Evan Hatfield

“Music has always been the main driving force in my life and I can’t really envision myself doing anything but music for a living…”

I play sitar and study the music of northern India. I incorporate classical Indian music and the ragas of India with my electronic music and create a unique fusion of ancient melodies and futuristic music production. I grew up in a very musical family. Thinking back, I really had no choice but to pursue a career in music! From a young age, I studied classical piano, as well as saxophone and guitar. When I was a teenager, my grandparents traveled to India and bought me an electric sitar they found in a music store in New Delhi. When they brought it home, I fell in love with the instrument, although at that point, I really had no idea how to properly play it. I basically tried to play it like an open-tuned guitar, and really just enjoyed the sound of how the strings resonated. A few years later, I was referred to Paul Livingstone and began taking lessons from him. I eventually moved to LA to study more intensely with Paul, and during that time began to go to warehouse parties and electronic music shows. For quite some time, I had been interested in electronic music. The thriving underground music scene in LA really opened my eyes to what is possible. The more I studied and practiced that sitar, the more I could see the worlds of electronica and sitar intertwine and began producing my own electronic music. During this time, things were rough for me financially. I lived in an old broken-down RV outside Paul’s house. To make ends meet, I busked on the streets of old town Pasadena. Eventually, I managed to gain recognition through my work, and began gigging with many LA bands. Among these bands were Paracosmic, TV Broken 3rd Eye Open, The Blood Moon Howlers, Matt Koelsch, The Bash Dogs, and many many more. While playing with all these different bands, I learned what it takes to be a musician. It is a tough road, but highly rewarding!