{"id":527,"date":"2011-09-02T08:48:03","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T22:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=527"},"modified":"2011-09-05T09:19:55","modified_gmt":"2011-09-04T23:19:55","slug":"hyro-da-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2011\/09\/hyro-da-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyro Da Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a girl breaking up with me to really take the rock n roll, because I wanted to scream at her, so I took a rap and mixed it with rock and screamed on it and gave it to her.\u00a0 That’s what started my whole rock adventure\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Hyro Da Hero is a rapper from Houston, Texas (now based in L.A) who is shaking things up particularly in the rap\/hip hop communities with his explosive, raw fusion of rap and rock.\u00a0 Sure, some of you might be asking what\u2019s \u201crock\u201d go to do with it, but maybe that was the question hordes of rock fans in the UK asked initially?\u00a0 This year he performed not once or twice, but three times at Download Festival and was recently ranked in Kerrang Magazine\u2019s Top 50 Greatest Rockstars in the world today.<\/p>\n

With the UK well and truly on the way to being conquered, now it\u2019s Australia\u2019s turn.\u00a0 Hyro\u2019s debut album Birth.School.Work.Death<\/em> has just been released on 3Wise Records\/Sony Music Australia and whilst there are no definite plans just yet, Hyro has Australia in his sights for some touring action.<\/p>\n

We recently chatted to Hyro about the evolution from his rap beginnings in Houston, Texas and acceptance within the hip hop and rock communities.<\/p>\n

Hyro, thanks for taking the time to do this interview.\u00a0 So where in the world do we find you today?
\n<\/strong>I am in Los Angeles, just got off of a tour, working out and trying to get my body right and doing that whole thing.<\/p>\n

Before we chat a bit more about your album, first off I have a few questions about your musical evolution.\u00a0 What was your first musical love, hip-hop or rock?
\n<\/strong>Well my first love was hip-hop music when I heard Tupac Shakur start rapping, that just started me up.\u00a0 All that emotion he had, just screaming through the mic and all that stuff just started me up and got me interested in making this music and being innovative and being myself.<\/p>\n

And what about the rock music influence, when and how did that come?
\n<\/strong>Well I had been into rock ‘n’ roll like Bad Brains and Fishbone and stuff like that because I like to see other brothers doing something innovative and different so I dabbed in that for a bit.\u00a0\u00a0 But it took a girl breaking up with me to really take the rock n roll, because I wanted to scream at her, so I took a rap and mixed it with rock and screamed on it and gave it to her.\u00a0 That’s what started my whole rock adventure and digging into the crate and looking for new rock music and different things like that.<\/p>\n

So was that the trigger when you said to yourself I want to make music such as you now do?
\n<\/strong>Yeah that was the trigger point for the rock and rap and when I knew I was onto something.<\/p>\n

How widely do your rock music influences extend?
\n<\/strong>I mean almost anything great, I like Fugazi, Bad Brains, Gorilla Biscuits, Fishbone I love them and Rancid was cool, back in the day.\u00a0 I just dig around, some stuff you might find and you can tell the corny from the cool you know.\u00a0 When you grow up in Texas and you put on the radio, that’s your first introduction to rock right there, what’s playing on the radio.\u00a0 So you’ve got to dig in and look for the real stuff!<\/p>\n

You originated from Houston, Texas and are now based in LA, how much of your childhood experiences growing up in Houston comes through in your songs?
\n<\/strong>Oh yeah!\u00a0 I grew up in a rough area in Houston, Texas and you know how that whole story, you know how rap goes. \u00a0Well I just motivated myself to do better.\u00a0 I see the problems that go on from where I came from and I want to be a voice for that and help out in any way I can.\u00a0 I feel like me putting that emotion out there and me speaking knowledge and tying to uplift my people and uplift people in that situation is the best way to do it.\u00a0 Whether it is rap music or rock music, when you have the microphone, you have the voice of the people.\u00a0 You can actually speak up for that.<\/p>\n

Can you remember the moment or events when your music started spreading and you got your break to so speak?
\n<\/strong>Oh man, when I heard these horrible rappers start rapping from the south.\u00a0 You see I am from the South of America and I didn’t feel they were representing in the right way.\u00a0 So I made a rap and rapped all about these Southern rappers and said they are representing wrong and caught a lot of attention and all of that.\u00a0 It caught my manager\u2019s attention and I was just sitting there on MySpace and kids linking me up and checking me out.\u00a0 My manager called me up and said I dig it.\u00a0 From then it’s just been moving on great man.<\/p>\n

Now before your debut album, you have had a bunch of Mix Tape albums available on your website, can you explain the concept behind those?
\n<\/strong>Well that’s just basically to show rappers that I can rap with them and I can rap better than them and show people the cool music I listen to.\u00a0 I wanted to show people who I am and those mix tapes show my growth leading
\nup into the new album.<\/p>\n

How did you get involved with 3Wise Records down here in Australia?
\n<\/strong>My manager, he knows some dudes in Australia and hooked it up.\u00a0 We want to get out there and I want to rock the world.\u00a0 He has a lot of connections everywhere so I am just ready to do it.<\/p>\n

So the plan or wish is to come out and play some shows here?
\n<\/strong>Hell yeah, I’d love to do that, I can’t wait to see Australia man, it would be awesome.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You must be pretty happy with the feedback and reviews the album has been getting so far?
\n<\/strong>Oh man, amazing feedback, I haven’t read one bad review.\u00a0 It’s been amazing, the only thing they trip on is when I say the N word!\u00a0 Other than that, I’ve got some great reviews, I love it!<\/p>\n

So your debut album is titled, Birth.School.Work.Death.\u00a0 What was the inspiration behind having this as the album title, is it as straight forward as that phrase being the cycle of life?
\n<\/strong>Basically it’s just the repetition of life, that’s life right there.\u00a0 You’ll probably die and come back and do it again.\u00a0 You gotta try and do what you can in that allotted time of Birth.School.Work.Death.<\/p>\n

You worked with producer Ross Robinson who has worked with Korn, Slipknot and At the Drive In, was he someone you had specifically sought out for this release and how was the experience?
\n<\/strong>That was a dream come true because Ross Robinson and Rick Rubin I always felt are two people I knew would understand what I am trying to do with this music.\u00a0 So it came across perfectly and I felt that Ross could take it out of my mind and put it on the record.<\/p>\n

How about the music and band you had working on this record, how did that come about – former Idiot Pilot guitarist, Daniel Anderson, bassist Paul Hinojos (At The Drive In\/ Sparta\/ The Mars Volta) and Blood Brothers Cody Votolato (Guitar)
\n<\/strong>All of that was created in the studio with Ross Robinson.\u00a0 I told him what I wanted and he had the people.\u00a0 He got in Paul from At The Drive In, Cody from Blood Brothers, Daniel from Idiot Pilot, we came in there, all fresh and one day I created 6 songs with them, that’s how thick the energy was.\u00a0 After that was just tracking out and doing things like that.<\/p>\n

Were you familiar with their backgrounds?
\n<\/strong>At The Drive In is one of my favourite bands ever, so that was amazing to work with him.\u00a0 Blood Brothers I had heard things here and there and Idiot Pilot I knew of from Ross, so that was cool.<\/p>\n

Musically, what do you think you bring to the rap and rock combination that maybe others haven\u2019t in the past?
\n<\/strong>I think it’s me being real, I come from the hood, I come from rap, so I have just got that naturally about me, I am not acting in any kind of way.\u00a0 I am naturally a rocker, it’s all the same attitude.\u00a0 So it’s just when you come up with both sides, you have to know how to do it the right way and keep it credible.\u00a0 I feel Iike other people did not keep it credible.\u00a0 You have to draw that line right in between them and stay right there and you could go too far rock or too far rap and end up being corny.\u00a0 For me I think it’s all the same attitude and if I don’t feel the music or anything like that, then I don’t think the hood I come from will feel it and I don\u2019t think the rock n roll cats will feel it.\u00a0 I have to really enjoy the music myself to put it out there.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve played with the a cross section of artists such as Wu Tang Clan, 50 Cent, Cypress Hill, Deftones, Staind, Hatebreed and big rock festivals such as Download.\u00a0 How do you find adapting your show to the obvious different types of audiences?
\n<\/strong>Some situations you have to adapt your show accordingly, but that’s mostly when it comes to the hip-hop. \u00a0You don\u2019t want to just jump out and rock and roll and scare them.\u00a0 I have to introduce myself as a rapper and show them I can rap and get down.\u00a0 Then after that I bring them to who I am and you know bring out the new stuff to them.\u00a0 If they don’t respect you as a rapper, then they don’t respect what you’re doing.<\/p>\n

This might be a tricky question for you to answer and maybe it\u2019s not something that\u2019s a high importance to you, but at this point, who has been more welcoming and receptive of Hyro Da Hero.\u00a0 The hip-hop and rap or rock communities?
\n<\/strong>I feel like the rock community has been most receptive of it now.\u00a0 Hip-hop just have to get their ears open to it.\u00a0 The rock community, they accept something kind of quick.\u00a0 Raps a little bit more trendy, its whatever is in style at the time, rap is a young mans game, and it’s whatever people are feeding them at the moment.\u00a0 So that’s why I am trying to break hip-hop out of that mould and come out with something new and give them some innovative stuff.\u00a0 That’s basically America too, it’s just all the trendy things, and whatever is cool at the time.\u00a0 Things gravitate towards you, so when you do your stuff, suddenly you will become cool and they will gravitate towards you after a while.<\/p>\n

I see Kerrang Magazine has just ranked you at number 37 in the top 50 rock stars in the world today.\u00a0 Do you find some irony that they have ranked you just above Zach de La Rocha from Rage Against The Machine and Chino Moreno from the Deftones, given the numerous comparisons between Hyro and Rage and also your association with Chino?
\n<\/strong>Yeah yeah, just loved it, that was awesome.\u00a0 It just made me feel happy that I am doing my thing and getting noticed for it.\u00a0 Zach and Chino, there’s some great people man, just to be on the list was cool, I didn’t really care where I was, and being on the list was amazing.<\/p>\n

In your own words, you are quoted as saying \u201cwhen people ask me what I do, I tell them I am a motivational speaker\u201d, can you elaborate a little more on that\u2026
\n<\/strong>Because I feel like what I am doing is more than hip-hop.\u00a0 I’m trying to lift up the frequency, I want people to vibrate on the high frequency.\u00a0 I want to inspire people, I want to do that, its more that hip-hop, hip-hop nowadays isn\u2019t the same. I feel like I’m a motivational speaker, I lift people’s energy up!<\/p>\n

I see you are heading back to the UK later in the year\u2026.it seems like they have really taken to Hyro Da Hero!
\n<\/strong>The UK is more accepting to it, because they like digging some new music.\u00a0 They want to be the first ones that grab onto it, so that’s why a lot of people do great out there.\u00a0 I love it out in England, they really accepted me well.\u00a0 They say they either really, really love you or really, really hate you!<\/p>\n

So you are heading back to the UK later in the year, but what\u2019s on for the rest of 2011?
\n<\/strong>Well I’ve got the UK, then I just want to plan out more touring and all I want to do is just tour, tour, and tour and spread my message out to the world.<\/p>\n

And hopefully that will include Australia very soon!
\n<\/strong>For sure man!<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Houston, Texas but kickin\u2019 it in Los Angeles<\/p>\n

Band members<\/strong>: Daniel Anderson (Idiot Pilot), Paul Hinojos (At The Drive In\/ Sparta\/ The Mars Volta) and Blood Brothers Cody Votolato (Guitar) and Mark Gajadhar Drums.<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> www.hyrodahero.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Birth.School.Work.Death (2011, 3Wise Records\/Sony Music Australia)<\/p>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t