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About Sky
Shortly after teaching himself drums and guitar at age 15, Scott Hendon aka Sky joined an alternative rock band called Chalk and played his first gig as a drummer at PJ-palooza, his high school’s Battle of the Bands concert. More shows would follow including performances at The Pelican and Rumbles in Brantford, ON. Here’s some VHS footage from a Chalk band practice in 1996 where the band performs a song written by Sky titled ‘Sudden Death Of A Flower’.
After winning an audition for a local band from another high school called Fluid, Sky went on to perform more shows as a drummer including several house parties and an event at Sydenham Church.
Having been influenced by hip-hop acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan and Flipmode Squad since grade school (Snoop Dogg’s ‘Doggystyle’ was the first Compact Disc he ever bought in 1993) Sky decided to tackle a new instrument, the turntables (pictured, 2001). After picking up some Stanton decks and a mixer, DJ Sky made several trips to Dr. Disc in Hamilton to stock up on vinyl and began the craft of hip-hop turntablism.
Having no DJ mentors to learn from or aspire to, the practice of mashing rap acapellas and hip-hop beats together grew old and DJ Sky found a new genre to love, house music. The spark was Armand Van Helden & Junior Sanchez’s Stanton Music Sampler No. 1 7″ vinyl released in 2000 that was included with the ‘DJ-In-A-Box’ set and had been collecting dust for about a year. This record, along with a hip-hop breaks disc, formed the beginning of DJ Sky’s foray into EDM which led him to focusing on material from Montreal’s Stickman Records label (Matthaus, Nigel Richards).
Hip-hop continued to be a primary genre for Sky and the desire to create it only grew once he began supporting 2 local hip-hop acts, Tru-Rez Crew and Cole Cash (now Burrowz). After seeing these acts perform at several venues in Brantford including The Scene, Sky managed to meet the performers at Alexander’s Tavern and get signed copies of each of their latest releases (pictured: fully signed Tru-Rez Crew album from 2002).
Not long after that show, Sky and his soon-to-be Northern Division compatriot Wesley J, were invited to a studio session on the Rez to see Jonathan Garlow, head of Tru-Rez, work his magic recording vocals and developing beats. Garlow aka JG Tha Tech or Johnny Jeex was kind enough to school Sky on some applications and techniques to use in the studio. From those conversations, Skyler Danes was born.
A Windows PC, Fruity Loops, Cool Edit, a Casio keyboard and a computer desk mic at his parents house formed the first of many SkyLabs – Sky’s nickname for his home studios that would see more than a dozers iterations throughout the years. Sky’s first beats would get their play in his 1990 Honda Civic hatchback packed full of of newly appointed Northern Division members including Wes J, Lil’ B and The Last Boy Scout. The crew would drive around blasting Sky’s beats and recording freestyles into a Samsung flip-phone. These experiences would eventually culminate into a 6-track self-titled EP from The Northern Division (with newly appointed member, $TunTS) released independently in 2005. You can enjoy that project in its entirely here.
Enter: Sky & $TunT$. In 2006, Sky & $TunT$, who had previously been friends and even jammed on the guitar together, decided to break out of The Northern Division as a duo. With the group’s blessing, the pair immediately began work on an album, with Sky developing all of the beats. The duo managed to plow through beat production and vocal recordings in a matter of months. By the midway point of 2006 much of the album material was ready and Sky & $TunT$ decided to perform their first show on June 16th at Take-A-Break pool hall in Brantford. The event was a poorly-attended outdoor gig on the hottest day of the year, but proved vital in teaching the duo critical stage skills and event management lessons. The show was also a cancer benefit which planted a seed in Skyler that wouldn’t blossom for another 3 years.
By October of 2006 Sky & $TunT$ were ready to drop their debut album, The Brains & The Brawn. 13 tracks (plus one skit) of synth heavy original hip-hop beats with the duo trading high-energy rap verses made for the stage. The CD Release Party took place at Bottom’s Up on Charing Cross on October 21st and Rogers TV were there to film the performance and interview Sky & $TunT$.
Skyler produced the project’s beats entirely with Propellerheads Reason and a Casio CTK-691 keyboard. Vocals were recorded on an APEX 435 microphone into Sony’s ACID Pro DAW. This album would fuel a couple years worth of well-attended shows from the duo at Bottom’s Up (Rehab) and Alexander’s Tavern. You can listen to the album below.
In early 2007 Sky & $TunT$ linked up with local duo BL (Jak Hellington fka Juice & B2) to begin opening up at the pair’s shows alongside their fellow Northern Division members. Jak & Sky, both producer/rappers in their respective duos, hit it off right away and talk of forming the Original Beatsters began. These 2 groups, BL & The Northern Division (including Sky & $TunT$), would combine to produce The Silent Hill Mixtape, a 19-track project including one song with all 7 members throwing down verses. The mixtape was released under $TunT$’ label, G-Dub Entertainment.
30+ Live Shows: The Opera House, The El Mocambo (Canadian Music Fest), Jackhammers Nightclub, Club NV, The Alex (Alexander’s Tavern), Rehab, Bottoms Up, Charlie’s, Take-A-Break, Frankie’s & Someplace Else.