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Of Armenian descent, Michael Terzian was born in Montreal, Canada on December 8, 1973. As a young boy, he was a fiery little cub who enjoyed sports and eventually music. By grade 5, Michael had discovered Hip Hop culture, via classics by Run-DMC ("king of rock", "you talk too much"), Grandmaster Flash ("the message"), Sugarhill Gang ("rapper's delight"), Too $hort ("cocaine"), and others by LL Cool J, UTFO, and BDP, with the late Scott LaRock.
By 15, Michael was religiously dissecting & listening to the likes of Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, Just-Ice, EPMD, Gangstarr, Geto Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T, 3rd Bass, Biz Markie, Steady B, MC Shan, and Kool G Rap & Polo. By this time he had already begun MCing under the stage name "Sinister T". He rapped until the age of 22, & took his emceeing very seriously. Ironically, the first rap he ever wrote & performed was entitled "I'm Serious"! However, he was concurrently juggling with other passions, such as school, freelance writing and baseball, where he excelled as a starting and relief pitcher for the Town of Mount Royal Twins (from the age of 18 to 22). Baseball was his primary passion, having played every year from the age of 5 onwards. He was also an avid rap music collector. By his late teens and early 20's, he had dove even deeper into Rap, listening to the likes of Lord Finesse, KMD, X-Clan, Poor Righteous Teachers, Common, Steady B, Saafir, Seagram (rip), Ganksta NIP, Scarface, Jeru, Casual, Ant Banks, Ras Kass, Kam, and the late 2PAC (rip).
However, around this time, Michael was slowly discovering House music, via two friends: Alex (DJ76) would constantly feed him tapes from a local radio show, "Noir et Blanc" helmed by DJ Eddie Lewis. Similarly, his close friend John would lend him tapes from another local radio show, "Utopia's Paradise", manned by Claude Dabbas, Tony Desypris and Peter Lightburn, the latter two of which, Michael would later personally befriend.
Another monumental event that nourished Michael's need for a more underground form of black music was when he witnessed a "legendary DJ from NYC" spin at the Just For Laughs Museum in Montreal. This DJ was Tony Humphries, a name that, at the time, meant ABSOLUTELY nothing, but would mean much more later on in his life. That night was phenomenal, as b-boys and b-girls got down to the most soulful, deep, uptempo grooves provided by a slightly overweight, 40-something man with pattern baldness rocking three turntables inside a cage well above the crowd, while Tony Desypris smoked the dancefloor! Tony, and the rest of the dancers were imperial. They seemed like break-dancers, that had recieved intensive training in tap-dancing, ballet and Russian folk-dance! What moves!! Michael was definitely marked by this integral event.
However, it would still be several years later that he would purchase his first ever house record, "My Life" by 95 North feat. Sabrynaah Pope. This was also around the time when two of his favourite MCs died tragically: Seagram & 2PAC. These deaths, coupled with rap music's monotony, segregation (east vs. west, etc) and commercialism left a subconscious void in Michael's life. A void that was eventually filled by the likes of Wayne Gardiner, Blaze, Michael Watford, Alexander Hope, M.A.W., Ron Trent, Smack Music, Glenn Underground, Peven Everett, Kenny Bobien and Kerri Chandler! Yes, Michael was eventually SAVED!
In January of 1997, Michael, along with his friends, drove 12 hours to visit a friend who was working in Windsor, Ontario. That weekend, they met 2 DJs from Detroit: Jerry the Cat & DJ Minx (Diviniti, Women on Wax). These jocks would drive across the river to spin on the 2nd floor of "the Amsterdam", a cozy lounge in the heart of Windsor. Here, Michael heard a smorgasbord of Detroit/Chicago/New Jersey-influenced house music, and this was yet another pivotal event that would have a longlasting effect on, and help to mould the DJ that he is today. The space was so small that there was no room to dance. The lights were dim, the music was loud, the mood was right. The small crowd of 15 was friendly and no one had a worry in the world. PURE BLISS.
After having a lengthy discussion with DJ Tony Desypris on the importance of vinyl, as well as the story of Larry Levan (Paradise Garage) & David Mancuso (The Loft), Michael slowly began to snob his cds and purchase 12" records instead. His very first gig was for a Concordia University party @Woody's Pub, a retro/cheesy club which, for that night, heard tracks, for the first & probably last time, such as Kenlou's "Bounce", Logic's "The Warning" & Alexander Hope's "Saturdays"! Although it may seem comical, that night was a microcosm of things to come in Sinister's DJ career, as he constantly tried to keep things purely underground, defining the proper house sound & attempting to educate his crowd.
He landed an 8 month gig at the fancy 737 Lounge (on top of the city, literally), as well as a 5 month gig at Soto, a trendy sushi bar with the help of DJ Mark Dillan (co-owner of Turbo Recordings). Michael then hooked up with the Basshedz crew, opening up for the world-renowned jojoflores at their weekly "Swank" nights at the legendary Club DiSalvio.
In the following years, he would hold residencies @Nantha's Kitchen, Luba Lounge (with his Armenian DJ partner, DJ76), as well as be a regular "fill-in" @Cafeteria, replacing for his friends, Tony Desypris, Stephane Cocke, and Miguel Graca. All the while, holding 2 part-time jobs and being a full-time student @McGill University. Michael then played a 6 month Saturday gig at Globe, which welcomed Hollywood's finest on a regular basis. He even aurically entertained Hollywood's George Clooney, John Travolta and Ben Affleck.
In the summer of 2001, Michael joined forces with DJ76, who hosted his own internet house show (Underground Dance Theory). As a unit, they even performed at an outdoor event for the 2002 Montreal International Jazz fest. A beautiful, hot summer day it was! Speaking of hot summer days & outdoor events, in 2003 & 2004 Michael spun on several occasions at the ever-so-popular InBeat Block Party during the bi-yearly St-Laurent street festival. He was invited by InBeat's owner, DJ Christian Pronovost (Flipside Records, Lost Heroes). The DJ booth was set right in the middle of the street with a booming sound system. A block party it was!
Similarly, Michael was also part of the Mixsession radio crew, with partners Yannick B, and DJ76. They held down a radio show on CISM 89.3fm on Saturday nights from 8-10pm. Unfortunately, the show ended after only 7 months.
Michael has also had many other appearances, most noteably at Stereo Bar, ARIA, Salon Daome, Buona Notte, Wax, Tokyo, Exit, Shed Cafe, Tantra, Gallery, Jai Bar, Cathedral, Sugar, & Nitebox. In 2004, he was also invited to play for City Rhythms in Toronto, as well as for Vibes N Vinyl, a popular radio show in Toronto on CKLN 88.1FM, hosted by Gene King & Ray Prasad. Throughout his musical career, Sinister has also been a freelance writer/record reviewer for many local publications, including the McGill Daily, the McGill Tribune, Abacus Entertainment, Zone 451, Fly Magazine, Vinyl magazine, and presently for Deepvibes & Btownsound. He also was an employee at the HMV Megastore in Montreal between 1995 and 2000, having created the HOUSE section, against his supervisor's wishes. The section is now booming!
He has played side-by side with many jocks, including jojoflores (Gotsoul), Christian Pronovost (Lost Heroes), Bougie Soliterre, Tony Desypris, Peter Lightburn, Fred Everything, Eddie Lewis, Mokasoul, "Baby Powder" Mark DiPalma, Trevor Walker, B'Ugo, Godfather D, Donald D, Patrick Dream (Bombay Records), Duke Edward Eatmon (Street Sounds, K103.7fm), Kurtis C, DJ Zo, Duncan James, Gene King, and of course Yannick B & DJ76.
In the late 90's, Michael was also invited to be part of the Utopia's Paradise radio crew, alongside legendary Tony Desypris, in addition to Claude "The Bossman" Dabass, Mark DiPalma & Peter Lightburn. To this day, Michael is still part of the Utopia's team, and is proud to lend his expertise & experience to the priesthood of black underground dance music. The show airs every Sunday morning (Saturday late night) from 2am-7am on CKUT 90.3fm. (www.ckut.ca). In addition, 2004 marked Utopia's Paradise's 13th anniversary, which saw Club Shelter's DJ Timmy Regisford travel to Montreal to play side-by-side with Tony at a jam packed special event, celebrating the mile-stone!
In December 2003, Michael was ranked #11 on a yearly worldwide Top 20 Soulful House DJ list, comprised by none other than NYC Club Shelter's main promoter, Robbi. He is known as the "Emperor of House music", and is the 3-time award winning Deep Dance Promoter of the Year in NYC.
Here is the top 20 list
A year later, Michael ranked in at #13 on Robbi's 2004
list as well.
Here is the 2004 top 20 list
In early 2004, Michael was one of 3 Canadian DJ's that won a contest organized by NYC's stalwart producer/dj, Mr.V (Sole Channel, Vega Records). The winners would each travel to NYC & play side-by-side with Mr. V & producer extraordinaire Alix Alvarez at their weekly Sole Channel party. Later that year, Baltimore's DJ Pope did a spotlight on Mike during his ever-so-popular radio show ("The Deeper Side of Midnight"), which airs live Thursday nights from 12-2am on Baltimore's WEAA 88.9FM.
July 2005 saw the birth of Salvation From Sin, a weekly Saturday night party @Quartier Latin where Michael held court for 9 full months. He would showcase his party's anthems on his 'Redemption Session' mix CD series, which are still heralded as one of his most popular and in-demand dj mixes. Presently, Michael still organizes his Salvation From Sin parties in conjunction with jojoflores & Therapy on a montly basis. He's also a regular guest host/dj on "Utopia's Paradise".
Michael prefers the NYC/NJ/Chicago house sound, coupled with the deepness of the English, French and Japanese house sound. His favourite producers are Blaze, Kerri Chandler, Joe Claussell, Ron Trent, Glenn Underground, DJ Deep, Jovonn, Boyd Jarvis, MAW, Chris Gray, Wayne Gardiner, Peven Everett, Needs, Kenny Dixon jr, Aqua Bassino, Slam Mode, House of 909, Big Moses, Playin 4 The City, Kuniyuki Takahashi, Frankie Valentine, Phil Asher, Quentin Harris, Anthony Nicholson, Tyrone Francis, and Larry Heard. He also has a profound respect for the work of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Sade, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Djivan Gasparyan, Eddie Palmieri, Miles Davis, Kirk Nugent and Lonnie Liston Smith amongst others. He is a giant fan (& collector) of Motown and Philly Soul, as well as Afro-Beat, R&B, Jazz, Neo-Soul, Latin Jazz and Disco classics.
Special thanks: Yannick B, Panos B, Chantale, Chris Brown (www.btownsound.com), Kuni K (DJ Amyaok), Johnny V, Zois, Andrew & Liz, Tony Desypris, Peter Lightburn, IDP, "Baby Powder" Mark DiPalma, DJ76, Christian Pronovost, jojoflores, Bic Flores, Gene King, Aybee, Kirk Nugent, Mateo Rodriguez, Deepsouljah aka Trinidadian Deep, DJ Barry B, DJ Hutch, Robbi (NYC), Les Jeudy (klubnut.com), DJ Karl, Moka, Alex T, Mr. "O", DJ Motae, DJ Pope, Aziz Masudi, Mark Mendoza @Phuture Sole, Eddie Lewis, Gary T, Constable Chris Rusnak, Ron Trent, Kenny Bobien, Ofunne @Schwing, Ani, Terry (www.pixstreammedia.com) and Neil.
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