, poolsides and convention halls.
His vast knowledge and contacts in the scene eventually led him into the world of music production and a fruitful record deal with IHR - the infamous Chicago based record label headed by Bad Boy Bill. At the time, the IHR/Mix Connection family, which included artists such as Hatiras, Paul Johnson, H-Foundation, CZR, Angel Alanis, Steve Smooth, JJ Flores and Bryan Cox was making a huge impact on the world of house music.
By 2001 Hatiras scored a massive worldwide hit called "Spaced Invader" that released on the UK's Defected Records and Australia's Ministry of Sound. It was exalted as one of the most successful house anthems of the new millennium. This technologically advanced, funk encoded song tracked at the number one position on Coolcuts and the UK's Buzz Chart, was repeatedly acclaimed as Pete Tong's "Essential New Tune", landed a top 20 UK hit and awarded Hatiras a prestigious Juno Award and Canadian SOCAN award for most radio airplay. It featured additional remixes from Hatiras, CZR, Olav Basoski, Darren Emerson, Ian Pooley, King Unique, J-Majik, Optical and High Contrast along with the exemplary vocal talents of Bassment Jaxx companion Slarta John. He quickly followed this release with the debut of his album "Arrival" that introduced a new style of energetic, spacey disco house that sent shock waves across the industry.
Receiving continuous support in clubs and heightening countless mix compilations, Hatiras’ funky sounds were heard complimenting the sets of DJs like Bad Boy Bill, Carl Cox, Dave Clarke, Judge Jules, Eric Morillo, Danny Rampling, Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia, Pete Tong and The Chemical Brothers. With his energetic and wacky frequencies modulating the dance music scene, radio stations around the planet picked up the signals. Trade publications 7, DJ, Face, Jockey Slut, M8, Ministry, Mixmag, Loud, Move-X, Klublife and countless television programs raced to let the world know about Hatiras' new sound.
His original, wacky and energetic production style has been requested to remix for some of the biggest names and labels in the dance music world. His production wizardry has been featured on the music of artists such as pop diva Kylie Minogue, disco queen Loleatta Holloway, Kevin Irving, Junior Jack, Ministers de La Funk (Erick Morillo, Jose Nunez and Harry "Choo Choo" Romero), Tom Novy, Olav Basoski, Carole Pope, The Bomfunk MCs, MC Flipside, Canadian idol winner Eva Avila and labels including IHR, Azuli, Defected, Manifesto, Ministry of Sound, Parlophone, V2, Sony Records, Toolroom, PBR (to name just a few).
By 2004 Hatiras formed the first of his two record labels "Blow Media." Through this outlet Hatiras pushed a new brand of funky/electro house that featured collaborations with artists including France's Antoine Clamaran, Robbie Rivera, DJ Dan and the global introduction of a new breed of artists that included Macca, Adam K, Kid Massive, Chris Kaeser, Hirshee, MC Messinian and more. Notable releases included the massive "Money Shot", the Juno Award winning "Spanish Fly" and his collaborations with DJ Dan "Love For The Weekend" and "Baked From Scratch". He followed with a series of 3 albums called "Electronic Luv" and a fourth, joint album with Macca called "Whites & Dubs" that sold exceptionally well in a time where major labels were reeling from the effects of illegal digital downloading.
With the switch over to digital music in full effect, and the new domination of Beatport as the world's top digital download site for DJ music, Hatiras and his label Blow Media were among the first to embrace the new technology and release music digitally. His label increased the output, while maintaining quality to grow into one of the highest selling digital labels on Beatport, second only to a major label in the US. The impact of the Blow Media sound was felt around the world with an increased demand for Hatiras tour dates spanning the globe. Tour dates passed across Canada, USA, Japan, Colombia, Australia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, UK, Serbia and more).
By 2007 Hatiras was feeling overwhelmed by the exploded size of his Blow Media Label and all the administrative duties that came with it. He decided to go back to his artist roots and launch a more intimate, boutique label called Hatrax. The hit parade never stopped. In fact, Hatiras' sound continued to evolve with the times, adapt, and dominate both the charts and record crates. A new string of releases featured vocalist MC Flipside and fused elements of hip hop with new electro house ("Just The Tip", "Get Blahsted", "Autograph" and "Open Up Your Eyes"). Hatrax Records also saw the release of solo work ("Bass Monkeys", "This Sound", "Poppin Beats", etc.), collaborations with DJ Jelo ("Donkey Punch", "SpeakerHumper") and MC Messinian ("Out My Face" and "Tear The Roof Off"). All of these songs were, at the least, genre top tens on Beatport and often top tens overall (including many #1 spots).
By the end of 2008 Hatiras was nominated along with Deadmau5, Eric Prydz, Dave Spoon and Olivier Giacomotto as one of the top electro house artists on Beatport (a legitimate chart based on actual record sales not a fabrication based on advertising, payment or connections). Based on the momentum of his Hatrax releases Hatiras released a new album in 2008 called "Crazy Nights, Neon Lights". The album, which continues to be a huge success in both physical retailers and at iTunes led to the "Crazy Nights, Neon Lights" tour which lit up cities across the globe. The shows and adventures, which are all documented through online galleries have added more fuel to the fire, increasing Hatiras' direct friend/fan-base to over 100,000 and well over 1 million Myspace plays.
Throughout this whirlwind of touring and constant music production Hatiras continues to embrace the online world with the release of his weekly radio program called "Hatiras Presents." The show, which launched in 2006 on FM in Toronto, broadcasts to over a dozen stations and blogs worldwide. Each episode surpasses 100,000 listeners per show and can be found in the ipods and laptops of fans across the world. It features mixes by artists hand picked by Hatiras to help educate the masses on proper, fresh DJ-based music from the underground.
More recently, Hatiras has become involved with the Roots Society family of DJs that perform at the annual Burning Man festival that is attended by 50,000 people. Roots Society is spearheaded by dot-com guru Jefr Tale and consists of a true family of DJs and artists that include Hatiras, Joachim Garraud, DJ Dan, Jelo, Donald Glaude, Santiago & Bushido and others. They gather every year to camp in the desert, share their music and celebrate art and creative freedom. To try to explain the impact the Burning Man experience has on creative expression, evolution and community would only scratch the surface.
Hatiras continues to make a massive global impact and has no trouble keeping the clubs crowded with his supporters eager to join the gathering. Although he's been heavily involved in the dance/house music scene for well over a decade (and most of his life), he still feels that he's just "warming up" and has a lot of new tricks up his sleeve that'll continue to surprise us.
So what's next for Hatiras we ask? Well for one, tour dates and releases will continue at a frantic pace. New collaborations with DJ Dan, Laidback Luke and Dave Spoon are forthcoming. And you can expect him to revisit and update some of his classic sounds - including his "New Disco EP" and a forthcoming remix package of "Spaced Invader" for 2010 that features contributions by many of the industries heavyweights! Big!
Top Hatiras Songs of All Time