Photo taken by Zirus Media Photos
On Saturday August 12th 2023, Illuminasian stage presented by ProjectXIX debuted Canada’s only all-asian Canadian DJ lineup at The Stanley Barracks during the Toronto Waterfront Night Market, with DJs like Somna & Sabai in the line up along with support from DeeCee b2b Quim, Celestial, Intothemiks, Ninekai & Trekk. All hosted by Electric Escape. During which, I had the opportunity of interviewing Hoang from 88rising at Hotel X.
For those of you that don’t know. Mike aka Hoang is a Vietnamese-Canadian DJ and producer based from Vancouver, Canada. Hoang started his musical journey early on as a kid and to date, he debuted his first single back in 2018 “Don’t Say” with Nevve. His popular single “Million Days” in collaboration with Sabai was released in 2020. Currently, Hoang & Sabai are on tour for their Million Days tour and in between their tour, they had the opportunity to play here in Toronto for us.
Two nights before, I had a chat with Hoang on Instagram in regards to his story giving us a preview of his set for Toronto. With “Come Running 2022 - DS VIP” by Darren Styles playing, a song that I love along with it being a Happy Hardcore song, it got my attention right away. Considering that night was Hoang’s debut here in Toronto! I was excited to hear what he had in store for us. When it comes to melodic dubstep and the fact that the duo Sabai X Hoang were here together, this night was indeed a night for the bassheads, sadbois and sadgurls to come out.
Before Hoang’s set that night, I had a chance to sit down at Hotel X with him to chat. So, I hope you all enjoy this interview.
THE INTERVIEW
K: Can you tell us about yourself, your journey, and where the name Hoang came from?
Hoang: That's a loaded question. My name is Mike, and my last name is Hoang, and I'm a Vietnamese-born Canadian from Vancouver, British Columbia. I've been making music since I was about 11 years old, in the sixth grade, but my parents put me into piano lessons early on in the second grade or so. And I wouldn't say I liked the piano. Like, I hated learning it. I hated the classical books and all that stuff and all the theory. But over time, I learned to love it. I discovered electronic music through piano because I listened to many video game music around the sixth grade. And I stumbled upon this artist named Basshunter. He's like a DJ who does like happy hardcore stuff. His music would be pretty evident across, like the maple story montages and things like that. I was like, Oh my God, how do I? I love this music. How do I learn how to make it? And then, I typed on Google how to make dance music. One of the first results was FL Studio, like an audio software. And from there, I just started learning for years and years and years. And I'm 27 now. So I've been at this for a long time.
K: Are you a big gamer?
Hoang: Yeah, I play a lot of Valorant. I’ve played a lot of League, too, like a lot. Like the entirety of high school. I’ve played too much League. And I played Dota, too. Dota 1 and 2.
K: Just curious, how did you connect with Ophelia Records for your recent single “People Change” With RUNN that got highlighted on Ophelia Advent Volume 4?
Hoang: Shout out, Ben. If you see this, Ben. Ben is one of our good friends here with Julien and I, and he's one of the label managers there. Julien and he helped to co-manage an artist, a perfect friend of ours named Senza. And I had this demo with RUNN called People Change for the longest time, and we didn't know where to release it, so Julien shipped it over to Ben. Ben is one of the label owners at Ophelia, and he picked it up, he enjoyed the song, and he saw how special it was to us as well, and he took us in. Shout out to Ben. As for RUNN & I, we put a lot into that song. Into the writing specifically. RUNN, an incredible friend, an incredible voice.
K: What's your process when creating a new track? Do you go around different melodies and demos?
Hoang: Yeah, a lot of people ask me this. There's no concrete answer, but I would say 70% of the time it just starts with a melody. For me, every element of a song stems from the melody, so I hop on my piano at three in the morning, feeling inspired, and I start writing pieces based on how I think or the experiences that I've gone through. I know it sounds like super hippie to say, but those are the reasons why certain melodies sound a certain way: because of the emotion that you're trying to convey from your own experiences. From the piano and then into your DAW, and then you build your song around that. And then the writing comes next with a vocalist you usually are friends with.
K: Okay, I know you got a back-to-back with MVSE coming up at Escape Halloween. Are there any artists that inspire you and you hope to work with one day?
Hoang: There's a lot of artists that I look up to in many different genres, whether it be EDM or K-pop, but Dabin, if you're watching this, I look up to you man. And in the K-pop world, I'm a big fan of IU. I don't know if you IU. She’s a big K-pop star. I’ve been listening to her stuff. As for Dabin, maybe one day. He's killing it, by the way. I've seen many tour shows, and he's an absolute rock star.
K: So, what projects might you be working on that you can tell your followers about?
Hoang: Yeah, so as many of you guys know, we're already running the Million Days Tour with my good brother, Sabai. He's here at the hotel, too. And we have 16 stops left on the tour. There is a lot of work left to do, but on top of that, I have many new singles coming out. And I have one coming up in the next few months with my brother, Yetep. He's crushing it in this world, and we all look up to him as an older brother. So I'm excited to release that record with him. And it comes out, I believe, this October with Linney. A talented vocalist friend, as well. She's dope. They’re both dope. I'm super excited for the song. I'm playing it tonight, too. That song I'm playing tonight.
K: What's your favourite memory of being a DJ or producer?
Hoang: Damn. That's a pretty crazy question. Okay, there's a lot. But recently, with my brother MVSE when we were at EDC, playing EDC was already crazy enough as it was. Still, on day two, right before our set, right before my set precisely, we were walking around the middle area of EDC, near Rainbow Road to meet up with a few friends and team members. And we heard our song, Moments, a collab between Martin and me, playing really loudly. And then we were like, is somebody trolling us? We have a lot of friends who like to put on Bluetooth speakers on the iPhone. And they play the song near you and go like, hey it’s your song. But no one was doing that. And I was like, what's happening? And then I look over at Julian, and Julian's like, they're playing your song. We look up, and it's like the fireworks are being synced to our song. And then we stumbled upon Martin at that very moment. And I was like, holy shit, they're playing our music. They're syncing the fireworks ceremony to our song. And then we're like, we just almost cried. And then that was pretty nice. Because we've been going to EDC for many, many years, so that was, that was unreal. I thank Aaron from Lost in Dreams for making that happen. I didn't, I had no idea that was going to happen. I was freaking out. Like there's no way this is happening.
K: So, at what moment did you believe you made a mark in the industry?
Hoang: There's a lot of times. I don't keep saying that because there's a lot of stuff that we've done over the last couple of years. But as a mark, I don't like to say I've left a mark because I feel like. That signifies the end of what you might be. Yeah, but a big moment where a huge realization just hit me in the face was when my song “Don't Say” first came out, and I've been making music. Like I told you earlier, for many, many years, like over a decade, without any recognition or traction from anyone in the public. And I was more so making music for myself. But I felt like I made a mark at that moment because I just took a chance on that song. “Don't Say” was a song with my friend Nevve, and it was an instrumental I had on my PC for about six months. And it was very different from what I was making for it because I was making a lot of big bro music, happy hardcore dance, and hardstyle stuff. Keep in mind, this is like 2016, 2017. And then I released “Don't Say” “ my first poppy melodic anthem-type song in 2018. And then when that came out, I took a chance on myself, and that was my first official playing release. And then it blew up. And then that's when I first started to realize, oh, maybe I can do this as a living. Perhaps I can chase this crazy dream for all of these years. And I just kept doing it since.
K: Yeah. That song came out before “Million Days”, right? Because I remember seeing it.
Hoang: “Million Days” was like the kicker of it all. Yeah. Nevve and I and Claire worked hard on that one. Super grateful for that song and what it has done for both of our lives, and our careers. Especially our lives.
K: What is one goal for yourself for 2023 and 2024?
Hoang: We have to survive this tour, the remainder of it, like mentally, but I'm super excited for it. But as for goals, I hope to put out some body of work, cohesive bodywork, next year, whether it be an EP or an album. I'm currently already working towards that because we have a lot of new music in the cooker and on top of more shows. You know, more of a personal goal, I just want to make sure that I take it easy.
K: Is there anything that you want to say to your readers or, I mean, readers and viewers?
Hoang: If you are reading this, watching, or listening, I hope you guys have a great day and thank you for supporting us in everything we do. Shout out to Keith. Thank you today, and I'm excited for the show tonight in Toronto. So thank you for having us.
K: So now we are going to go to the fun questions. All right. What are your go-tos when it comes to food and drinks?
Hoang: All things Asian food, but I know I'm not just saying this because I'm being me and biased, but I love Vietnamese food. So there’s pho or anything Vietnamese because it's generally considered like light food. So that's my go-to every day.
LIGHTNING ROUND!!!
What's your favourite fast food? McDonald's.
What's your favourite drink to order? Mango margarita.
What's your first rave as an attendee? It was 2014, you know, it was an event called Insomnia, run by Stanley. So he runs many of the events here in Toronto with you guys and in Vancouver, and he booked Dash Berlin to play, and I was just a little kid then. I was 17 years old, just going out to that stadium rave, and I was like, one day, I want to be a part of this. All right. That's crazy that Stanley is, for many of you guys that don't know, Stanley is a lot of. He runs many big events here in Toronto and Vancouver and also partners with these guys.
What's your favourite rave or music festival? I've been to a lot. EDC is number one in my heart, but number two. I'm just standing on this, but I love going to the Gorge. That place is beautiful. I went there recently to see Illenium’s tour show.
What's your favourite season of the year? Summer.
What's your favourite colour? Blue
So these are a little different. Starbucks or Tim Hortons? Starbucks.
What about house or trance? Trance.
Dubstep or drum and bass? Dubstep.
Tech or Psytrance? Psytrance.
Day or night? Night.
Cold or hot? Cold.
And then this is a fun one. Who's taller? Sabai or Hoang? Hoang. I don't know why everyone keeps saying that. I’m the tallest man in our entire group.
K: I don't know. I just kept seeing the stories, and it's like a joke.
Hoang: I'm just kidding. Yeah, I'm the tallest guy in our entire group. No, I'm kidding.I'm like 5'9". I'm 5'6".
K: Yeah, yesterday at Ray Ray, I was like, who is taller? I can't tell right now. They're both sitting.
Hoang: No, I am taller. And if you guys are watching this, I'm taller than Sabai. I'm calling right now.
K: All right. Keep that in mind, guys. Make sure you watch the next interview.
Hoang: No, don't trust Sabai. Anything that likes comes out of his mouth. I'm taller.
Following the interview, I shared my peas with Mike and his manager, Julian. I’m not lying when I say these peas are that good. We chilled for a bit before Sabai got to where we were to do his interview, too. Once we were done with everything, we all had time to chill and grab some food at the night market before they went on, considering we needed some fuel to last the night.
With Hoang’s debut set, I was not disappointed one bit. The music was great, a lot of the fans knew the lyrics to his songs, and I myself finally got to hear his songs live as well. As for the energy, Hoang brought this energetic grandpa from Happy Twist Potatoes, who was jamming at his stall from the night market, to come party with us as Hoang spun some happy hardcore. Boy, did that hype up the crowd even more.
For anyone who missed out that weekend, don’t worry; now that Hoang had a taste of Toronto, I’m sure he’ll be back again soon! Especially since we’re all Canadians too. For now, Sabai and Hoang are on tour for their Million Days tour, so if they’re coming to your city, make sure you go because you don’t want to miss out on the Sabai X Hoang set!
PS: Even after Somna’s interview, I was still nervous about conducting these video interviews. But after connecting with Mike, I can say, “Tell me the hard part’s over”! Haha! xD
Thanks for reading!!! -Keith Au, aka Keyfu and make sure you check out the full interview below
Hoang Socials