So we managed to chat with the man himself, one of the best and fastest up and coming acts at the moment, Hyro Da Hero.Right in the middle of his latest UK tour we had a chat with him at his date in Stoke.
With arguably one of the best albums of 2011, being praised by many media outlets as well as Jonathan Davies of KoRn, he is one of the hottest prospects of 2012. We ask how he came to combining both punk and hip hop, how he finds the UK crowds and how his first festival appearances were.
You can find out more about Hyro and his music on his Facebook page : http://www.facebook.com/HyroDaHero
HTF: Hey Hyro, how are you doing?
Hyro: Good, good! Chillin like a villain, happy to be here, ready to rock!
HTF: Awesome! Well this is the 6th date of your current tour, with Leeds last night, how’s it been?
Hyro: Leeds last night was crazy man, was all over the place, going wild, been getting better and better and better and better. The kids have been feeling my energy, and they go back on Twitter and I haven’t seen any bad responses, I’m loving it, it’s a great feeling, I got the Astroid Boys out with me and they’ve been having an amazing time themselves.
HTF: Cool, well is there any difference playing the UK than it is playing the US?
Hyro: The energy is the same for any show, the music just crosses all boundries, the UK, they really show you when they like like it, if they like it they really really it, if they hate it, they really really hate it. In American, you can give them some stupid stuff and they’ll go crazy with it. You just have to bring the energy to them, and that’s on you. You have to bring it to the table and the people are going to respond.
HTF: So it’s been a year since you released your first album, what’s your reaction to the amounts of praise it has got. For example, Jonathon Davies of KoRn has said that it was his album of the year last year?
Hyro: It’s a great feeling, I’ve not been expecting any of this, I’ve just been wanting to rock and get all of this off my chest, I’ve not been expecting reviews or any of this, none of this was going through my mind when I was creating the album. I’ve not been expecting reading reviews, people listening to it, people really loving it. I think that’s what sets the pace with how I feel about the response because I wasn’t expecting any of this. I didn’t have anything in my mind, trying to block me, I was just doing what I love doing, and to see people loving it and giving it that feeling is amazing. I just want to see more kids to hear it, more ears to hear more mix tapes and my album. You can see my growth from my mix tapes all the way up to my albums.
HTF: Yeah, you try and portray powerful messages through your music.
Hyro: Yer! Because if you’re making music you have to say a message, I’ve always said that. I’ve said I don’t want to make music if it doesn’t have a message in it. I try and put across some kind of message each time. That’s what I’ve got to do on my album, it’s basically everything I’ve always been about, be all in one bunch.
HTF: You were here last year obviously, festival appearances everywhere, you did Download Festival, Slam Dunk festival and Hit the Deck festival, how were they, which one was your favourite?
Hyro: Oh man, I dunno! I could choose all of them. Like I’ve said I’ve never expected any of this, I’m just a Hip-hop dude, playing rock and roll, so like with Hip-hop I’ve been thinking a little smaller, not festivals or all these people out at front, I just wanted to hit up some neighbourhood clubs and rock people there, you know, but now it’s bigger than what I ever expected. I’m a happy man, I would say probably Download, because it’s the most amount of people I’ve ever played to at one time.
HTF: Yeah, cause you played three sets at Download, you did your first set, you did an acoustic set, and then filling in for Karma to Burn on the 2nd Stage on Sunday.
Hyro: Yer that was crazy, the only thing is it was a rainy day, if it wasn’t a rainy day it would have been WAY crazy! Yer cos I had so much space on stage, and if you give me that space I’m just gonna lose my mind! I’m meant to be a rapper and to rock 3 stages at Download is just crazy.
HTF: So moving onto this year, you’re currently touring, and then you have Warped Tour this summer over in America.
Hyro: Touring, touring, touring, I’ve got this right now, then I go over to Australia for Soundwave Festival, that’s gonna be sick, and I’m on the main stage.
HTF: Yer it’s like a dream come true surely?
Hyro: Yer man it’s a dream come true man! Ha! And then after that I go back on tour in America, touring with Mindless Self Indulgence, and then finally we’re going to Warped tour. I’m bringing it to the American ears, the UK ears, Australian ears, I can’t wait man!
HTF: I can see Mindless Self Indulgence being a mental affair, a bit off the wall.
Hyro: Oh that’ll be crazy, I dunno what they’re fans are like so I’m looking forwards to it, see how they react.
HTF: Yer, cos you’ve toured with quite a few different people on your times touring.
Hyro: Yer, been playing to The Blackout fans, the Download fans, and now I can play to my own fans, it’s crazy the amount of different people I can play to and how they react.
HTF: Ah yer, cos you’ve done the collaboration with The Blackout for Higher and Higher, how’d that come about, who approached who?
Hyro: Yer, they heard my music, Sean Smith, and Daniel Carter from the [Radio One Rock Show] digged my music, and asked if I wanted to be on track, and I said dude yer, awesome, let’s make this happen, and I knew it was going to be a hit from the first time I heard it. Doing Higher and Higher was, those guys were cool man, when we were on tour together those guys were some of the craziest people on the planet man. I’ve actually got his brother doing merch for me on this tour, like a family thing!
HTF: You’ve mixed Hip-Hop and punk music within your sound, it’s an interesting mix, how did you come to actually mixing that together.
Hyro: It’s a crazy story, about one of my ex-girlfriends, she broke up with me in high school, and I was mad at her, so I made all my Hip-Hop songs because I was mad at her, and I wanted to scream at her. So I took a rock song, sampled it and screamed over it, gave it to her, and she hated it, so I knew I was doing SOMETHING right! Hahaha! So now it’s a part of me now, part of my sound. I’ve always dug punk rock music, like Bad Brains, Fishbone, The Clash, I always dug it, but wasn’t always fully into it, but I started listening to it and mixed it together and it just worked man!
HTF: Yer man, cos I’ve seen on Twitter that you call yourself Tupac mixed with Refused, how stoked are you that Refused are back together?
Hyro: I can’t wait, it’s gonna be awesome to see them perform, I didn’t think they did that many shows while they were together you know, so to see them perform live is going to be so sick! I can’t wait for that man!
HTF: So a couple of last questions before I let you go, what are your plans for a new album?
Hyro: I’ve got music in my mind all day long, I’m thinking it like it’s nothing, but I’m not really tripping for new ideas for another album. I want everyone to hear my other stuff first, like I’m touring letting all you guys hear my stuff off this album, seeing kids digging my music every day, I just want to get that out there first.
HTF: Final question, you try and give a message to the kids today, what sort of message would you give to the kids today.
Hyro: Oh man! Work hard, be true to yourself, and don’t listen to any bullshit man! Don’t corrupt your mind with any of this bullshit going on, crazy people all around, crazy things going on. Keep your mind straight, keep on the right path, work hard and keep dedicated, you know. The universe isn’t gonna bring all that stuff to you, you know, you have to work for it. If you’re doing your rap thing and it’s not working out, if you’re doing your rock thing and it’s not working out, then that’s good cos it means you just have to keep working harder. Just never give up, that’s all I have to say.
HTF: Ah ok, well sweet, thanks very much man, have a good time tonight!
Hyro: You too man enjoy the gig!
Interviewer: Callum Thomson
