RENDRD Radar: Catching a fvde

Balancing the things we want to do with the things we have to do is a constant struggle. For someone to be finding that balance before even finishing secondary school is impressive. This is what Angelo Hernandez, or fvde, has been tackling head-on over the past year as he’s been completing his 21-track behemoth Transparency, self-managing his live performances, and keeping up grades in school. On a drizzly Vancouver winter afternoon, we headed for cover inside The Famous Warehouse on Granville to throw down over some fish tacos and the idea of becoming the inspiration we seek to receive from others.

Have you been here [The Warehouse] before?

Yeah, my friends brought me here for my last birthday and I liked it. I have no idea what I want to get though.

The fish tacos sound pretty good

I’m going with the yam fries, I want to munch.

So your newest project Transparency is finally out, how does it feel?

It’s crazy to finally see this project finished and out. It’s been a year to put it all together, that’s a track every two weeks while balancing school at the same time. Some of these songs were created out of my own experiences and carry a lot of meaning for me. The title track was the first I wrote and the whole project grew around that.

This project has been a huge investment for me, from failing hard drives and losing projects to investing my own money to make real CD’s. It’s a real passion project that I’ve been self-managing since the beginning, and the process has helped me to grow so much over the past year. Shouts to my friend Hallie Tut for the music video, she’s off in Toronto killing it right now. And thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this in any way, big or small.

You’ve been involved with a couple of artist collectives already early in your music career

Yeah, I started producing around the summer between grade 8 and 9, self-taught through tutorials up until I got in touch that November with Lund, the manager of the collective Zen Money Love. It ended up falling apart which really sucked but at the time it introduced me to a family of artists that taught me so much faster than I would have learned on my own.

One of the standouts from ZML is Oshi, at the time I joined he only had around 1k followers and now he has something like 150k. I met him with the guys from So Loki back when he was in town and asked him about ZML and he was like ‘Oh, WHAT?’ He was blown away to meet someone else from the collective, that moment was unreal to share. Now I’ve founded my own collective, ShadyBoys, from the same ideals as the ZML crew. If you’re interested in joining with some like-minded creatives, hit me up on my soundcloud to join us!

*Looking up at the bar* So what would your drink of choice be?

I’d probably go with one of the rums, a rum & soda sounds good. I like my mixed drinks. OH damn, they have Hennessy though.

Have you had Hennessy before?

Nah, but everyone raps about it so it must be really good.

Can you tell us about some of your inspirations?

Skrillex is probably the first and the most influential, having seen his passion for creativity and how he’s inspired so many through what he’s done. I want my art to be able to have that effect and influence people. Some other big-name influences - Mr. Carmack, Flume, RL Grime, Kaytranada. Seeing Oshi grow from ZML to where he is now has been really inspiring. And then the local scene is really going off - meeting Geoffrey from So Loki and hearing that he likes what I’m doing was huge.

And who are some locals we should be on the lookout for?

Definitely be watching for Cold Turkey and BBNO$, they’re both going so hard right now. The Vancouver underground scene is so rich in talent, I’m very grateful to have met so many amazing, beautiful people.

In what direction is the fvde project going next?

I’m not too sure, I’m just following what sparks my creativity right now. I am experimenting with Flying Lotus-style productions, I think that’s a very cool direction to go in. I also want to start collaborating with more live bands and instrumentations. I M U R is one group that I would love to work with, their ethereal elements blended with some progressions and drum patterns I could come up with would be a great collaboration. 2016 has been a wild year of growth for me, and 2017 is going to just blow everything out of the water.

Familiarise yourself with I M U R here.

Where can we find you playing live next?

I can’t confirm any shows yet since they aren’t announced yet, but I’ll be doing 3 or 4 shows come January so everybody better be ready for what’s coming from me in 2017.

#Interview #Vancouver #fvde #hiphop #trap