As a resident of Chicago, it is almost impossible to escape the rich musical heritage that has laid the foundations for today’s underground music scene. From Jazz to Blues to Soul, all have had a profound impact on DJ Sean Haley.
During his early teenage years, like most kids in Chicago, Sean Haley developed an interest in the Disco and Electronic records that would eventually become known to the world as House music. After years of listening to House music as a fan and music lover, it was only natural that he would make the transition to being a DJ.
“In the era I grew up in, practically everybody I knew was a DJ. It wasn’t unusual for me and my friends to spend all afternoon taking turns trying to blend records in somebody’s basement. It seemed like the normal thing to do. It was funny because you had thousands of up and coming DJs in the city—and almost all of us wanted to be the next Ron Hardy or Frankie Knuckles. But of course, those guys are legends; they’re innovators like James Brown, or Fela, or John Coltrane. They’re the foundation of everything we as DJs do, so to live up to that standard is next to impossible. But there we were—playing the craziest shit we could get our hands on, trying to ‘out-Deep’ one another…especially with the Disco records. To this day, some of my oldest friends from high school and college still call me ‘Disco’ because of some the weird Disco stuff I played.”, he recalls.
While a lot of teenagers eventually left the DJ game and gravitated to other things, Sean Haley never gave up his interest in music. If anything, it got stronger. He began seriously collecting records and practicing his skills as a DJ. Eventually, this segued into a 2-year stint on College radio (WBML Radio at the Univ. of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana) alongside Torin Edmond (whom Sean Haley often refers to as his musical mentor).
“I was always the type of DJ who liked to experiment and try to incorporate new things into my mixes, and the freedom we had on the radio show made it simpler to really explore musical textures.”, he adds. “Watching Torin get down, I saw that you can literally do whatever you want to and make it sound good. Torin was the guy who blew a lot of minds on the turntables. You could never sit there and predict what he was going to do on the tables, and most DJs try to please crowds by playing the same shit every week, and they only succeeded in dumbing down their sets in the process. T.E. was exactly the opposite. He’d please crowds by being innovative. I was actually just one of the fans who recorded his mixes on the radio. I met him by chance and he gave me an opportunity to play on his show. We’ve been good friends ever since. That was over 20 years ago, and he still amazes me. I still check him out whenever he’s playing around town.”
It was during this time that Sean seriously began learning the ins and outs of music production. “A lot of guys were taking a hint from guys like Steve Hurley, Larry Heard, and Lil’ Louis and began buying drum machines and keyboards, because by that time, playing good music wasn’t enough…you had to be playing your own music. A lot of good stuff came from guys messing around with Roland drum machines and Casio keyboards in their basements. Even though a lot of the stuff we used was inferior entry-level equipment, it was a time of great creativity. If you ask me, a lot of the guys who inspired me were my contemporaries—the guys who were learning production around the same time.”
Many bedroom producers were moving on to Hip-Hop, but Sean Haley stayed true to his electronic roots and kept pushing forward with the Dance sound.
“I’d be lying if I said I never tried to make a Hip-Hop track, but it was mostly for fun. I never wanted a career in Hip-Hop or anything.”, he says.
Unlike a lot of House DJs, Sean Haley makes it his mission to not duplicate what other DJs are doing. If anything, he likes to incorporate many different styles of music into his sets. Recently, he began producing original music and remixing as one half of the production duo known as Windimoto.
The Windimoto story begins when Sean Haley had a chance encounter with Scorpeze when he visited Chicago.
“He’d come here to sink his teeth into the music scene, and we met through a few other mutual friends. We started talking about music, and after few extended bitch-and-moan sessions about the state of the music biz, we decided to try a collaboration.”
Sean Haley let it be known that he’d been a solo artist/producer prior to that, and had no use for a partner—let alone go through the hassle of working with undependable people.
“I’d been through the ringer trying to work with people, so I just assumed it was another case of two people just exchanging pleasantries, and nothing would come of it”. Ultimately, the pair began work and the results were surprising. Their first collaboration, “Don’t Let Me Leave Alone” was signed to Interdependent Media, and Windimoto was officially born. “The whole thing happened so fast. We did the single, and then they offered us the chance to do an EP (“The Travels of Windimoto”), which we did. We had plenty of material to choose from because once we discovered that we worked well together, we just continued working on new songs non-stop…”
His DJ skills add another dimension to the Windimoto sound. When he spins live, he plays a mixture of Deep soulful House, Brazilian, Broken Beat, and just about anything that will elevate the vibe of wherever he’s playing. As one of the co-promoters of the highly influential Inner Sound System parties at Chicago’s acclaimed Sonotheque nightclub, Sean Haley worked with Torin Edmond, Glenn Underground, and Anthony Nicholson to create one of the hottest and most creative experiences in modern Chicago dance scene. He remembers it fondly. “Even if I’d never hadn’t been involved, I would’ve still been there as a paying customer. It was an unbelievable time for me…”
He’s graced the decks in some of the best venues all over Chicago; including Sonotheque, Slick’s, Zentra, Bungalow Lounge, Tini Martini, Ice Bar, and The Silver Room, to name a few. He’s also been fortunate enough to have traveled around the country to showcase his DJ talents; playing in cities such as New York, Atlanta and Phoenix. His record collecting journeys have taken him to such foreign locales as Jamaica, the United Kingdom, and Canada; not to mention undisclosed locations that collectors may not know about yet. “I can’t tell you all my spots”, he jokes. As a DJ, Sean Haley feels it is his duty to bring music to the masses. However, he also feels that in order to keep pace with the best DJs in the game, he can’t rest on past accomplishments or allow himself to ‘go through the motions’ when playing gigs. “I’ve been around too many good DJs and producers to get out here and go through the motions. I might not be the best, but I always give my best. I think I’m pretty damned good though.”, he adds.
Sean Haley’s quest for new musical experiences is never-ending. Whether making music as part of Windimoto or spreading the gospel of music with his DJ gigs, his sound is evolving constantly.
Stay tuned so that you may witness that evolution.
Check out DJ Sean Haley online at http://www.myspace.com/djseanhaley.
