As with all walks of life, in every genre of music there are people who play their role the safe way and there are people who are never afraid to take chances. Since playing music is self-reflection, it’s no surprise that Scarborough native DJ SCARTAT has never been one to be pigeonholed in to just one corner. The diversity in his sets is unparalleled by a large number of Toronto-area DJs. He has been known to drop everything from drum’n’bass to hardcore, metal to hip hop, house to breakcore and everything in between, often to the delight and bewilderment of his audience.
His love of music dates back to his early years in school. He came up an avid metalhead with a penchant for the pure, hard and unsaturated sounds of Hatebreed and Metallica. He even cites very thickly musically layered artists such as Queen as inspiration. Scartat regularly attended metal shows throughout Toronto at venues like The Opera House and The Reverb; some of which became places he would later go on to headline at with sets of his own. His taste in metal is definitely reflected in his DJing. Scartat has built a name for himself as Toronto’s embassador to “mungle” (a term coined to describe a heavy metal / drum’n’bass hybrid of sort). While he may not have been the first person to play mungle in the city, he was certainly the first to build a fanbase as a result of it. Scartat is widely regarded as being partially responsible for bringing heavy and dark sounds to all ages crowds around Toronto that may not always get a chance to hear the sounds of Limewax, Luna C, The Panacea, Concord Dawn or Omar Santana.
He has played at virtually every venue across the city over the past 5 years including The Docks, Mad Bar, El Mocambo, Fun Haus, and in nearly every city around Ontario as well, rocking crowds with his heavy blend of broken-beat culture in London, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Hamilton and beyond. He is part of several groups/duos with other DJs and producers such as 666 (with Locked & Jeph), The Immortals (with Selektone), Mental Illness (with Pay The DJ), Hot Shit (with Unabomber) and a handful of others. Needless to say, Scartat’s schedule has been nearly non-stop since he started playing out. He holds residencies with several of the city’s most prominent promoters and continues to play out alongside top talent from all over the globe. When asked his thoughts on production and if he has plans to step up to the plate to create some original music, he replies “Most definitely. Someone's got to bring back the ‘what the fuck?’ factor to music.”
Bookings: djscartat@hotmail.com
Affiliations: Hitman, Terror Inc, De’ranged, General Misconduct Entertainment, Poppa P Entertainment, United As 1, Rinsehouse
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