Hajee

Hajee started producing around the age of 16 when he got his first synthesizer. At that time he was living in a small village in the north of the Netherlands and it was hard to get in touch with non-main-stream music those days. Fortunately his father had a little TV-fetish so a satellite-receiver was installed and the first editions of MTV's partyzone changed his life completely: Trip to Trumpton, Stakker Humanoid, Everybody in the Place, Sweet Harmony, FSOL and so on. Once his producer skills got more evolved he joined forces with Riez. Together they explored their relatively simple equipment and a lot of Acid erupted from their fuzzy speakers. In 1994 a collaboration was made with another, more hardcore oriented duo called Pharcyde Terror. A small studio was created in the outskirts of the city called Steenwijk where Hajee got his first hand on a hardware sampler: Roland S-760. Meanwhile the first signs of Jungle had reached Hajee and Riez and after hearing Jonny L's "I Want You" it became all clear: Jungle it will be. In 1994 Hajee and Riez started the band Time Convert! Whereas their first jungle tracks could be regarded as experimental projects to gain gear-experience (read: sampler experience) their later tracks became more and more grown-up D&B- productions. Intensive demo spamming and their ambition to trash the world with their sound resulted in their first gigs. Being one of the first Dutch live D&B acts, Time Convert! was asked to perform at the Noorderslag festival in Groningen in the Drum 'n Basement. Along with Theremin, Simm Alley, Drum Origins, Opex (Loes Lee's band), Amp Error and DJ's Dreaz, Chaos and Esther, Time Convert proved that the Dutch D&B scene was rocking as hell. After being support-act for the Urban Dance Squad, Time Convert! made it through the first rounds of "De Grote Prijs van Nederland" and in accompany of MC Cesar they made a devastating performance in Paradiso, Amsterdam during the final of "De Grote Prijs van Nederland". Unfortunately they didn't win, but since Amsterdam is de least D'n'B-area of Holland, they could cope with it very well. After this big adventure Riez and Hajee each went their own way. Hajee decided to finish his studies and started focusing on DJ-ing. It took him more than two years to grew over his Amen-addiction. At that time he only bought records that in some way contained the famous Amen-loop. His current criteria for good records can be regarded as well produced, atmospheric, deep and energetic. Some of his favorite artists are The Green Man, DJ Hidden, Silent Witness and Simon V. In 2003 Hajee started producing again with an EMU E6400 Ultra sampler and an old PC, running an even older version of Cubase. Slowly his bedroom-studio evolved to a satisfying home recording studio and very recently he switched to a new Digital Audio Workstation running Ableton Live. His style as a producer can be characterized by atmospheric sounds, saturated, although well controlled basses and smashing beats. He still has the ambition and the faith that someday he will produce that specific track that will change mankind forever!!!