HNQO never intended to be the front man for Brazil’s rapidly expanding deep house movement but hey, you try topping the Beatport charts with two fire-hot releases on an international powerhouse label like Hot Creations and then tell me what happens. Fostered by a surging middle class economy that’s increasingly being served with the finest in under (and over) ground electronic musical talents by awe-inspiring clubs like Sao Paolo’s D-Edge and Warung in Santa Catarina, it’s good to be HNQO. The in-demand producer/DJ/label owner has just gotten back from two weeks playing Australia which were preceded by an exhaustive 2 months in the EU knocking down 32 gigs serviced by an estimated 60 flights.
I caught up with him in his home city of Curitiba, in the midst of a relatively calm spell as his girlfriend attempted to nurse him back to health from a flu that is likely a byproduct of the nonstop action he’s found himself in the midst of. He’s refreshingly down-to-earth about his success and although there is a subtle pride to the way he recounts having fans approach him when he’s out to dinner with his mother. You’d feel that way too, if not you might need to take your soul back to the dealership-as there's a chance it's still under warranty.
You just got back from a few months in Europe and were based in Berlin. Talk a little bit about what that was like. Yeah the last tour I did was two months over in Europe. After that I went to Australia for two weeks. I also went to Dubai and Cyprus. It was like 32 shows in two months and a lot of traveling. Something like 55-60 flights during that period. And I was playing some festivals. I think I played two festivals, the Digital Festival in Amsterdam and the Love System Festival in Croatia in Petrycane, a very small city, a very beautiful place with a nice beach. The festival was pretty cool for it being their first edition. I also played the Watergate in Berlin, a very very nice gig.
Upstairs or downstairs? Upstairs. It was really great. I also played four shows in the UK, London, Leeds, Birmingham, and…
When you think about the UK scene, is London the best or did you find another city was a better show? I think London was really nice. Normally, London is really cool for me. I played two shows in London, one party called Magna Carta, a nice one, and another one for Kumasi’s label showcase. At this one, I played back to back with Kolombo for like an hour and a half after my hour and a half set. It was a great party, great vibe, people vibing to the music. It was great.
Who were some of the artists you got a chance to meet during your last tour? Because the Jackmode agency is based in Berlin and managing my bookings now, I got to meet the Adana Twins guys, and Claptone. I met Shonky. I played at the 20:20 Vision boat party at the Love System Festival. I played also with Mario Basanov. I exchanged a few words and ideas with Shonky. I think those are the big ones.
Right now you’re spending a lot of time doing dates in Brazil and probably catching up with your girlfriend who lives there, right? Yeah, she’s just here, lying by my side watching How I Met Your Mother.
It’s the DJ girlfriend thing to do. When you go over next for a tour, do you think you’ll try to stay based in Berlin or will you try being based in London or maybe Barcelona? As I’m being managed by Jackmode and they’re based in Berlin. This time, I’m going with Fabø. We’re going to do Europe September and October and we will be having a big base in Berlin because it’s cheaper and it’s easier to fly from here to there and there to here and everything.
Did you get a chance to do some of the typical Panorama Bar/Berghain things or were you mostly working? It was thirty-two shows in two months, so it was like kind of a day working, a day off, a day working, a day off. My days off were normally Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday so I didn’t get a chance to go to many places, but I went to Watergate.
Some of your first records and biggest hits were actually created when you were working on a Windows computer with Ableton using headphones. Now that you’ve obviously had a lot more success have you upgraded your set up? I meant to upgrade my studio, but then I started traveling and I haven’t done it yet. I’m searching for equipment. I was supposed to bring a pair of monitor speakers home from Australia but they weren’t able to deliver them before I left.
So your production setup hasn’t changed too much? You’ve just upgraded your computer? I did upgrade. I bought a new iMac and a new soundcard. But I’m still doing some research to get equipment and stuff.
Are you using Ableton 9 now? Yeah, I haven’t made any tracks with Ableton 9 yet, but I have it here. I met the Ableton guys at the Rio Music Conference and they gave me a copy.
When you worked with the vocalist BIP, how did that come about? What was the process of interacting with her and making sure she produced the type of vocals you needed? I came up with something, like bass, drums, basslines, something very raw that I sent her. She tried to come up with some vocals and she sent it back and I created some synths, melodies, some stuff like that. The “City Lights” and “As I See” tracks were like that. I just made the raw idea and the bass and then I sent it to her and she sent back the vocals, both wet and dry vocals, and normally I use the dry ones but in my own effects, reworks, delays, and stuff.
So she came up with “M to the U to the S to the I to the C?” Isn’t she like the “The EDMUSIC?” Yeah, she came up with that. It wasn’t my fault.
I guess this doesn’t seem too busy to you compared to Europe but you are playing a bunch of dates in your home country and you just played at Warung. Was that your first time at Warung? Yeah, I just played there last weekend. It was a fucking bomb gig. It was really nice and full, really packed. It was like walking in a small club. You were not able to walk in the garden and the upstairs. You were not able to walk without touching someone.
Who else was on the event that night? Headliners were Art Department upstairs and me downstairs and then Nitin also from No. 19 and Renato Ratier.
Did you get to speak with Jonny, Kenny, or Nitin?
No because I arrived at the club close to midnight. Then they arrived at 2:00 and they started playing right away and they played until 7:40. I started playing from 4:00 to 7:30 so when I finished my set they were still playing and I left because I was fucking tired because the last night I played far away and had a fucking five hour flight, so I was fucking finished.
Do you think you’ve inspired a lot of people in your country to get involved in the deep house scene? Do you think that you and I would include Fabo have been an inspiration to people to get involved in this type of music? I would say definitely. I don’t know about those already involved in the scene from ages ago but the new wave of producers and DJs, I think they get pretty inspired by this type of music, by me and Fabo, by our tracks and stuff. I think it’s quite big I’d say. There’s a lot of people listening to our tracks here in Brazil, especially in our city Curitiba. A lot of people know us and I think it’s pretty big.
Is it starting to get a little strange to get recognized when you go places? Yes, sometimes it happens. On my way to dinner a few days ago with my mom and my girlfriend, there was this guy and his dad and his dad came asking me ‘Hey, are you HNQO because my son is your fan and he wanted to say hi.’ And my mom was like ‘Oh My God.’ People seem to really like me and Fabo here in Curitiba. It’s like a really kind relationship between me, Fabo, and the crowd. It’s really cool.
At this point, you have a bunch of hit records. You’ve done some big records that have done really well. They’ve been signed to good labels and lots of people have played them a lot and things are doing really well. Do you feel sometimes that there’s pressure from labels or your management to keep them coming? Are they ever like ‘Hey, so when’s the next big record?” Yeah, people used to ask me this, but that question is normally coming from promoters. I would say that Priscilla and the girls who are running the 24bit Management, managing me and Fabo, are not putting that kind of pressure on my back or Fabo’s. I think it comes from me and Fabo. We don’t need anyone telling us that we need another track or to sign to this or that label. It comes naturally. I’m not producing as much as I used to do because I’m traveling a lot. Things are coming slowly and I think with more quality now. I think it’s doing great.
Lots of people have started labels and then lots of people get too busy to run them and do a good job but I feel like you and Fabo have made sure to keep putting energy into your label Playperview. What are some of the artists that you guys are really happy to have discovered and are looking to support through the label in the next couple of months? We just signed a track from a Brazilian from Caio Stanccione. It’s not like floor bomb. It’s a very nice track, very well produced. It’s a young guy. I think he’s 20. And there’s also this guy Dake. You probably know his tracks already. We have a PillowTalk remix coming.
How did that come about? We have this guy Omar working with us. He’s doing A&R for us and he just sent the track to Mikey Tello and he really liked it and he said ‘Yeah, we’re going to do the remix for you.’ And they liked it and they made the remix and it’s upcoming on Playperview.
That’s cool. I love Mikey Tello. Have you heard his Signal Flow shit? Signal Flow?
Yeah, Mikey Tello has a side project with Ray Zuniga that’s called Signal Flow in Berlin. Brazil and the US have tricky work visa situations, has that made it difficult to get to the States to play? I think it got better now. It’s easier. I just need to move and apply for that shit. I’m just waiting. There are some people interested in doing some tours with me and I’m waiting for the right moment to apply for the working visas and stuff, because I don’t want to waste time again and lose money like the last time.
What are the cities in America that stand out to you that you want to visit? I want to visit Miami, like where the festivals are, like the dance, WMC. I want to visit New York. I’ve never been, but I bet it’s fucking nice. I want to be able to get time to visit and not just arrive, play, and depart.
That’s true. That leads me into one of my next questions because now that this is a career for you and you’re running a business (Playperview) it’s fully your life now. It’s no longer just an idea. What are some of your favorite aspects of that and what are some of the aspects that you hate? I really like to be on the road. Time flows fast and I always have something to do. I’m keeping my mind busy and it’s fucking great to meet new people everywhere almost everyday. The bad part is the loneliness of being on the road. When I’m here in Brazil, I finish a gig and I have airport stuff to do but when I arrive I’m in my bed, I have my friends. If I want to do something, I have everything here at my fingertips. When I’m on the road, especially in Europe, Australia too kind of, it’s lonely sometimes. The fact that you’re always sleeping in a different bed, you don’t know where you’re going to sleep, you don’t know where you’re going to eat. It’s tricky, but it’s also nice. I am very happy with everything. I don’t like to complain, because this is what I wanna do.