LOUISVILLE, KY | Last minute circumstances allowed me the opportunity to check out Sunday’s line-up at Louisville, Kentucky’s Forecastle Festival. While there I had a chance to sit down with up-and-coming electronic artist (and local), Hayden Easterling—better known as Haematic. At just 18, he has a mature sound and a wide range of musical taste. This should serve him well in the fall when he heads to NYC to begin his studies at New York University. His latest single, “Sometimes,” dropped in June and has a really nice, summery vibe to it. Hayden’s 2018 debut EP, “2000,” caught the attention of Forecastle, who booked him for not just one, but two DJ sets at Party Cove.
Brigid: Let’s hear your origin story! When did you discover that music was something you were interested in exploring?
Haematic: Freshmen year I started making music on my iPad with GarageBand. I put samples together and in ten minutes you can put a song together that sounds good and seems like a lot of work was put into it. People liked it but I knew that I didn’t make any of it. So sophomore year I decided I was either going all or nothing and started taking lessons online to learn how to produce. From there, I taught myself the rest through YouTube.
B: I heard that you’re headed to NYU in the Fall. What will you be studying?
H: Yeah, I’m headed to NYU’s Steinhardt School of Music Technology and basically it’s a program for all things music production. The classes are small—about 30 people per class. They start with music theory and then move further into subjects like how to create audio for visual, such as music for video games, movies, and all sorts of different genres.
B: That’s so cool. So what are you listening to right now? Who’s inspiring you?
H: Who’s inspiring me right now? That’s a great question. As far as modern music, Flume is my biggest inspiration ever. I love Flume to death. Tyler, the Creator is continuing to break barriers.
B: He really is. His last two albums have been excellent.
H: So, so good. And it’s become a thing to like hate on him because he’s so popular now, but his music speaks for itself. As far as older music, I like to sample a lot of soul and R & B.
B: Cool. What are you working on right now?
A few weeks ago I dropped a single called “Sometimes.” I love it; I think it’s one of my best songs. Wednesday of this week I released another single—not under my name but under Horace Gaither who is a rapper I’m producing. Today he was actually supposed to be performing with me but his flight got cancelled last-minute.
B: What a bummer!
H: Yeah it was. But he’s a new rapper, he’s 17, and he’s amazing. So our single called “They Ain’t Got It” is on Spotify and Apple Music and other streaming services. As far as what I’m doing in the future, I’m always working on new stuff. I don’t have a set album just yet, but I’m working.
