Translation of 5 Preguntas with Herrmann Hamann
This translation of the interview with Herrmann Hamann was something I wanted to do from the initial point of publishing the piece I was moving slow about it until the various requests we received sparked the fire under my feet. Please enjoy:
Herrman Hamann is a musical enthusiast, writing and playing for more than a decade. Hamann currently resides in Lima, Peru where he runs the record label Nave Nodriza, he also plays in various projects like the electro psych-pop band Viajeros. I recently met Hamann at Tobacco Road one evening where we were introduced by the Queen of the Scene. We hit it off immediately as we began discussing our musical interests and projects.
Hamann and I sat in my car to sample his label’s compilation UFORIA!!! I was mesmerized by the spacey quality of the disc as he described the Lima scene to me. From track to track Hamann illustrated the bands' make ups and unique personalities while we explored their sounds. I recommend you listen to this sampler to be dazzled by the talented music coming from Lima and to experience Hamann's knack for smoothly marrying these 14 different tracks together. His passion for his scene is one of the driving forces for a movement of psychedelic music that is gaining popularity in his home town.
I communicated with Hamann through email for the following interview:
Steven: What are you up to here in Miami, aren’t you recording a cd (and which studio are you working and who with)?
Hamann: I am finishing what is shaping up to be my first solo disc, it’s a 5 track ep maybe more. We recorded it in Republik Studios in North Miami with Jose Velasquz, a Peruvian producer that works and lives in Miami. He recorded the drums and we programmed electronics together. I played guitars, bass keys, vocals, but various contracted musicians from here play a little of everything also. The album is super varied in styles: rock, funk, reggae, Huayno, techno, and as always charged with psychedelic. What I’ve recorded here in Miami is mixed and complete the only thing pending is the mastering. Now that a friend of mine is opening a studio in Lima I would like to record more. He has all of the technology to achieve the same quality as the studios in Miami, which wasn’t possible before. We’ve been discussing the potential to record more tracks; therefore I believe the album should be complete in a few months. We’ll see exactly what we do. I believe the best thing to do is release it under the name Hamann since all of the compositions are mine and I’ve covered all of the expenses, however I will continue playing with Viajeros as a band so honestly I have not made a final decision but either way I will surely release it through.
S: Do you prefer to write and create your own music or work as producer/ engineer mixing and mastering the music of other artists?
H: I prefer to write and play my own music although I have recorded mixed and produced other artists and I enjoy that because it provides another point of view with respect to music.
S: What are your future growth plans and releases through Nave Nodriza?
H: Nave Nodriza is a small independent label, which has released two albums; the first is of my band Viajeros that came out in 2007. It was well received in Peru, but I have also sold copies in the United States more so in Huston through a friend that lives there. The second release was in December 2008, it was a compilation of Peruvian bands called Uforia!!!, which also received good reviews. We have recently finalized mixing, and began mastering an album for a real crazy band called Moldes. Later we will release an ambient experimental project of mine and also the album I’m currently working on here in Miami. I’m talking to a couple of people based here in Miami that work in music management about helping us get the word out. There is another very interesting project called El Vales de Lucy Smith, which consists of one guy who is a genius as a poet and composer, his album is pending release also but we have to do everything in order.
S: The other day you named five bands that have been very influential to you lately, which bands are they?
H: My influences are infinite, truly my music is influenced by everything but when we released the first Viajeros disc I was digging electronica, shoegazer, and actually more rock. Lately I have discovered various classic bands that I didn’t like because it was music that my parents listened to. Those bands are The Beatles (for the obvious reason that they are geniuses, although I used to hate them). Led Zeppelin (music made by individuals pushing human limits). T-Rex (love made into music). Spacemen 3 (nobody will make you trip out like them). The Cramps (if you wear sunglasses at night and don’t listen to the Cramps then you’re an idiot, but if you do listen to them you have permission).
S: Can you tell me about the scene in Lima, including the venues and the other bands in the Psychedelic genre?
H: Yeah, Lima’s scene is quite varied, but there has always been a good underground sound. Some bands have broken out and become massive, but those are the more commercial ones. The majority have achieved success through their second release. For me I prefer what’s going on in the underground. A few years back around 2001 all of the music coming from the city was experimental noise and things of that nature. There were hardly any bands that would make real songs, but people would make noises for hours and that worked because there were no radios or methods of communication that paid attention to local movements. People made their whims more and more radical and little by little people started to improve their styles and now there are several bands that make great music like: Moldes, Protones, Leche Plus, Ida, Transparente, Hipnoasencion, Isofragma and many others. There has also been a growing movement of Stoner Rock, some bands are: La Ira de Dios, Don Juan Mattus, El Cuy and Reino Hermitanio who strangely released their albums in Germany and other European countries. They have also gone there to play shows and short tours with Space Rock bands from there, but in Lima they have a small following. We used to have a lot of parties and shows on the third floor of a house in downtown Lima known as La Casa Ida but it closed down around Halloween 2008. Now there is another house downtown called La Casa Del Auxillo, which is an old abandoned hospital, we have a lot of parties there and there is talk that it may be converted into a cultural center. We also have many bars downtown in Barranco, Miraflores and some discos in other districts which are becoming more supportive to national music everyday.
S: Thank you!
H: Thank you broder.
Check the links below for more information or to obtain cds from Nave Nodriza please contact the following email address to inquire: hfrhb@hotmail.com
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Thanks for translating steve! Hermann is only here for a short time, so make sure you all get his compilation of music from Lima. it's super trippy.