‘HMU if u agree’ – Noiseshock talks haters, online personas & his big move! [GUEST ARTICLE]

Fast-rising talent and Argentinian Hardstyle representative Noiseshock is an artist who’s been making waves not only with his music, but his comical and quirky online persona. Known for his famou$3 catchphrase “HMU if u agree” and “LMS,” Jose is an interesting character to say the least, however despite his shit-talk online he takes his productions very seriously, scoring himself releases on Lose Control Music and a place amongst the Scantraxx Recordz family. 

2016 is proving to be a huge year for Jose, who is currently packing his bags for his big move over to The Netherlands where he will be performing at colossal festivals like Defqon.1, Summerfestival, CRAFT and many more. With triumph in his grasp, there’s no better time than now to invite Mr. HMU onto Alive At Night for an exclusive guest article. We warn you, this one goes deep; there’s more to this Argentinian Libra than meets the eye…

Growing up as the ‘black sheep.’

I was born and raised in Neuquén, a small town in the south of Argentina where people are closed-minded and basically stuck decades behind the rest of the world when it comes to Electronic Dance Music and its culture. Music has always been a part of me; growing up I played several instruments and attended music theory lessons, however sometimes they were a little boring for me because the ‘system’ limited creative people rather than enhancing their abilities.

Hard times have always been there for me and I’ve always seen myself as different to the ‘flock.’ I grew up finding appeal in music my peers weren’t interested in; for example, during my early teens my obsession for electronic music grew and unfortunately no one shared this common interest, pushing me to lock myself in the studio and produce track after track. Looking back on it now, in the end I guess it turned out to be a blessing in disguise…

Anyway, I was already interested in ‘DJ’s’ when I was around 9; I somehow knew these people ‘made’ electronic music, but I had no idea about the difference between producing or DJing. I literally thought these people were making music on the fly with two turntables and a mixer *laughs*. I vividly remember walking past a music store that was playing a DVD of a Tiesto show (I don’t remember exactly which one) and after seeing that I knew I wanted to do the same thing.

A couple of weeks later, my aunt bought me a CD labelled ‘DJ Software’ which contained a lot of pirated programs including Steinberg Remix, FL3 and other tools. I’ve always been pretty self-taught, so I actually learned to use these programs by myself, making simple stuff using loops and then as time went by I began attempting more complex things. When I began learning, I only had dial-up internet, so learning the basics via tutorials was out of the picture, however later on when I wanted to learn specific techniques and sounds I watched tutorials for some guidance.

Back then I used to produce an extremely amateur attempt of euro-dance music that incorporated trance influences and after discovering ‘Jumpstyle’ through YouTube, I decided to give that a go too. As for Hardstyle, I first came in touch with the genre when I was at a car-show and the merchandise stand was selling CD’s with tracks such as “Razzia” by Zany and “Akustika” by Ard Und Marc. I immediately fell in love with the ‘drive’ and adrenaline rush it provided and from then on my interests just switched as I began immersing myself into the Hard Dance world. Around that time Hardstyle began evolving and more melodic sounds began to shine, which is ultimately what got my full attention.

‘HMU if u agree’ – The triumphs and tears of breaking through.

The first party I visited was also my very first booking – Mysteryland Chile in 2013. When I received the e-mail from Q-dance expressing their interest in having me perform at Mysteryland I was seriously the happiest person alive. The fact that my first gig would see me playing on the same stage as artists like Frontliner, Ran-D, Psyko Punkz, Max Enforcer and Villain was so overwhelming.

This festival symbolised the beginning of my career, because until that year I was only producing music in my bedroom and had little interest in pursuing it further. In fact, that year I had just started university, which meant I had some huge decisions to make. I came to realise that music was more than just a hobby – I wanted to somehow make a career out of it. However, there were a lot of obstacles that I had to take into consideration such as my geographic location, lack of connections in the business, no real DJing experience and not much time to balance both music and my studies.

In terms of furthering my career, one of the biggest struggles I faced was definitely the lack of people who were involved in this art. First of all, I never had a circle of people sharing the same interest and being completely alone in your main passion can lead you astray and into a negative mind-set. I didn’t have any contacts or colleagues in my city who were involved with production or remotely interested in Hardstyle, so until I got to know fellow producers over the internet I was completely alone. Not having people support me and share this passion was a little demotivating and until things began to work out thoughts about giving up regularly crossed my mind.

Aside from that, I’ve always been ‘uncool’ and the odd one out. Whilst music was just a hobby I tried to adapt to my peers, however I just couldn’t fool myself and the only way to get past the negativity was to accept being the black sheep and move on. In the end, only oneself has control over their destiny and shouldn’t seek out happiness from others’ acceptance. Nowadays the idea of ‘giving up’ crosses my mind sometimes; however that’s usually me just raging when I forget to back-up a project, haha!

Another huge challenge for me was building a network and getting to know the right people in the scene. Until recent times, I hadn’t performed at many events, meaning I didn’t have many chances to meet and mingle with artists and people in the industry.

Many people would know by now that I like to joke around online from time to time, however some think that’s the only way I’ve got myself ‘known’ and built a career. Personally, I think that people who look at my success from this angle are usually narrow minded haters who see selectively – they’ll see the side they dislike. My music gets released on one of the biggest Hardstyle labels and is supported by the best in the scene, so I must be doing something right! In the end, if labels or event promoters take you seriously, then haters can suck a dick. If the music is good and takes you places, negative people and their opinions become irrelevant.

On the topic of social media and online personas, I feel that Hardstyle ‘people’ tend to overdo the whole social media thing, but there’s not a lot you can do if fans pay more attention to social media instead of music. Nowadays, artists get ‘known’ because of an image or personality they exploit all the time and music unfortunately takes a back seat. I can’t really say much about it; I guess that’s just is how it is and besides, music isn’t as impactful on its own.

Something I do really admire about the whole social media thing is the fact that artists and fans are quite close to each other. Some artists are quite open with fans and people enjoy that little bit of ‘attention.’ Personally, I’m a little more distant with my fans because I’m a little shy, although I do try and reply to the messages I receive from fans.

Argentina vs. The Netherlands

Coming from Argentina, the festival and clubbing scene is stuck in time when you compare it to other countries, such as The Netherlands. Argentina is a country with a different mind-set and Electronic Music is something that’s frowned upon in society, which isn’t helpful for young artists attempting to grow their careers. Saying that, we still have some cool festival and events such as Ultra, ASOT, Creamfields and Time Warp, however these all showcase mainstream EDM sounds. Most recently, some people died of drug abuse at an event, which had some devastating repercussions, such as the government banning some subsequent events and society looking down on electronic music even more. As for Hardstyle, the scene is slowly growing, however it’s still small and far from ‘stable.’ Although we’ve had international artists performing in Argentina over the past couple of years and a Hard Dance stage at Ultra, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, however due to the previously mentioned reasons growth is becoming harder for artists, promoters and fans.

It feels devastating to see things sinking and possibilities for artists in Argentina diminishing. I’ve been fortunate enough to get bookings and tour around, however a lot of local artists struggle to get recognition. I’m also very lucky because I have the opportunity to perform in Chile quite often; since Q-dance brought some awesome productions over there, their scene has boomed!

‘One ocean away from home’ – Moving to The Netherlands & ‘shredding’ for Defqon.

So, many of you know that I’m about to jet off to The Netherlands, where I’ll be spending three months performing and producing. I wouldn’t say that I’m nervous; I mean, I’ve been waiting for this moment since I began producing music, so I’m super excited and counting down the days! I’ll be living in either Amsterdam or Breda, two beautiful cities that are in prime location nearby the festivals. I’ve scored myself bookings at some awesome festivals such as Defqon.1, Summerfestival, CRAFT, Zomerkriebels and many more. To be honest, playing at these kinds of events is a dream for me and being one ocean away from home it can’t get any more exciting. It seriously feels like my future lies right there.

Music-wise, I’ve been busy working on a fresh new front of music. There’s a ton of collaborations planed, however I can’t spill the beans until they’re finished. I’d love to blurt it out right now, however the truth is that half of the collabs planned never really end up being finished tracks, haha! However, for now I can only confirm that Refuzion and I have almost finished a track which will be accompanied by a video. I can also reveal that a collaboration alongside a certain Scantraxx fellow is turning out great, so keep an eye out for it! 😉

As for my personal goals, well, obviously I want to enjoy the overall journey, play the shows and get to know people, however the long-term goal is being able to establish myself in The Netherlands and become a part of the European Hardstyle circuit.

There have been a lot of preparations surrounding this trip. Until last year and before I got into contact with Scantraxx, I had another job on the side simply because music wasn’t a safe income alone. If I want to stay in The Netherlands after the summer I needed to save some extra money, so there were a few sacrifices I had to make, but in the end it’s all worth it.

Speaking of preparations, I’ve also been immersed in a new health regime for quite a while. I began running in October last year and about two months ago I also began working out at the gym. At the beginning I only did it to feel better and stay healthy, but after a while I realised that I really enjoy the whole process of ‘improving myself.’ Mind you, exercise has really helped boost my creativity and inspiration. Being locked up in the studio for hours on end sometimes require you to go out and do something else; I guess this was the main reason for my ‘lifestyle change,’ but apparently I turned out enjoying it.

If DJing didn’t already get all the ‘hunneys,’ then you can’t go wrong by adding a bit of shredding on top of it, haha! But seriously, I’m not going for the whole ‘shredded’ look or working out solely so score hunneys; in the end, you know what type of girls it will attract. I’m not going to lie though, it definitely helps! 😛

Anyway, with all said and done, I hope to meet many new and familiar faces over the summer. I’m so excited, bring it on!

A huge thanks to Noiseshock for ‘hitting us up’ for this awesome guest article! We wish him the very best of luck with his final preparations for his big move to The Netherlands and can’t wait to catch his performances over the summertime. 

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