MR.BATALA

Batala was born in California, living in Sun Valley by day and living in North Hollywood by night. At an early age Batala was exposed to reggae music by his biological father Tim Batala. At the time young Batala didn’t think much of what he was being exposed to and how it would forever influence his life. As a young photographer Tim Batala would always attend reggae shows in the Los Angles area to photograph the artist. In doing so Tim would be back stage talking and hanging out with the band members and singers, young Batala was at some of these shows meeting people like EEK A MOUSE, ISRAEL VIBRATIONS, and THE ROOTS RADICS BAND. It was inna HOPILAND where most of the influence came from, SUNSPLASH inna Hopiland. Young batala’s uncle "lefty" and father Tim would help with inviting reggae artists to perform on the Hopi reservation, and again young batala would meet more reggae artists. When Batalas parents ended their relationship Batalas mother Cindy met a new person, T.R.D. It was then when Batala was exposed to the East coast, Ashville, North Carolina. Meeting new people with a southern accent ( yall!) and listening to new sounds and experiencing racial discrimination was Batalas first experience in N.C. After living in N.C for a short while batalas mother and stepfather then decided to move to Northern Arizona on the Kaibab Paiute reservation (tha rez) and was home schooled. Living on tha rez taught him how to live on the land and get in touch with his roots, he grew and harvested vegetables also hunted and killed his prey stealthily and cooked them on an open fire. After living on tha rez for a few years again they moved back to N.C and again batala meets new people and new adventures. Back in N.C batala becomes fascinated with DUB, batala says “ man when I first heard KING TUBBY I was in love, I bought every king tubby cd I can find in the local muzik shops, then I heard lee “scratch” perry, a whole other style, then I started to buy every perry cd I can find in tha local muzik shops” Batala then started to learn how dub was made and realized it was what he wanted to do in life, but didn’t realize how much it costs and what it takes to dub alone. After some time in N.C batala drops out of school and later returns to the west coast with a goal in mind but struggles to full fill his dub fever. With serving time in jail a few times and was unsure of the reality of being able to produce music and mix and foremost dub it . It was in jail when he became dedicated to produce sounds and dub it, Batala says “ I called my stepfather from jail and he told me he had just seen Lee “scratch” Perry with Mad Professor perform and understood what I have been talking about all this time, my pops said “fuckin mad professor and lee perry man at the ballroom” I was upset for a lil bit because I couldn’t make it to the show due to steel bars and cold concrete walls but it made me make up my mind in what I wanted to do in my life.” He then started to plan out the basics of what was needed to dub, behind the walls of B.I.A. After serving small time in Northern Nevada batala went back to the rez and a nearby city for a while to help finish his probation and end his sentence. After a while batala runs into trouble losing his job and the house he and his friends rented. Homeless for a short while he ran into more trouble and was looking at a couple of months but was bailed out and soon after got permission from the judge and got on a Greyhound bus and moved to Oregon in the Portland area. Moving to Oregon he accomplished his court order to obtain his G.E.D and ended his probation. Then he started to apply his plan to make music and dub, Batala says “I knew what I needed but before that you need the tattooed paper, money, so after obtaining my G.E.D I started college to help me in my journey and now I am a soon to be audio/visual technician” today Batala still continues in school , owns a micro studio and produces & mixes and foremost dubs it by night, Batala says “I am a one man band, lone ranger stylee. As I hit record late at night between the hours of midnight and 5am there I am alone in my spaceship taking trips to outer space visiting aliens of sound.”