DJ Champion | it

Maxime Morin (Montréal 1969), is a multi-instrumentalist, better known for his work in electronic music under the moniker DJ Champion or simply Champion. Morin is based in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

By 2001 Morin had become frustrated with commercial music work. As part owner of Ben & Max Studios he was making quite a good living producing music for advertising and film, but he also felt “empty.” He decided to leave that world to focus on more personal music. He decided to move in a musical direction where he could combine “the two things that made [him] feel good: Live electronics and guitars...” He also chose to change his performance name from Mad Max to DJ Champion as a way to poke fun at the growing dance music scene and the resulting outbreak of DJs: "Everybody wanted to be a DJ and wanted to know 'Who's the best DJ?' I was like, 'I don't give a damn about all that crap now. I'm DJ Champion.”

The DJ Champion sound was formed by experimenting with the software music sequencer Ableton Live, which is specially designed for live DJ-ing and arranging sounds. He would then layer the digitally produced beats and sounds with guitar loops. During live performances he and his live band would tour as "Champion et ses G Strings" ("Champion and his G Strings"). His live act often consists of four guitarists, one bassist, a vocalist, and Morin working at his laptop and conducting the band. On occasion Morin has also played live drums.

2005 saw the release of DJ Champion’s debut album, Chill'em All. The album included the hit single "No Heaven" — a soulful and bluesy song set against heavy dance beats and noisy guitar riffs. Inspired by Negro Songs of Protest recorded by music collector Lawrence Gellert, Béatrice "Betty" Bonifassi (with whom Morin had previously collaborated on the Les Triplettes de Belleville soundtrack) sings a plaintive tune reminiscent of the work songs sung by the chain-gangs of the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."I heard Betty singing those blues songs, and she was the girl for that job," said Morin. The single "No Heaven" was used in both a trailer and the ending credits of Gearbox Software's 2009 video game Borderlands, and is used in the opening credits of the television series The Line and the ending credits of the game Army of Two.

Chill'em All won an ADISQ Félix Award in 2005 for "Album of the Year" in the electronic/techno category and was nominated for "Best Dance Recording" at the 2006 Juno Awards. The single "No Heaven" was nominated at the 2006 CASBY Awards in the category "Favorite New Song" and won the SOCAN prize for Dance Music in 2007. DJ Champion's indie debut went on to sell over 100,000 copies across Canada.

In the winter of 2008, after a long spate of touring and performing, Morin felt that his newer material was starting to sound too similar to the songs of Chill'em All and he decided to delete an entire studio recording in order to start fresh. Morin withdrew himself from the musical scene and began experimenting. He also recruited Pilou Côté, a young musician from the Montreal music scene, to provide vocals, replacing Betty Bonifassi who had since moved on to her own electronic music project, Beast.

Resistance was released on September 15, 2009. The first single from the album is titled "Alive Again".


Discography:
Chill'em All - 2005
The Remix Album - 2006
Live - 2007
Resistance - 2009 .