Freddy Montanez

Raised by the sounds and influences of the Windy City underground, Freddy started his adventure into house music as a sideline spectator at age 14. “ I remember gathering my lunch money and doing the starving artist thing, so that I could go see Julian ’Jumpin” Perez and “Bad Boy” Bill play at our weekly teen clubs in the Northwest suburbs”. Listening to Chicago’s WBMX and WGCI radio shows, became his religious sanctuary, and the beginning of what would eventually change his life forever. At the age of 16, Freddy climbed his DJ throne, becoming the Chicago Northwest Battle of the DJ’s champion, first held at the legendary “Hip HOUSE”. Crowning him was future AFTERHOURS RECORDINGS pioneer, ANDY ADAMS, RICK GARCIA, PUMPIN PETE, and BAD BOY BILL. “After I won that competition, I began to realize that it’s not where your FROM that keeps you honest musically, it’s where your HEARTS at”. “All those judges were my mentors growing up, and winning at that point in my life, made me realize that I would live and breathe house music,forever”. Soon after, Freddy made the move from the suburbs to the inner city, where he later cultivated himself, getting discovered by Chicago’s own CZR . This led Freddy into producing Hard-House releases for Bad Boy Bills’ International House Records. “Me and (then roommate) MAZI, went into CZR’s record store looking for jobs where he instead, asked us to produce tracks for him. Because of this, Abstract Beating Systems was formed. “We went to Bill’s house soon after, and before you know it, we were paying our bills!” Freddy simultaneously served as an acid-jazz DJ for “Deeper than Blue”. A group formed in Chicago’s north side with house music colleague Colette on lead vocals. All the while, touring locally for Chicago’s prolific underground dance clubs such as Club Shelter, Alcatrazz, SmartBar , and the infamous Aragon Ballroom. Freddy soon found himself surrounded by old Chicago House music veterans as well as new school pioneers. “I NEVER worked with such a talented, laid-back group of people like I did at that point in my life.” Freddy began working with local Chicago dance king labels such as Cajmere’s Relief Records, and the notorious Afterhours Recordings. He again teamed up with Mazi to record Audio Soul Project’s first and groundbreaking release,”Spirit Repair E.P.” on San Francisco’s Grayhound Recordings. With no time to spare, Freddy started co-producing releases on GOURMET RECORDINGS with Olivier Desmet (Amenti recordings), eventually being released on power labels such as Canada’s NRK RECORDINGS.“I was never taken seriously as a Chicago producer until the GRAYHOUND release. That’s what I love about Chicago and their house music mentality. The city gives you a love-hate relationship, making you earn your respect. For instance, it’s like one minute your struggling to make rent, working on your MPC, in your basement apartment, making minimum wage, looking for brighter days .. And the next minute, your having gyro sandwiches at 4 in the morning, with CZR and Angel (Alanis),playing with DJ Rush at Smartbar. I wouldn’t change that for the world.” Since then, Freddy’s made his way westward to the Las Vegas area, where he found himself seduced by the smooth black-water sounds of Sin City itself. Much different from the aggressive, stomping, dub madness of the mid-west. “Working at record stores in Vegas, I was fortunate to see the “NAKED NYC-SAN FRAN” phenomenon blow up, realizing that people can still jack on the floor to a chill track.” Freddy showed his west coast versatility teaming up with local top dog CARLOS SANCHEZ, releasing their local debut single the Homecookin’ E.P. on Vegas’ FREMONT RECORDS. Soon after, Freddy accomplished his first remix for New York’s TERRA DIVA entitled “For the Music” (The Official slogan used for SOUL KITCHEN,which Freddy started 3 Years ago in Las Vegas) topping the Dance Billboard Music Chart at #4. Shortly after, Freddy teamed up with sexy dub, vocalist JESSICA LYN to release their single “VEGAS NIGHTS” on Baltimore’s powerhouse label MOVIM RECORDINGS. This was to be the first Las Vegas single to be released by a major house label. All and all, Freddy’s efforts are sure to be seen, whether it be his release due at the beginning of 2007 on SOULSUPPLEMENT RECORDS, or at his weekly residency at 210 NORTH in Reno, Nevada. “I’ve come to respect NEVADA as my home, being that the scene is still relatively new here. But the only way a respected dance community can be formed, is to be entirely true to your artform, and simply let your music do the talking.”