Getting to know MORE about Haezer

Exclusive interview with homegrown  superstar Haezer 

Hello and welcome to Think in Electronic, thank you for taking time out to do this interview with us.

How are you doing?

I’m good. Trying to make the most of  the Cape Town winter at the moment, so spending lots of time in studio.

1.     What’s the best thing about living in South Africa?

Firstly, it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. I live in cape town and when I want to get away from the city and enjoy nature I can drive anything from an hour to three hours to get to beach, forest, mountain, desert, caves, whatever you can think of and it’s very affordable, so you’re quality of life is really high here compared to Europe.

2.     Can you tell us a bit more about yourself basically who is Haezer when his not making music?

A bit of a nerd really. To be honest most producers I’ve met are. We spend most of our time in front of a computer making the music we play out at clubs. The rest of the time I like playing PS3, going away for weekends and playing poker. Generally just hanging with friends in a non-club environment.

3.     How you got into music and we really want to know what’s the story behind the name Haezer?

I got into music at a very young age. I was lucky enough to have a brother with good taste in music, so my first cassete tape was Violent Femmes on the one side and Beck on the other side. My life use to revolve around skateboarding as a kid and I always listened to punk rock or hip hop when skating.  I never really listened to electronic music until I heard drum ‘n bass and thought, ‘damn, this like metal made for clubs’. I then got into more bass music and started off producing much more chilled stuff, like trip hop and idm. One day I got home and my laptop with all my music was stolen, it was on that day that I decided to start HAEZER and just make bass driven, fun music. My real name is Ebenhaezer and that’s where I got my stage name from.

4.     If you had to pick one places to describe your music where would it be and why?

It’s kind of like Berlin. Dark, gritty, but still beautiful and full of energy.

5.     Your EP Gold Plated Frequencies was incredible what inspired the EP and how has the EP been received by all your fans?

I made the majority of the EP while touring and a lot of the songs came from just playing around on my mac on a train or plane and just soaking in my environment. Then I built on those ideas when I got back to my studio.  A lot of my fans were skeptical, because it was a whole new sound I presented them, but after hearing it in a club I could see everyone ‘getting’ it and still now I get the best response when I drop one of my GPF tracks in the club or at a festival.

6.     “More” is your latest release and is collaboration with Canadian electronic trio Black Tiger Sex Machine, how did the collaboration come to be and what was it like working with BTSM?

We’ve been in contact for ages and I’ve always admired their sound and they are really cool guys’. They asked whether I’m keen for a collab and gave me a track to work with. We then just exchanged ideas via skype and email and completed the track over a month.

7.     Its no secret that more is your first collaboration, what were some of the difficulties you faced and how different was the working process as opposed to working along? 

It was  quite a challenge in the beginning. I wasn’t sure where to take the track. I made three or four different drops, but once we found a middle ground on what works it was pretty smooth sailing from there on.

8.     Typically where do you draw inspiration from and how do you go from idea to final track?

I find inspiration in two ways. One is to just put myself in unfamiliar situations or environments. It sometimes just takes one moment or sound to inspire a whole track.

The other thing I do is just sit in my studio and play around without having a song in mind, just jam on my little phatty and blofeld synth and have fun. I find just putting yourself out of that ‘producer’ mindset and just enjoying the sounds that come out of your synth or software you can a lot of inspiration.

9.     Hopefully this wont be your last collaboration, which other producers would you like to collaborate with?

Trumpdisco(producer from Australia) and myself have been talking about a collab and I’d also like to collaborate with F.O.O.L, SebastiAn and Death Grips.

10.  Who are some producer/musicians you look up to and why?

Guys like Four Tet, Boards of Canada and someone like Tom Waits who make music with passion and the pure love for it without ever selling out and have a big fan base, but never did the vicious marketing that most big producers do these days.

11.  We believe every artist has a message they are trying to portray to the world through their works. What message are you trying to send out through your music?

Everyone needs a outlet, a place where they can just let loose all their frustrations and escape reality. I don’t have a serious world changing message in my music, I just believe everyone is equal and everyone needs a space to let go of there worries and ego and bullshit and just dance sometimes.

12.  In your opinion what is lacking from the dance music scene in South Africa and where do you see the electronic music scene in South Africa in 5 years time?

It’s hard to say, because three years ago I had completely different views on our scene. We’ve always had an abundance of dj’s and not enough producers, but that has changed over the past three years. I think the biggest thing lacking in the music industry is competition in the club scene and also more booking agents and managers. I see so many artists with so much talent that goes unnoticed because they don’t have small team of people backing them.

13.  Since it was just the MTV MAMA’s , if you had to select one track of yours to be nominated for any music award what track would it be and why?

Ghetto. It’s one of my best tracks in my opinion, because it’s very different from anything out there.

14.  Lastly what does Electronic Music represent for you..

Freedom of expression using technology.

15.  Any last messages for fans?

Just that I appreciate every single fan out there for their amazing support over the years and if you see me at the bar…buy me a drink ;)

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us we looking forward to seeing you play in Jozi soon :)