Today we’d like to introduce you to Nico Hartt.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Cleveland, OH. I spent most of my adolescence figuring myself out through skateboarding and music. Music was always a massive thing for me from the get-go. My dad had a few vinyls and he showed me how to work the record player about age 5 or 6 I want to say and I would pop one of them on and just sit in front of the stereo. My favorites in his collection were a couple Pink FLoyd albums, Queens greatest hits and Motley Crues Shout at the Devil. My first tastes in music were influenced from his listening choices. I fell in love with classic rock and hair metal bands.
I was about 14 when I decided listening wasn’t enough. I decided to get a guitar and taught myself to play. Listening to groups like Black Sabbath and Guns N Roses to Blink 182 and Bad Religion, I found myself drawn more towards punk rock and wanting to get bands together. I’ve jammed around with numerous people playing sounds similar to Blink, Pennywise, NoFX and other similar bands. At this point, this is what I decided I want to do. Get a punk rock band going, play shows and that’s the only thing I’m going to do. Music was it.
At the same time, electronic music was becoming a heavy influence in my life. After highschool, I found myself at underground parties playing lots of deep tech and drum and bass. Trance was always my main love in electronic music but you didn’t find much there. I began dabbling a bit with producing trance music but punk rock still dominated my attention at the time. I knew early on I wanted to move to San Diego (without having ever visited). It just seemed like the place I would form a band and things would happen. I had plans to move here at the age of 20 with one of my best friends when he was unexpectedly taken from us. This put a hold on things in life and I inadvertently stuck around Ohio for a few more years.
Eventually, I stuck to plan and made the leap with another one of my friends, picked up everything and drove out to SD to move into an apartment we found on Craigslist. My friend Jess was the only person I knew out here at the time and that didn’t last long as I immediately was encompassed by so many great people.
Unfortunately, my punk rock dreams took a bit of a turn. When moving out here, all of my guitars had been stolen which were about all I came out with. Leaving me with almost nothing to play. For the first six months, I was living in my apartment with my clothes in a pile, an air mattress, and my computer all on the floor. No desk, no dresser. I was heartbroken about the guitars, I still am, but I try to look at it now as a blessing in disguise. It was because of this that I took into producing electronic dance music more seriously. I began learning and with barely being able to afford rent was the perfect time as I wasn’t able to afford to go out all that much. Until I got a desk, I would spent hours each day laying on my floor at the computer working on music. My back still yells at me about it.
I still spend that time now, thankfully in a chair and at a desk, working on my craft, learning and continuing to grow every day. With music, there is no end game. Never a final product. You’re always growing, always getting better and consistently learning new things and I love that. Perfection is boring.
I’ve come to connect with so many people in my industry. Between club promoting, networking with other artists and being present in the social life in San Diego, I feel I’ve been able to grow at a substantial rate compared to trying to do things alone. Another great resource of San Diego is the abundance of people that are trying to push each other and help each other succeed. I’ve teamed up with my friend Jonathan Lestat and a few other guys in promoting Trancension, a local trance event thrown at AC Lounge once a month (Pre COVID) and is now a weekly trance show we broadcast every Sunday on Twitch. We’re hoping to grow the trance community here in San Diego and continue to host more events as well as continue to make the productions grow and bring the best entertainment we possibly can to the dance floor.
Trance music is all about unity and bringing people together which is exactly what I feel San Diego does itself as a city. I’m extremely happy with where I am today and hope that I can continue on this progression to continue to release music and hopefully play shows at as many venues across the globe and share as much of my knowledge and experience to as many other producers and artists as possible. We all learn from each other and passing that abundance of experience down is equally satisfying. I hope I can see everyone on the dance floor again soon. Hopefully, one day at Dreamstate and festival stages and perhaps one year at SD Pride, I think that’d be a good place to share some trance. You’ve got to have big goals and we are the dreamers.
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s definitely been a challenging road. I’ve gone through my fair share of struggles; mentally, physically, financially. Over the years, I’ve gone through losses and heartbreak. I try not to look at it as time wasted with others but time we’ve had to be able to learn about ourselves. I think the biggest challenge is the inward battle. As someone who wants to pursue music (or any art, sport, or most things really) you’ll have lots of bad days. The days you don’t see on Instagram with all the success and flashy lights. There’s a lot of internal battles where you beat yourself up. You work on a project for hours just to think it’s trash and you tell yourself you’re not good enough or that the things you’re creating aren’t going to inspire others. With trying to build a career in the music industry, it’s definitely going to come with mental struggles. Bits of depression and lack of motivation. The best thing to do when this happens is to walk away. Take a break, get outside of the studio and do things completely unrelated to what you’re working on. Get out, clear your head and allow inspiration to flow in naturally. And it’s not just music. It’s anything you’re working on. Could be work, your business, school, any project you have going on at the moment. I think San Diego is a great place for this. Almost any given moment you can step out and the sun is glaring on your face. It’s absolutely beautiful here and there’s endless amounts of things to do that remind you to just stop, breath, and chill the fuck out. Never forget that you’re a savage and you’ve got this.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with your work – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I’m a trance producer and DJ. I produce electronic dance music and I play it for people. Quite simple really. I’m continuing to grow every day and become better at what I do. I’d eventually like to start passing down what I learn to other growing producers. Whether it’s one on one lessons, making courses or working for hire for people that need tracks made or help with putting that final finish on what they’ve started.
Currently I’m very excited about teaming up with Jonathan Lestat (founder) and the other guys at Trancension. Over the past few months I’ve seen incredible growth of the company as well as all the guys on the team. I’m incredibly proud of them and the direction things are heading. Trancension is going to put San Diego on the map as far as trance goes and I can’t wait for us to start bringing bigger and better events that help bring people together.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The diversity and the entrancement of that. Too much similarity is boring and this is an extremely colorful and flavorful city to keep it short. It’s a bit of a laugh when you meet people and only half of them say they were born and raised here. There’s an abundance of transplants here and it is that way for a reason. It’s America’s finest city! I feel that San Diego is a great melting pot of a city with less of the chaos that comes with bigger cities like LA and New York, which I think is a pleasant balance and we’re right on the border so our taco shops will kick the ass of any other shop in the states.
I’d say the thing I like least here is probably the lack of weather. I’m grateful for every day that we are in the textbook, cloudless sky seventies, but being from the Midwest, I absolutely love a good thunderstorm. Being here eight years, I’ve come to cherish every bit of rain we get as there’s something about a dark, stormy day that just really turns me on to be honest.
Contact Info:
- Email: nicohartt@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicohartt/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicohartt/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicohartt
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/nicohartt
Image Credits:
D’arcey Ciccone, Natasha Waxman & Echelle Yengst
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