Lineup 2010

DJ Cam Harding

Halifax, NS

Cam has been DJ’ing since he was a teenager, only he didn’t realize it until his university years. As a boy Cam collected all the newest cassette singles and CD’s. He would bring them to every house party in junior-high and high-school because he had the freshest collection. “Yo Cam, bring your discs tonight bro!” was the frequent order he would hear shouted at him as he left school every Friday before the big weekend party. He was even making his own mix tapes as far back as junior high using his parents two tape decks and their lone turntable to sample, cut, loop, and edit custom mixes for skateboarding sessions with friends and for basketball team warm-ups.

“These were some amazing mixes! KLF, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Twin Hype, Heavy D, Dr. Dre, Snoop, MC Shan, LL Cool J, Naughty by Nature, Snap…anything that would hype the crowd and my teammates. I’d put custom speeches or spoken word samples throughout, then drop the beats in over them, I was a 14 year old mix-master!”

Years later, in 1997, after a year at Saint Mary’s University Cam left Halifax, left the SMU Basketball team, and left his family business ties behind to move to Montreal and pursue his passion for art and music. Cam dropped out of the business program at SMU and enrolled in the Fine Arts program at Concordia University. The effect Montreal had on him was profound. The cultural and artistic energy in the city was undeniable. Cam began to work with a Hip Hop DJ from Montreal and a Drum & Bass DJ from Vancouver in a new experimental class Concordia was offering called Electroacoustics.

This is where Cam’s media art and musical dexterity really began to take shape. He began to fuse studio techniques with hip hop DJ techniques also combining deep, groovy drum and bass sounds to create some incredible, abstract electroacoustic work while at Concordia. Cam also began to learn the skills of both a Hip Hop, House, and Drum and Bass DJ which translated into diversity both as a DJ and as a media artist. It wasn’t long before he had settled into several residencies in Montreal while still going to school.

His early years as a professional DJ took him to Miami, where he held residencies at Tantra on South Beach, at The FireHouse in downtown Miami, and at Club Sutra in Fort Lauderdale. After a year of the fast life on Miami Beach Cam moved back to Halifax to finish his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at NSCAD University. As a DJ who can play every genre of music brilliantly, Halifax has offered Cam the opportunity to expand his musical skill and interest even further, holding numerous hip, jazzy lounge residencies, playing jazzy house on local patios in the hot summer sun, swanky restos such as Onyx, The Bitter End, Seven, and Mosaic, main room dance music at various dance clubs, as well as major large scale events such as The Halifax Jazz Festival, Snow Jam, The Coors Light / Maxim Model Search Tour, The Evolve Festival, and The DJ Olympics where he was retired from the competition after repeating as Champion 3 consecutive years.

Now working in the thriving film industry in Halifax, Cam spends his time between film projects, the BCN Studio with his BigCityNights Crew, and running more than 7 club nights per week in Halifax that showcase all types of intelligent electronic music and international talent such as Kid Koala, DJ Spooky, Fred Everything, Onionz, Joeski, Chuck Love, JT Donaldson, and many more.

Look for Cam’s production releases under the alias “MHA” (Metro Housing Authority) which includes Adam Adler, Cam, and various other local guest musicians. MHA’s full-length album is set for international release in 2010 and the first single “Infamous” is already out on Montreal’s prestigious Footwear label. Download it at www.stompy.com.