First off, just want to thank you for participating in this edition of Infidel Interviews. Could you start off by giving a little information about you to the audience? Whatever you feel comfortable with, but name, age, and where you live would be pretty standard?
My name is Jethro Sandico, I go by the alias Hiroshi Armor, I am from Baguio City, Philippines What would you say are your favorite themes and topics that inspire you to compose? What draws you to those themes?
My music, as Hiroshi Armor, is inspired mainly by sci-fi movies and novels. I usually utilize post-apocalyptic and cyberpunk themes Would you say that your choice to pursue music has changed your life since you started? Would you say that creativity has evolved you spiritually, emotionally, or logically?
Music and creativity in general has totally shaped every aspect of my self What are your thoughts on genres in general? Do you find them creatively helpful as a template to work with? Or do you find them restricting? Or possibly somewhere in between? Now that the internet has caused so much crossover in music, would you even say genre labels are relevant any more?
I believe that artists shouldn't restrict themselves, however, categorizing has helped me a lot in researching and discovering more music
What sort of processes do you go through when making music? Do you have a formula(s) that you follow, or do you feel it out as you go along? Or is it more of a mixture of the two? When it comes to making music it can be difficult to balance atmosphere, song progression, musicality, and excitement. Do you have any tricks, techniques, or methods that you commonly use to help your music sound coherent and engaging?
I just try my best to maximize whatever I have and not complain about what I don't have. I just try my best to use my strengths and weaknesses, and I think that contributes to our originality
Musical composition nowadays can be aided by so many different tools and devices. Do you favor a complex approach of using lots of different instruments, or are you in the keep it simple until you have to boat of refining certain elements to their maximum potential? Or would you say your philosophy lays in between?
I use a laptop and a mouse to create music, it would be difficult to force yourself to create something complex with limited tools, art that is forced usually don't come out good
Do you spend a lot of time crafting your own sounds? Or do you value song crafting and effects tweaking more? Or do you find it's a balance between the two? What's your relationships with presets? When you make music are you primarily a hardware or software oriented musician? Or do you do a fusion of both? Are there any particular instruments, programs, or effects that you would say are vital to you making music?
I play a few instruments and I rap too, but for Hiroshi Armor, I only use a software for creating. I learn by trial and error, sometimes I incorporate the errors too. Do you ever find it difficult to balance the creative and technical aspects of musical creation? How do you strike the balance for the need to craft and tweak your effects and sounds, in contrast to actually just getting the song itself created with structure and melody? What sort of element of creation do you prefer, the sonic shaping or the song creation?
Having technical knowledge definitely helps a lot in but imagination is of utmost importance. I enjoy every aspect of making music so I don't have any strict preferences at all.
What do you see in the near, and far, future for your creative output?
I see myself creating better music What are some of the biggest challenges you have had to overcome in your musical career?
I've had a lot of challenges in the past, but nowadays I'm just enjoying what I do. The biggest challenge would be to create something with very limited resources If you could collaborate with any musician or artist, dead or alive, who would it be? And what in particular draws you to want to collaborate with them?
I don't have any musicians in mind, however, my dream is to collaborate with Sir Ridley Scott and H.G. Giger or Syd Mead What sort of new bands have come out in recent years that have caught your attention? Is there any bands out there you see yourself, or would like to, remix or collaborate with in the future?
I can't think of a band right now, but there are solo artists that I dig, dark ambient acts such as Enmarta, Metatron Omega. Right now, I am collaborating on a lot of stuff with this young man named Statua Would you consider yourself to be an overall political or spiritual individual? If so, what causes or ideas would you say you are attracted to or support the most?
All I know is that I've set out on a journey to know the truth In an industry that is driven by sales, and consumerism, what are your thoughts on digital downloads (legal and illegal)? Do you feel that streaming and digital download stores aid the accessibility of music? How bout music piracy? It obviously hurts sales in some regards, but it also boosts the access and distribution of the release which could lead to potential fans who do come to shows, buy physical copies of music, and get merchandise? Do you feel there would be enough turn around in that sort of system or are you firmly against file sharing?
It is an issue that is more than a decade old, so I try not to think about it nowadays, I just focus on creating, and sharing, and I would like to get to know the people who dig what I do
Outside of music, what are some of your favorite past times and emotional engagements?
I love photography, boxing
Thank you so much for participating in this episode of Infidel Interview. Any parting words for your fans, or my audience?
My pleasure, thanks for providing artists a platform to express themselves. Shout outs to everyone out there who checked out my music, feel free to chat me up on facebook or download my music, share it with your friends!
Follow Hiroshi Armor on his official Facebook:
Check out his music for free streaming on his official Soundcloud: