Hook the Captain – Nope

HotBands - Is your artist name Hook the Captain, or is it J-Punch?

Hook the Captain – I’m not sure really. I’ve been using both for some time now with no discernible patterns.

HotBands - Two bands...same DJ?

Hook the Captain – Yeah. I think my best understanding of the difference is that I generally prefer to use the name Hook the Captain, but the UK record industry seems to like J-Punch better.

HotBands - Is it a split personality thing where the styles are different between the two?

Hook the Captain – I would say J-Punch tends to get more dance oriented, more underground, more poppy…Hook is the more experimental stuff.

HotBands - Experimental? Explain your creation styles for each perspective, and give a summary of how you describe your music. Your music is trance/techno, right?

Hook the Captain – Well, technically, it’s not really trance or techno. Occasionally I’ll do house, but really it’s more a form of electronica/dance.

HotBands - How would you explain the difference between trance/techno and electronica/dance?

Hook the Captain – The same way most DJs do. Trance tends to be faster, around 140 BPM (beats per minute). It tends to be more synth oriented, ambient, poppy, melodic, and psychedelic. Techno is also fast, around 135 BPM, but has a grittier, dirtier sound that is darker generally, and way more underground. House gets even slower, anywhere from 125 (deep house) to 133 or so, and there are distinctions within that field as well.

HotBands – What is electronica and dance?

Hook the Captain – I think those categories are more explanatory, and are good more as a sweeping explanation. Dance music, I would think, is anything one can dance to. Electronica is composed primarily from electronic instruments and production techniques. I don't really use those too often unless I am trying to find the house music in a Tower Records or something.

HotBands – Instead of using electronic instruments, what do you use?

Hook the Captain – I use keyboards, computers, analog filters, samplers, mixers, sound effects processors, microphones, guitars, pretty much whatever I can get my hands on and turn it into something interesting.

HotBands – Where did you learn the lingo? Is there a DJ school that explains the differences between all of the genres, or is it a consensus among most DJs

Hook the Captain – I guess it’s a consensus. There’s no school I know of. I'm not exactly sure who thinks these things up. I imagine it must be gradual. I suppose if I invented a form of music and knew it, I would label it. Funny enough, I sometimes refer to my own music as haunted house.

HotBands – I was immediately attracted to your music as something 'different' in the electronica genre. Your music definitely shows that you've had some sort of musical instrument and arranging background. It goes far beyond most of the music I've heard in this genre. Where did you get your start in music?

Hook the Captain – My history is a romantic one. I’ve been told I fell in love with my pre-school music teacher. Her name was Mrs. Pearlmutter… I suppose I owe everything to her. Anyway, I’ve been completely absorbed by music my entire life. I got a crappy acoustic guitar at age six, and discovered electronic keyboards when I was eight. There was an older kid that I knew that had one and I was astonished. I begged my mother for one every day until she gave in. It was an expensive toy for an eight-year-old. 10 keyboards later, here I am. I think I made my first three albums on that little Casio.

HotBands – So from age 8 on, what did you do? In middle school, high school, etc.were you teaching yourself music and composing?

Hook the Captain – Yeah…always composing. More than anything else

HotBands – Did you go through a private or school music program?

Hook the Captain – Neither. That’s the weird thing. I grew up in a music bubble. My evolution towards dance music was independent of what was going on in dance music at that time. I think my style kind of evolved into that on its own, aside from what everyone else was doing. My music has sort of an 80s feel, but its still different from anything out there currently in the dance market.

HotBands – Do you read music?

Hook the Captain – No.

HotBands – Wow! Really? How many instruments do you play?

Hook the Captain – To be accurate, I play no instruments.

HotBands – All of your music is created on a computer?

Hook the Captain – At this point, yes. The computer is the central nervous system for all the gear that I use. I switched over to computer about 5 years ago. Before that, I was using all sequencers.

HotBands – Why did you switch?

Hook the Captain – Because it’s the best way to achieve what I want to do. Computers allow me to make the music I want to hear. I think to a certain extent, all artists try to create the music they want to be listening to.

HotBands – Are you more interested in something that a DJ creates or something else?

Hook the Captain – What amazes me, is that the music I’m interested in is not limited to one particular style or genre. Good music is just good music and there is a certain timelessness to that.

HotBands – Do you see many live bands?

Hook the Captain – No, not many at all.

HotBands – So it's what you hear?

Hook the Captain – Yes, always what I hear. Music and performance are different arts, although I think sometimes they go hand in hand.

HotBands – Do you try to create a mood when you record, or just an interpretation of what you already have in mind?

Hook the Captain – Both. Sometimes I’ll start with a general idea of what I want to do. Other times, I am exploring the possibilities. It’s kind of like sculpting…I tend to be more prolific when I don't have an agenda.

HotBands – You’ve promoted your music worldwide, as well as continue to create and record. What is your drive?

Hook the Captain – That’s a hard question for me. I'm not quite sure why I do this stuff. The promotion started as an outlet, to expose the music. DJing is a similar kind of outlet. Ultimately, for me though, making the music is what I love. Music for me at this point is familiar; it's soothing its something I've had with me my whole life. In a world where nothing ever stays the same, I feel like I can always come back to it, and it always moves me. I love to create music and I love to share it. I want people to feel the way I do. I suppose in all honesty, there are other issues there as well. Most artists are passive in some sense. They express themselves through music in ways they cannot through other channels. I suppose some part of it is me wanting to be understood and appreciated by other people. I think a lot of artists are insecure in that respect.

HotBands – Would you say you hear the music in your head as you're creating?

Hook the Captain – Oh yes, all the time. That’s how I know when I've got it right. I hear the parts, almost like an auditory hallucination. I just try to recreate them out loud.

HotBands – That's awesome

Hook the Captain – Maybe it sounds arrogant, but I’m basically my favorite artist.

HotBands – As far as being your favorite artist, I think most artists feel that way deep down. I find it amazing that you create, layer and do everything without having any formal music background. You obviously have a natural sense of rhythm and arranging.

Hook the Captain – I suppose. If you listen to my very early stuff, which I never share with anyone, even there you can hear melodies and good rhythmic structure. I feel like that part has always come easily for me. Over the past 18 years, the only things I've really fine-tuned are production techniques, my hearing, and my ability to articulate my thoughts.

HotBands – Which bands influenced you along the way?

Hook the Captain – Many different bands and artists have influenced me across all fields of music. Basically, I love anything "good"

HotBands – When you perform live shows, do you create live or do you use previously sampled tracks, or both?

Hook the Captain – I used to do more live performance stuff, but right now, I've been focusing on DJing nightclubs. The money is better and it still gives me an outlet to play my own music for large groups of people, and they dance to it, which is also a great feeling. Mostly, I just spin records, and try to control the audience.

HotBands – You developed musically at the same time the Internet was evolving. Did you naturally see the Internet as a pathway for your music, or did that come about later?

Hook the Captain – I didn’t really begin to explore the Internet as a musical vehicle until I was around 18. For a couple of years, it became the sole method of me propounding music on the world. That was when I first started college and made a Hook the Captain web page.

HotBands – Would you say that you are a full-time DJ that also makes his own records?
Hook the Captain – To an extent. I DJ at a residency every weekend. I sometimes travel and tour, and yes, I make my own records.

HotBands - You have a label here in the US as well as one in the UK. How has the response been for your music, and what has been the best avenue for you?

Hook the Captain – It’s more then two actually, but there are two we've been working closely with and it looks like it’s going to expand to 3 or 4 this year. So far, the response has been good. A couple of the singles have been picked up for worldwide distribution and there is a lot more in the works for the labels. Keep in mind that this industry is largely underground. I’ve released a few tracks on some of the largest dance labels in the world, and chances are you can find some of them in most record stores worldwide. I've yet to put out a full-length album with that kind of distribution, but its something I’m working on. The previous albums have been picked up by labels but for limited distribution deals; for example, the first CD was picked up by Sony Music for distribution in Germany and Austria only, so even though it’s a major label and will see a decent amount of exposure in those two countries, it has yet to see a US release.

HotBands - Are most of the labels/records in the trance/dance realm producing compilation albums, or is there much of a market for a single artist?

Hook the Captain – Full Album sales are suffering. I think the music industry as a whole is suffering, so there are fewer and fewer new artists being picked up for full album deals.
If I manage to pull it off, I will be quite proud of myself…especially in an industry where most of the artists are largely anonymous.

HotBands - The Internet has changed a lot of things around in the industry that will never be the same. Artists across the board can be hurt or can prosper from this change depending on how they choose to adapt.

Hook the Captain – I think it’s moving in the direction where the Independent artist will have more control. I would advise emerging artists to seek out and get themselves into good Internet distribution deals. I’ve read that the Internet share of the market is only at about 5 percent right now, but is projected for 25 percent or so by 2008.

HotBands - Why would somebody even want a CD player and therefore a CD when they can have the album in digital format that can fit in the palm of their hand with no worries of skipping?

Hook the Captain – It’s true. I haven’t bought a CD in years now although I get a lot of music free as it were from being mailed promos and what have you and with creating my own, I have so little time to seek out new tunes. It’s really refreshing when I find a new artist I like. Typically, I will hear one song and just KNOW they are awesome and immediately buy every track they have for sale.
HotBands - So how do you see the Internet affecting your music distribution? Does it help you or do you think it's bad? Do people come to your shows based on your Internet exposure?

Hook the Captain – Well, its definitely gotten complicated. I’m juggling multiple contracts now, which often overlap. I have to separate various aspects of copyright between physical and digital distribution, and I imagine the publishing aspect is a bitch. I have an exclusive publisher that handles all that stuff. Overall, I think the Internet is great. It’s a new way to reach millions of people. It’s an opportunity I wouldn’t have had before. The only downside is dilution. The market is suddenly saturated with a lot of new music now and it takes a lot to stand out.

HotBands – What are your goals from here?

Hook the Captain – I don't know really. I don't know where this is going. I can't say. I know that I want to create as much music as possible and record as many singles as I can. Ideally, I’d like to record 5 or 6 singles and an album a year. Music has a way of propagating itself, and I would like to see it out there snowballing, until I am well known enough that I can do what I really want to do. Eventually, I’d like to create something truly unique, something that has never been done before. Maybe to build up a personal label, where I can seek out new music and help young artists get it released.

HotBands - What was your biggest inspiration musically, and how would you translate that to readers? In other words, if you could say anything that might help an 8 to 18 year old kid get going in the right direction...what would you say? It's interesting getting this perspective...I don't think I've ever had an Artist of the Month that didn't play any musical instruments or read music.

Hook the Captain – It’s hard to say, what my biggest inspiration was. There are so many things along the way. I guess I just try to make music out of aspects of my life. I try to draw on what moves me, or what I hear that really amazes me. It's almost a guttural experience. I try to avoid the analytical approach to music that many people choose to take.

HotBands - Do you create 'live' shows... pre-recorded tracks that you add to?

Hook the Captain – Not anymore. I think its something I will get back into eventually, but right now, I’m just focusing on production. I guess I would say I am an independent person. I like to do my own thing, regardless of what’s going on. At the end of the day, your art will be most important to you, the artist, so I guess I would advise people, to really take risks, and do something that moves them in particular. Expose yourself in your music. Be vulnerable…that’s what good art is about.

HotBands - Right on... thanks Justin.