Back in July, I had the chance to see Henry Fong live. Not only was his set mind-blowngly diverse and energetic, but he gave me my very first, in-person, artist interview! Henry Fong and I touch on new genres, dance music history, and what got him into DJing. Check out the exclusive WRR interview below.
Also, today was the epic release of Henry Fong’s “20K Bootleg Pack,” a fourteen-track mashup masterpiece, and it’s all for free! Henry Fong was cool enough to release it early, even though he’s only got roughly 300 likes to go before reaching 20,000. Let’s help him reach 20K, thank Henry Fong for his free and awesome music by liking his page here!
Interview:
So are you currently touring?
I started to pick up alot of shows recently, so we’ve tried to organize it into some sort of..well, I guess it’s a tour.
How long have you been touring for?
A little bit over three years and have been producing for over two.
Has 2013 been the year Henry Fong started taking off?
I had a pretty popular Hype Machine: Mike Snow remix that I gave away for free, ever since then I put out a couple more tracks, then I did a track with Hardwell’s Revealed [Recordings]. I didn’t really think about how to plan that out I just put out stuff, and that’s when it all kinda happened. It was a domino effect, you know?
So does that turn into inspiration for you?
Yeah man, it’s pretty crazy, I don’t know how to describe it, I’m a DJ first, more so than a producer, so it was tough having to pick up all the production skills and putting alot of time into that. I try and think about how [tracks] play out live, so my music may not be the most technically advanced, but I always make sure it’s going to work live, but at the same time I have my sound to it.
Well if your track “Stand Up (Half Time)” might be your style, stick with it! How did the idea for the song come about?
I’m pretty inspired by it, I’ve listen to hip-hop my whole life, and I got this crazy idea, I really think people would like the [hip-hop] melody, even in dance music, so how could I translate the Ying Yang melody and make it into a dance track? So, I reworked the melody with all completely new instruments, changed a few things, added a drop, and it worked!
Where did the album art come from?
This kid Eddie Perez made it, really sick graphic artist, I got put in touch with him through one of my buddies, he’s pretty cool. I shouted out to him on Facebook, and he made it for me. I tried to link him up with other people to try and get him more business. I liked his style because I try to think of ideas that nobody has done.
How would you describe your own sound?
Anything that you can dance to, you know? First and foremost, I want to make sure my music plays out live, but it’s more like a big-room, electro-type thing.
Who are you biggest influences?
Alot, you know, I’ve always been influenced by the electro acts of 2007- 2008: MSTRKRFT, Justice, even alot of the early Dim Mak releases. The electro sound that started going mainstream and hitting the clubs. It kind of plays into my sound now, but it’s gotten’ alot bigger.
How do you feel about new genre’s that have popped up recently like: Trap, Moombahton, Ect?
It’s cool, its good. In the 90’s, one of the reasons why dance music took a dive and hip hop got really popular; it’s because dance music had very few genres. You had trance, progressive and house, but now there’s all the sub-genre’s that’ve spawned, so now dance music isn’t going to get old. There’s so many sub-genre’s, and it’s evolved to much, blending together, I think it’s great.
So do you think dance music is becoming a hybrid?
Yea, it’s just becoming one..giant..thing!
So, I gotta ask, are you going to release a 20k Bootleg Pack once you reach 20K Facebook Likes?
Haha, I promised I would at 10K, but then “Jump!” knocked the timing off, but I swear, there is a bootleg coming out, and I’ll do that at 20,000!
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