By Hank Justice
Ingredients
multicultural band mates: 
Gordon Myers (Bass/Vocals) ✦ Carlos Bedoya
✦ Rudolfo Zuniga (Drums) ✦ Aaron Lebos (Guitar)
✦ Didi Gutman (Synth) ✦ Aaron Johnston (Programming)
✦ 1/3 (tbs) Electro Pop ✦ 1/3 (tbs) Nu Wave
✦ 1/3 (tbs) Dance ✦ 11/3 (tbs) Rock
✦ 11/3 (tbs) Disco ✦ 1/3 (tbs) House
Directions Stir Well. Heat & Serve.
Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, it’s not. That’s why Miami’s The Hongs do it so well. They leverage their members’ talents to do so. In 2008, Jamaican-born musician Gordon Myers got this multinational group together and set out to make good music people can dance to, and they’ve managed to become one of the most popular bands in Miami’s music scene.
Now, they may represent Miami, but their EP was produced by none other than the Brazilian Girls’ production team Jesse Yusef Murphy, Didi Gutman and Aaron Johnston as well as Wayne “The Brain” Allison. Myers wrote all the lyrics for the EP, and they did collaborate with several prominent Miami musicians (e.g. Tony Laurencio aka Smurphio of Afrobeta). Be on the lookout for another EP from the Hongs that is set to be released in summer or fall of this year.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/3816393″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”375″ iframe=”true” /]
This is how they best like to describe themselves: “Multinational Dance Conglomerate: Spreading the dance/rock/electro/house hybrid – one toe at a time.” The Hongs’ live performances have been described as high-energy and upbeat due to the perfect combination of electronic sounds with traditional instrumentation, which Myers and the rest of the band are quite fond of doing.
Speaking of Gordon Myers, he took some time out of his busy schedule as a kick-ass the Hongs member to answer some of our questions. Check out the interview below…
Why the Hongs? How did you guys come up with such a unique name for the band?
Well, I can give you the Wiki behind the name — The Hongs were conglomerates of major business houses in colonial Canton, China then later Hong Kong. They controlled the money, the economy, and well the entire country pretty much.
The reality is much simpler than that. When we were starting the band, the three of us were up in NYC heavily smoking cannabis and ya’ll know what happens to your eyes when you smoke.
Thus, The Hongs – Multinational Dance Conglomerates, were born.
What was it like working with the Brazilian Girls’ production team?
Amazing! Doing it again next month. I’m going to be flying up to NYC for a few days to hang out with Didi and Aaron and hopefully lay down a few unreleased tracks we’ve been working on.
Do any of your members DJ? If so, do you see yourselves doing it at different venues from time to time?
Yes, I do… not very often but yeah, I would be down to play at more local spots around town, why not?
What’s your favorite record and/or track of 2013 so far?
The Strokes – One Way Trigger
What are some upcoming releases that you’re looking forward to listening to?
That’s easy. Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories! Hands down! I was in the Coachella crowd when the video first popped up… I was speechless!
Do you guys think SoundCloud is revolutionizing the way that people share and listen to music?
The internet is a powerful medium for discovering just about anything. Up until a couple of years ago, your best option may have involved setting up a Myspace profile and throwing some music on.
Nowadays, there are so many options to choose from. It’s not hard to skip the record labels and sell and distribute music on your own which is so great for everyone involved. SoundCloud is the easiest to use free music upload service. It takes just a couple clicks to upload a song and once you do, you can embed your music everywhere and anywhere.
People can download it, stream it, and if you choose you can even allow people to remix it. It’s also a great way to connect with other musicians, follow artists you like, and create a small community around your songs. I personally love it that you can allow people to comment anywhere in the song. It provides me and other musicians personalized feedback.
Listen: Here’s a track The Hongs gave us to release exclusively for you, our loyal Tropicult readers, to download and share!
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/89480322″ params=”color=fe1676&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
If you could be any musical instrument in the world, which one would it be and why?
I’d say the drums. Drums have been around for thousands of years, practically since the beginning of man. Drums made with alligator skins have been found in Neolithic cultures in China dating to at least 5000 B.C. ! They’ve also been used in all kinds of rituals and mysticism for centuries which is pretty dope.
Come on out to The Blackbird Ordinary in Brickell on Thursday, April 25th and watch The Hongs rock out on stage. Live Stream by JOLT Radio featuring an interview with the legendary Steven Machat. No cover, 21 and over. Facebook Event.
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