TALITA CALITZ
Haezer takes the stage. He starts fiddling on his Macbook Pro (which must contain some magical stuff) and in a few seconds beats begin to pour out from the enormous speakers standing on either side of the stage. The sound is deafening from the very first moments of the song. The music starts to build up, the lights and lasers are flashing and looking up at the stage are people waiting with electric anticipation.
Haezer stands right in front of the crowd and reaches his hands up in the air as if to embrace the noise as the beat reaches its climax. He takes a bottle of rum and throws it over the crowd; and then a total anarchy of dance breaks loose.
This is what people get when they experience a live Haezer show: pure craziness. Even Haezer himself has confessed to getting a few bruises at a gig – not because he got into a scuffle with someone, but from enjoying his shows as much as his fans do. For such a laid-back and normal-looking guy Haezer can seriously stir up a riot when he is on stage. It seems that there is some kind of ludicrous behaviour at most of his gigs; he laughs and says a girl recently tried to pull down his pants on stage.
But let’s put the craziness on hold and find out “who the f*ck is Haezer?” – also the title of his latest single. According to Haezer, whose real name is Ebenhaezer Smal, the title refers to him as being “the new kid on the block. People heard of me, but did not really know who I was. The lyrics of the song are kind of my take on the whole [electro] scene and if you read into the lyrics you will find that they are challenging it.”
Haezer discovered his passion for deejaying when he went to clubs and noticed that none of the deejays were playing any songs that he really enjoyed. So he took it into his own hands to create music that he likes and now noticeably appeals to people all over the world. “I was going to all these electro parties, but I wanted to hear my own music on big speakers, so that is when I started deejaying.”
Now that Haezer is making a name for himself overseas, it’s interesting to hear what his experiences of the crowds on the other side of the world are in comparison to the ones here in South Africa. “In Cape Town I have a big fan base already, so when I deejay I know all the faces, and I party with them afterwards so they are kind of my friends. But when I’m in Europe, it is a completely clean slate where they might know your music, but they have not seen your performance. I get a bit more of a rush over there because of it.”
He describes his music as a mix of mostly “electroclashy, punky, gangsta vibes”. Haezer sums up his music in one word: “death”. Now if he really believes that his music epitomises death many would have to disagree. Because when he is on that stage ripping beats like there is no tomorrow, the crowd looks more alive than ever!
