PRAIRIES - LOCAL ARTISIT SPOTLIGHT
NAME:
NATHAN ZAHN
WINNIPEG
HOMETOWN:
CURRENT TOWN:
GENRE:
TECH HOUSE
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/MEMEFEST
FACEBOOK:
TWITTER:
WINNIPEG
@MEMEFESTIVAL
SOUNDCLOUD:
WW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/NATHAN-ZAHN
NATHAN ZAHN
Nathan Zahn has been a huge contributor to the Manitoba electronic
music industry. He has been organizing events from the mid-90s and
continues to this day to bring quality music programming to the city’s
ever-growing number of electronic music lovers.
DJ MAG CANADA: Nathan, you have a huge appetite for music and your
style is more on the Techno/House side of the spectrum, who
influenced you most and what cities have you been to that have helped
you find your sound?
I started exploring Winnipeg’s underground warehouse party scene back in
1995 when I was still in high school. Fortunately Winnipeg had a small but
flourishing techno & house scene back then that in retrospect was really top
notch and full of very sophisticated and cutting edge DJs. Winnipeg is a very
isolated city so living here never allowed the luxury of making an easy trip to
Detroit or Chicago or any big city for that matter.
I always had a very eclectic taste in music and when I started hanging out in
the local record shops I connected with some DJ’s that helped expose me to all
kinds of new and exciting sounds that weren’t really available online or
anywhere else back then. Although I have always explored a wide variety of
sounds I initially gravitated towards techno & house as a DJ, especially all the
great stuff out of Detroit & Germany from the 90’s. I definitely have always
pushed for off the beaten path material, not just floor-filling party music. I like
my music a little bit weird and trippy but still dancefloor friendly!
DJ MAG CANADA: Nathan tell me how your dreams of running the city’s
longest running production company (http://www.symptomtech.ca)
came to be and how it influenced you to Develop Winnipeg’s Manitoba
Electronic Music Exhibition?
Symptom Technologies was formed by my high-school friend Cory Ash & his
sister Heather. This brother & sister duo rented a 5000 sq foot space on the 3rd
floor of a warehouse in Winnipeg