We recently caught up with Happa, a producer that looks on the brink of big things. At only 15, he already has three confirmed releases, heaps of interest, support from some of the biggest names in the industry, and a long career ahead of him. Read on to hear how Samir started producing, his influences, which other producers he’s into right now, and stream ‘Freak,’ his forthcoming 2nd Drop tune.

- Hi. Can you first please introduce yourself, and tell us a bit about yourself?

Hello, my name’s Samir Alikhanizadeh and I produce under the alias of Happa. I’m based in Leeds…ish.

- At just 15, and so presumably having little or no club experience, how did you come about making this kind of music?

Well I was first introduced to dubstep (DMZ kind) around late 2009 then (shamefully) to the much filthier/mid range shit. I moved off rather quickly on to the ‘post-dubstep’ scene or whatever you want to call it quite a bit later, and started discovering more and more styles of music orientating that so-called genre, moving more into the darker bass/house scene (like Swamp81 / Night Slugs etc.). I suppose I could say my production style kind of went through the same progress.

- What age did you start making music, and has the plan always been to make bassy, dancefloor tracks?

I started at the age of 13, and no. As I said previously I was producing ‘filthy’ dubstep at the start then fading into much more mellow stuff under the alias Zadeh, then about 6 months ago, I came up with the project Happa, with the more bassy, dancefloor tracks.

- You have Loefah playing your tunes! That must feel good..

Yeah man, INSANE! Feels really good, proper chuffed haha.

- Which artists influences you to make the music you do?

There is a huge array of artists spanning from the 80′s to the present day, whether it is producers like Boddika/Blawan or artists like Art Of Noise/Mike Dunn. I try to keep my shit original as possible though, and tend to be influenced in a way that triggers ideas in my head instead of just copying elements from tracks.

- Being so young, do you think your sound will still evolve into something much different to where it’s at now?

I reckon so, I think I am constantly very slowly evolving in and out of slightly different styles, or using slightly different techniques within my production. But hopefully I will create and maintain a ‘Happa‘ sound.

- Which producers are you really digging at the moment? Any particular tracks?

Ooo loads, really into Dusky at the minute; there remix of Night And Day by Hot Chip is just… incredible! Also feeling a lot of Rumah‘s productions, Stutter and the Nineteen89 EP are my favourites I must say. Also, only very recently discovered Metrist on YouTube, then moving onto his Soundcloud; he has such a unique sound. Really airy, yet dark tunes. And there are so many more; Paleman, Trikk, South London Ordnance, Viers … just to name a few!

- Finally, please complete the following sentence: Get Some…

..Dried mango, it’s fucking incredible.