Joachim Garraud was born on September 27, 1968 in Nantes.
After 7 years of conservatory where he studied classical music, piano and percussions, he turned to electronic music, influenced by the vinyls that his mother (who was a dancer) listened to and that she asked his father to rearrange.
DJ and Producer with multiple styles and musical colors, he will work with artists as diverse as David Guetta, Jean-Michel Jarre, Bob Sinclar, Cassius, Deep Dish or Laurent Garnier.
He will also perform in front of tens of thousands of people at festivals like Lollapalooza in Chile and Chicago, Coachella in California, Electric Zoo in New York, Exit Festival in Serbia or Tomorrowland in Belgium…
Passionate about technology in production and deejaying, his exploratory nature will push him to create DJ sets that will integrate live and videos to make real shows, both auditory and visuals.
Joachim Garraud and David Guetta meet in the 90’s as they were buying their records in the same store (Club News). They each have their own styles of music, Joachim is more into Techno while David likes House Music. They decide to team up to create music together in the early 2000’s.
Their first track “Just A Little More Love” released in 2001 will be N°1 in Ibiza and playlisted by the biggest DJ’s on the planet.
David and Joachim decide to create together the Gumprod label with which they will produce the album “Just A Little More Love” as well as the 2nd single from the album, “Love Don’t Let Me Go”, which will be the 1st House track ever to be ranked in the USA.
In 2004, they co-produced the album Guetta Blaster which was double gold.
The following year, they both created the F ** k Me I’m Famous label.
In 2007, the track “Love Is Gone”, co-composed and co-produced with Fred Rister, will sell more than 200,000 copies.
The following year saw the arrival of the album Pop Life, once again co-produced together, and which sold over 500,000 copies.
That same year, Joachim will play at the “Unighted” event organized by Cathy Guetta at the Stade De France. He will share the stage with Tiësto, Carl Cox, Martin Solveig and David Guetta.
The end of the decade will see the end of their collaboration, Joachim wishing to work on his solo career while refocusing on his passion for Techno music.
THE TECHNO SCENE
When he arrived in Paris in 1989, Joachim Garraud worked as a DJ at the “Boy”, an avant-garde club where the 1st Techno parties appeared.
He will also mix at the Rex Club and the Queen during this period where he will also produce titles with Laurent Garnier.
In 1991, he started gigs internationally and mixed at the Gagarin Party, the 1st Rave Party in Moscow, in front of more than 30,000 people. Then he will play across Europe at the 1st electronic music festivals such as Manchester or the Techno Parade in Berlin. He will be the only Frenchman to appear at this event, which will bring together more than a million people in the streets of Berlin.
In 2007 he is the godfather of the Techno Parade in Paris and he will be the only DJ to have his own float on which he will invite, among others, DJ Sender & Oliver Huntemann.
He will then become Resident DJ at the Space Club in Ibiza while collaborating with artists like Felix Da Housecat or Carl Cox.
He also teamed up with the Toolroom label for the Ibiza 2011 compilation.
In 2016 he co-produced Vitalic’s album “Voyager”.
With the creation of his Elektrik Park festival, he will invite many leaders from the Techno scene such as Dubfire, Richie Hawtin, Loco Dice, Jeff Mills, Popof, Marco Carola, Sven Vath, Anna, Boris Brejcha, etc …
Always looking for new experiences and new talents in the Techno / Underground universe, he decided in 2018 to launch his own label UndGrdMusic which will see the release of around fifty titles in 2 years.
At the beginning of the year 2021, Joachim decided to launch a new label which will be oriented on the melodic side of underground / techno music
: UndGrdMelodic.
Collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre
In 1996, JM Jarre is looking for a studio to remaster his songs for the Apple Expo. Claude Monnet advised him Square Prod, the studio created by Joachim.
Jarre discovers Joachim’s attraction for digital technologies and he is inspired by all the new possibilities it offers.
Subsequently, Joachim Garraud will co-produce Jean-Michel Jarre’s live show from the Cairo’s pyramids on December 31, 1999, which will be seen by 2.4 billion viewers. He will also be co-producer of the
Métamorphoses the same year.
Joachim will co-produce 2 other albums with Jean-Michel Jarre,
AERO in 2007 (1st album mixed in 5.1) and “Electronica 1” in 2015.
OTHER COLLABORATIONS
Since 1998, Joachim Garraud has been producing and composing for artists such as
Paul Johnson,
Deep Dish,
David Bowie,
Moby, Mylène Farmer, or even
Cerrone.
In parallel with his productions with David Guetta, the year 2003 allows him to produce and / or remix
Kylie Minogue,
Cassius and Bob Sinclar.
The following year he co-composed and produced the music for the movie “People”.
He is nominated at the Grammy Awards in the category best remix for “Deep Dish – Flashdance”.
In 2012, he produced the Album “Kind Heaven” by Perry Farrell (musician, singer, actor, director, founder of alternative rock groups, he is also creator of the Lollapalooza festival).
He will also remix 2 Beyoncé’s tracks in 2014 (Drunk In Love and Partition) as well as the track “Un été français” from Indochine in 2016.
TECHNO GEEK
In 1992, Joachim Garraud created his production studio Square Prod in Paris.
In 2006, he was the first French DJ to start podcasting via Apple iTunes.
The same year, he collaborated with
Pioneer on the development of the DJM-800 and the new CD and DVD decks.
For his album Invasion, he will offer a box set with 8 CDs and 2 DVDs. This will also be proposed as 4 vinyls but also in a downloadable version containing 18 master files. All in 96kHz / 24 bits, the highest sound quality rendering.
In 2017, he push further the experimentation in sound and musical research with his solo album O.V.P (Oscillation Vibration Pulsation). This is a 100% experimental and sound design album made as a unique track of 39 minutes and 39 seconds.
This album will have a sequel in 2021 with the release of a double vinyl collector album.
ELEKTRIC PARK
The Elektric Park, formerly Inox Park, is an electronic music festival produced by Joachim Garraud in Chatou in Yvelines, on the Impressionist Island, with a capacity of 20,000 people. It offers several scenes and music styles.
After seeing that on a tour in Australia, Joachim wanted to produce a daytime festival with 12 hours of non-stop music. Elektric Park (or EPK) was born and it was the 1st festival of its kind in France.
Joachim chose the island of the Impressionists for the beautiful visual aspect but also for the historical and iconic side of the place which welcomed artists like Guy de Maupassant or Auguste Renoir who made there “Les Canotiers à Chatou” and “Le Déjeuner des rameurs”.
Always attached to his Techno roots, Joachim invited the best underground DJ’s to EPK but also the biggest figures of EDM like Tiesto, Axwell, Avicii, Steve Aoki, Skrillex, Eric Prydz, Bob Sinclar, Martin Solveig, Antoine Clamaran, etc …
RADIO & TRANSMISION
Joachim Garraud was also a man of radio, as when he arrived at the production of Maxximum radio (RTL-CLT Group) in 1989, which was the 1st French radio 100% dance. He met Fred Rister there, and later he’ll introduce him to David Guetta.
Previously, he will have known pirate radio stations and high school radios, before being recruited by NRJ Nantes and then Radio Nantes. He will go to Paris at the beginning of Maxximum radio.
In 2020, the global pandemic which immobilizes the world brings him back to his first love, and he produces a daily then weekly live broadcast on Facebook, Youtube and Twitch.
During these shows, he will interview French and international artists who will come and share their journey and experience. We will discover interviews of artists like JM Jarre, Bob Sinclar, Etienne De Crecy, Dubfire, Vitalic, Joachim Pastor, Joris Delacroix, Worakls or Oliver Huntemann.
SOLO CAREER
Joachim launched in 2003 his forum
Joachimgarraud.com which will become the most visited site in the music category with more than 300,000 unique visitors per month.
It will see the emergence of artists like Arno Cost, Norman Doray, Tristan Garner, Joris Delacroix and many others… Some artists already established like Eric Prydz or Steve Angello will also come to participate in what was a real phenomenon.
In 2006, Joachim became No.1 on iTunes after the launch of the weekly podcast Zemixx.
In 2007, he signed his hit “Street’s Sound” on Joia Records, label of the Swedish House Mafia.
The same year, he was rewarded as “Best French DJ” at the trophies of the night, he was voted
“Best Electro House DJ” at the FG DJ Awards and 3rd at the FG World Top DJs.
His album Invasion was released in 2008 and he was voted best French producer by Only For DJ’s magazine 2 years in a row.
In 2010 he will make more than 90 concerts in events such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Electric Zoo, Spring Awakening …
His Live performances will allow him to win the FG Award for “Best DJ Performance” in Monaco.
Then, he released his 2nd solo album “Invasion 2011” and made the cover of DJ Mag in Mexico while being named 27th in the world ranking of DJ Mag.
He will release 3 other albums with 96/24 in 2016, O.V.P. (Oscillation Vibration Pulsation) in 2017 and O.V.P. 2 in 2021.
His passion for technology combined with his attachment to ecology inspired Joachim Garraud to create the 1st 100% electrically autonomous mobile solar recording studio.
It is a fully customized 12 meters bus with 10 solar panels.
He did a very detailed job on sound quality in collaboration with Focal.
In total, the bus contains 4 subs + 10 heads as well as the sound outside.
The set includes a recording studio with a booth for recording vocals or drums, a DJ booth, a multi-zone installation for recording indoors or outdoors as well as everything you need for live audios and video broadcasts.
Up to 4/6 people can sleep in the bus.