CHARLES SOUEIDAN BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1968 in Lebanon, while his underage friends were not yet allowed to see him at work, Charles started playing music at the early age of 13, in some of the country’s best parties and clubs before moving to Canada in the late 80’s to continue studies in medical school. Once enrolled in Sherbrooke University he applied for a job at the on-campus nightclub and within a mounth he became their star resident dj playing what later was defined as college music.
Faced with a hard choice at an early age, he finally quit his studies (whitout telling his parents) to invested all his time in his first love: music and making people dance. Until 1997 when he decided to move back to Lebanon and bring along his wide knowledge of music and a huge record collection he had spent most of his days working at TABOO records alongside the likes of Robert Ouimet and Robert De La Gaulthier, one of the first stores specializing in electronic music in Montreal, as well as working for one of montreal’s first underground music magazines (UPFRONT) with partner-in-crime Noji M’zilikazi; as co-founder and journalist over a period of two to three years, his interviewed subjects would range from Crystal Waters to Christ Izaac, all this while hosting different events at different clubs in montreal’s evolving nightlife.
The 2 years he spent in Lebanon were invested in running and promoting 104.4 (blue fm). Wich he quickliy transformed into the country’s first and still only alternative music station by introducing the country to the likes of the Offspring, Rage against the machine, White zombie and of course Nine inch nails. Never making any compromises when it comes to music, Charles insisted on including bands like Metallica, Hole and Nirvana in his playlist wich caused the station’s shutting-down under the lebanese government’s orders.
Once Back in Montreal, his love for electronic music made him one of the hardest working people in what later became known as a rave scene. Most people were shocked at his choice of a dj name and some lacking any sense of humour really thought that he was called Iznogood because he was not a good dj. This pushed him to play better and harder than the others and years later thousands of screaming ravers and clubers helped him prove them all wrong. Iznogood, a name actually taken from the french comic books by the same name became the wake-up call for any event taking place in Montreal.
Evolving like all other dj’s at the time from tape-decks to turntables, this self-taught mixing machine quickly defined his own musical style and his own unique mixing technique. Playing at acid parties, house parties, clubs, afterhours and raves, he quickly turned Iznogood into a houshold name. Iz was appointed dj number 1 in Montreal by the media on several occasions. Closing more events than we can list, playing in different raves on the same night as well as playing in different rooms in the same party. In some of these events Iz was accompanied by bands, singer or solo accoustic musicians and performers along with live video projections and live painting performances. Also included in his latest activities were managing clubs and organizing fundraising events to raise money for breakfast for children in primary schools in Quebec.
Since a lot of promoters seems difficult to understand that we can master several musical styles, he has been working under the names DEEJAYIZ for trance, electro and techno, EVIL IZ for hardcore, frenchcore and break-core while as CHARLES IZ he plays funky house, disco grooves and drum’n’bass and also DOOGONZI for psychedelic.
During this period, as if all this was not enough, with the help and under the guidance of dj’s and musician friends from around the globe, Charles opened his own record store (XTC records, on Mount-Royal street) over a period of over 5 years he imported records of all kind ranging from trip hop to noize and hardcore while sponsoring shows in his favorite city with his favorites like of The Horrorist (Things to come records.), Miro and Marc Acardipane (Aca records), The industrial strength sound as well as the early gabber movement.
Co-founding member of the POPPSICLE KREW and his own label DISCPHUNKTIONNAL RECORDS as well as being proudly part of the Kannibalz Kollective (Quebec city) and IMX RECORDS, Iz has released over 75 non-official discs all distributed from hand to hand throughout the world.
In the summer of 2000 during the electronic music festival Arrival 4, Charles, under the name Iznogood was set on creating the first ever Guinness world record for the longuest dj set, playing for over 56 hours non stop (played more than 2 000 records) and raising money for a local drug rehabilitation center. After this gig Iz was approached several times by manufacturers to test the reliability of dj equipment and demonstrations in stores.
Charles took the time to observe and imul the biggest names in music and dj culture, able to sample the best of each techniques of his favorite, he created a unique style that can at both go to the minimum purity of sound and the organized cacophony of the hardcore style while incorporating styles emerging of the electronic music.
IZ took a few years back to learn more thorough software creation, manipulation and sound composition by computer like Sony Acid, Sony Found Forge, Fruity Loops and Ableton. He developed a working method which is to include several samples to speak clearly through the music, up to tell a story (musical story) from cuttings on a theme or specific topic, adding the more layers possible to give the intensity and depth when listening. With the software, Iz explores three-dimensional sound (surround sound) and drives further the sensory experience through music. This passion for expression through music and images brought him to focus on art video, short film, to scriptwriting and vj project development. Since then, he is masterized somes composition software and digital images and video applications for VJ performance, such as Adobe Photoshop, Arkaos, Sony Vegas and many others.
Like a metronome, Iz has developed the faculties of his instinct to respond to the machine in real time in addition to interact with the crowd. Having mastered the turntables, either two, three or more at a time, and having digested some DJ equipment such as mixer and sampler (samplers), during performance, perception of time is slowed, allowing him to reflect between beats (mental stretching). He was a pioneer in the world and the first in Montreal to try and control the mix against the time.
Now the objective would be to live sound composing and projecting live image (DVJ) through a bank of unique sound and images and also somes cameras integrating into the show, the public could see and understand the process of live composing. This way of perceiving and playing music and image can cross all boundaries of styles and the limits of multimedia. Contact public / artist being his own, the perfomance could be modeled depended the dance floor or space in which the performance takes place.
Do not try to define exactly what it IZ ... since Charles is seeking to defy definition to keep everything fresh.
