Swiss-born producer Cyril Hahn started off his musical career by reworking R&B classics such as Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” and “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child. Since then he has put out remixes, his own music and recently produced a score for the feature film “A Good Dream” which is currently in post-production.

I read in previous interviews you were punk music inspired by your brother in your childhood?
Ya that’s true. I grew up with punk and hard core music. I went to a lot of DIY shows and squads allover Switzerland. It’s such a small country so you always have to travel to different cities to see the events because they only have one stop on their way to Switzerland. I was constantly taking the train with my brother on the weekends to see bands, then sleeping in the squads because people are always so friendly telling us we can crash at their places. It was a very inclusive community for me.

Have your parents always been really open with you doing music?
Yes, for sure. They were both interested in a lot of different types of genres, but they never pushed me to be like a music prodigy. I was not very good at playing instruments but they always encouraged me to take lessons. I played guitar and piano but I was very mediocre at those. They definitely helped me with what I do now obviously.

And how do you think that you got your talent for the music you do now?
It would probably just be a lot more sample based. I think that’s usually what people do if they don’t really have a theoretical background.

I also read that you were into folk music back when you were a kid right?
True, totally. I was into Bonnie Prince Billy and Red House Painters.

Ya, I read that Bonnie Prince Billy was like your number one musical inspiration because he said that 99% of music is emotional.
Ya definitely. I probably just found his stuff through blogs. I was always somebody who would constantly try to find new music which I think is important for what I am doing. I’ve always been on the lookout.

“I was always somebody who would constantly try and find new music which I think is important for what I am doing. I’ve always been on the lookout.”

What were you like in your childhood?
I dunno. Pretty awkward but still pretty comfortable with myself. In Switzerland I’d always watch movies about North America and high school seemed so crazy over there.  Looks like there is so much bullying and I was like wow, that can’t be real and it must be like a Hollywood construct because in Switzerland everybody was super nice in my high school. Everybody got along well and there was no drama or bullying. But then I came to Canada when I was nineteen and I talked to people about their experiences in high school and I was like, woah that’s actually what it’s like. It’s pretty sad.

So you moved to Vancouver for school?
Ya when I was nineteen and inititally I was just going to go for a year, but then I really liked the city and now I’m still here ten years later.

You were in college for art history?
Ya (laughs) I’m almost done with my degree. I dropped out in my third year because that’s when my music picked up and I realized I can’t really do both and I don’t think this degree will help me towards what I want to do. Maybe I’ll finish it at some point just out of interest. These days humanities degrees aren’t so useful anymore. It’s difficult to find a job with an arts background. I’m not too sad about leaving that behind (laughs)

What inspired you to learn art history itself?
I was always super interested in history but it was always very dry – you always just read books. I love the combination learning about history through art so it seemed like a great idea and I took a few classes and I found it really easy to study for it because I was really interested. I kind of just went for it without really knowing what I will do with it and I was just like hopefully that I won’t be living on the street, we’ll see. (laughs)

Is that a common major to take from the background you grew up in? Because for me growing up in Hong Kong I wouldn’t even think of the possibility of taking art history
Maybe it’s for people who are lost (laughs) and don’t know what they are going to do with their life. Art history and sociology are those two degrees where people are like, I don’t know..this seems cool..I don’t know what I want to do with my life (laughs)

“I was growing up with people who tried to be in bands but who never made any money, so to me being a musician didn’t really seem like a safe choice. It just seemed like this dream that nobody really achieves.”

What do your parents do?
My mom was a social worker and a therapist. My dad is a psychiatrist. (laughs) Pretty interesting family to grow up in. My brother is also a psychiatrist. I’m the odd one out for sure.

When you moved to Vancouver did you have family there?
No, I just wanted to go somewhere English speaking for a bit to improve my English. I’d been to the UK before because it´s close to Switzerland and I didn’t really want to go to the States. I didn’t really have interest in Australia and New Zealand either at that point in my life, so Canada just seemed like an interesting place. Vancouver is by the ocean and seemed nice so I just went for it.

Do you still go back to Bern, Switzerland often? How would you say the music scene has changed there?
I’m rarely there unfortunately. I only go back like once a year for a couple of days if I can. I mean Switzerland has always been a bit slow. Things take a couple of years to pick up there so any trend, be it music or fashion just takes time. I can’t really speak for the scene right now because I’m so detached from it.

When did you realize you could make a career out of it and started investing your time into it?
I think it took a couple of months. I was definitely in denial because it seemed too good to be true. I was just hesitant about doing that move. I was growing up with people who tried to be in bands but they never made any money, so to me being a musician didn’t really seem like a safe choice. It just seemed like this dream that nobody really achieves. I didn’t really have any friends that made it so it took me a long time and a lot of convincing from other people. They were like no, you can definitely do it. (laughs) I think it took half a year and that’s when I dropped out of school and started playing shows.

Did you have a mentor when you first started?
Nobody in specific. I would just reach out to people, even people I didn’t know but whose music I knew. I would just hit them up on Facebook or Soundcloud and be like, hey I know you went through this, how was it for you? Do I need a manager? Do I need a booking agency? How does it all work because I had no idea. I do remember just getting as much information as I could because I was so lost and had no idea what was going on.

So you’ve been doing more and more remixes for other people as well as your own music. Tell me about your most recent work–composing a score for a feature film?
Ya that was an amazing experience. Something that I’ve always wanted to do. Spring, early summer was when I started working on that. I think it’s my favourite type of work that I’ve done so far related to music. Just having that visual component was perfect for me. It’s such a nice outlet. It’s completely different from playing shows and writing music for myself because you have to make the director happy so you have to work towards something that’s your own but also meeting their criteria. You have really interesting parameters to work with which usually also results in something very interesting as well.

How did you get this opportunity?
I was asked really directly. The director just hit us up–he had me in mind for the soundtrack. I was pretty lucky.

Do you see yourself doing this full-time?
Not like full-time. Maybe when I’m older would be nice. I don’t know if I want to tour until I’m fifty or sixty. For now I like having the balance of writing for myself, being on tour every now and then which is just amazing. I get to be here which is crazy.

Ya so speaking of which, when was your first time in Asia?
For shows it was two summers ago in Japan. I’d been there before but being able to play there was just amazing. (laughs)

What’s ahead?
This year has been really about sort of finding a balance, because all I’ve been doing is to write for myself and tour, over and over. This year I just want to do some other things and have different outlets. I’m also starting some new side projects that I won’t really tell people about, just so I have something I can start from scratch and just write whatever I want with a free mind. I’m still figuring out what type of direction I want to go.