Happa: Age Is Mostly Irrelevent

With Happa's productions sounding like the work of a dark, paranoid, world weary, bitter and twisted long time techno deviant, it comes as something of a shock to discover that these are in fact the works of someone at the mere age of 15.

Having already gained massive respect and regular plays from the likes of Loefah, Paleman and Four Tet, Happa is taking the world of dark and mangled techno by storm. We grabbed the chance to chat to the intriguing wunderkind and find out a little bit more about how it all began and what we can look forward to from him in the coming months...

Vondelpark - Dracula (Happa Remix)

You’re set to appear in Derry on the 31st October. Will this be your Northern Ireland debut? Are you looking forward to it?

If my geography is correct, then yes. Yeah definitely, I'm always excited to play at new venues and in new countries.

Do you have anything special lined up?

Possibly; I was thinking of finishing with a new track of mine that you can't really dance to. 

For those of us who haven’t caught one of your sets, how would you describe what you do?

I bop my head and play some techno. The more intense, paranoid and harder stuff.

Four Tet - Jupiters (Happa Remix)

Where else have you enjoyed playing this year? Have there been any stand out moments?

I played at Melkweg as part of ADE very recently which was quite a stand out set in the general. The crowd were very energetic and up for anything. They were careless in the best possible way. 

When did you start producing, and what inspired you to start? 

About two or three years ago. I became ill and ended up having lots of spare time at home. During this period off school, I messed around on FL Studio a lot, thus getting "hooked" onto music production quite quickly.

Everyone seems to be amazed and almost obsessed that you’ve created such mature recordings whilst being so young. Does that get a bit boring, or do you view it as more of a compliment? 

I do view it as a compliment definitely, I don't see it as boring. However I do believe that age is mostly irrelevant. For example; the government wanting to move the new driving age to 18, as they claim that people at the age of 17 aren't good enough drivers… It has nothing to do with them being 17 or 18, it is their lack of experience. If you took a 40 year old with the same amount of driving experience as a 17 year old, I am pretty sure that they would drive pretty similarly. Rant over. Sorry.

Happa - Bring It Back

You’ve released some incredible stuff so far, from more experimental stuff on Boomkat to your floor killing output on Church at the end of last year. Do you have any more releases forthcoming that we can look forward to? What direction will you be taking with your productions?

Thank you very much, yeah; I have a release coming out soon that I suppose you could say is in affiliation with Warp… kind of. That is all I will say. As for the direction, I am trying to achieve the "perfect" balance between wretched, noisiness and a decent groove, and have fun doing so.

What does the future hold for Happa?

Well there is one set release on the way, plenty more gigs - abroad and in the UK - and hopefully some more production projects too.

And finally, Dream situation time... you can go back to any period in clubland history, and play at any club. Who would you have playing alongside you and what tune would you drop that would define the evening?

I would go back to the House Of God night in Birmingham in 1997. I'd be going b2b with Jeff Mills, and I'd drop Energy Flash by Beltram. Jeff would totally loose his shit. 

Catch Happa doing his thing in Derry on Thursday night. Head here for your Zutekh, Jika Jika & Bekuz Haloween Freak Out tickets 

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