GET RICH OR DIE TRYING - The Sonixx Lives to see another day
Christopher Paré / photo Gabrielle Marin

He may not be a five-time world champion turntablist, but Nicolas Pellerin has more in common with A-Trak than meets the eye.

Fondness for fedoras aside, both have deep roots in hip-hop, and both are club music converts. Pellerin – who produces and remixes as The Sonixx – recalls being in New York when he happened upon a Crystal Castles show.

“I saw them at Studio B in Brooklyn, and that’s pretty much why I changed my style. It’s the energy – that’s what I love about electronic music.”

Straight outta Mauricie

Born in Trois-Rivières, Pellerin moved to Montreal in 2008, where he now lives out his electro odyssey. Some of his remixes are straight-up bootlegs (Kid Cudi, Data, the Bloody Beetroots) while others (Beta Bow) are legit. In fact, it was his unofficial retooling of the Beetroots’ “WARP” that got the attention of Beta Bow’s Günther Bernhart, who will appear on his upcoming unnamed EP. Pellerin’s stock went up last June when he hit Los Angeles for a blitz of shows and good old-fashioned networking. “That was cool. Met some great DJs, made some great contacts; it was nice.” Then there were the not-so-nice moments – like the night he was DJing at a club and a guy walked in with a gun and robbed the promoters.
“I was playing so I didn’t realize it at the time, but yeah, that was crazy.”

I'll blog you

The Sonixx is a formidable presence on Hype Machine (www.hypem.com), a music aggregator and undisputed hipness barometer, and everything he’s done to date is available for free. It’s a bittersweet reality – on the one hand, he’s happy to have the publicity. On the other, he knows he’ll never make a living selling his music, but such is the state of the industry today. “There’s more money to be made from shows. Besides,” he says, “it’s hard for people to buy your music when they can easily download it for free. It’s a good way to get known, and if they like it, then hopefully they’ll pay to come see the show and a buy a t-shirt.” Pellerin is by no means done with hip-hop. And if MSTRKRFT can get E-40 and N.O.R.E. into the studio, then why not him? “Rap and electro are very complimentary. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

thesonixx.com

myspace.com/thesonixx

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