We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Austin Diduch. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Austin below.

Austin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I think a majority of DJs get a bad look, and I personally feel that in the past I was misunderstood until people were able to truly know me as I don’t drink and don’t do drugs. The club and festival scene is filled with a lot of temptations, and I used to walk down that road. With the sober path that I’ve taken, I have been able to explain my situation as an artist that chose this career path with intentions of helping others not just from DJing and Producing but also through our label: Club Level Records. As Co-Founders, Markus Braun and I have learned that this industry is about helping people and giving back. We are excited to continue to allow the work and label to show who we really are and there is a lot of enjoyment in that.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

HAWD HITTA is a Norwegian-American electronic producer, DJ and creative visionary based out of Los Angeles, CA.

In September of 2018, HAWD HITTA formed the EDM duo CHOVA. He has performed as support for global music acts Sigala Two Friends, Matoma, KSHMR, BROHUG, Audien, Tritonal, ARTY, Hotel Garuda, Lucas & Steve, & GoldFish. He performed at the 2019 Infieldfest (Kygo, Diplo, Logic, Juice WRLD, FISHER) followed by the Moonrise festival on the Lunar Stage (ZHU, Gryffin, Desiigner, & blackbear). They performed over 30 shows in 10 different states, and 3 shows at Echostage (Washington DC)—the #1 club US; #1 World (DJ MAG).

HAWD HITTA had his first show in 2021 at Avalon Hollywood, opening for Hook N Sling and then Borgeous. He followed it up with Cedric Gervais at Academy LA in 2022. HAWD HITTA headlined a majority of shows during his Fall Tour that year, played as support for Dada Life & Matoma at Academy LA, Klingande at Soundcheck DC and Laidback Luke at TAO Group’s LAVO in NYC.

2023 included support for Imanbek, Bassjackers, Borgeous & Lost Kings at Academy LA. He performed at Daer Dayclub and Nightclub alongside Zeds Dead and Sofi Tukker to close out his tour.
He kicked off 2024 with Insomniac as the closing act for Imanbek at Academy LA and has plenty of releases this year that we are excited to hear.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a creative is seeing satisfaction through others enjoyment in your work. It makes me smile knowing that people out there are happy, even one listener that loves my music so much as to download it or save it. That’s when I experience joy and it’s a blessing to have that occur more often than I ever thought it would.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In Oct 2020, I decided to quit my full time job at Oracle and chase my dreams of going into music and ultimately letting part time work give me more time to focus on the career goals. I think that a full time is great for many people, but even in the height of the pandemic, my heart was telling me this wasn’t it and I decided to take the leap of faith to go into the music industry with an open mind and open heart. With no idea with where it would take me, I have found more joy in taking the leap of faith than sticking it out in a 9-5, being incredibly miserable and having less time to focus on music itself.

Contact Info:

• Other: https://linktr.ee/hawdhitta

Image Credits

Sam Bernstein, Anthony Sibrian, Lisandro Salazara