Emilio Hlz Interview

by Rich Malton dnbblog

HLZ has long been a collaborator with Mosus under the name ‘Need for Mirrors’, but is now back making music under his name HLZ. With his latest release ‘Totem’ (alongside DLR, Nymfo and Need For Mirrors) dropping on Dispatch recently, we thought it’d be a good time to have a chat.
Alright HLZ, how are you today?
Not bad at all! Just having a cup of espresso and the sun is shining. I’m more a
“winter” soul, but atm i’m enjoyng this nice weather
Can you tell us about your track ‘Totem’?
It’s one of my fav. collaborations where I’ve been involved. Luckily we just nailed a great result with the track, the lead bass is super infectious, is still resonant in my mind after all these months.
How did the collaboration work; was you all in the studio together or was it done via the internet?
It was done via internet for obvious reasons. DLR is in Bristol, and Nymfo in Netherlands. Of course I’d like share real studio time with those guys, I hope it will happen in the future!
Can we ask, why did you leave Need For Mirrors?
As you can imagine has not been an easy decision, but due to life circumstances I was having less and less time to shape my own ideas, and this thing was driving me mad. I simply needed more time for my music. Me and Mosus (Need For Mirrors) are still working together on some music, but more as a collaborative project as two distinct individuals.
What are your influences when making music?
D&B wise I would say Goldie, Ed Rush & Optical and Commix. Then I get inspiration from lot of different music and I am an avid movie watcher. Also video games! Games in these days have incredible sound tracks, some are really next level.
What hardware / software do you use?
I work mainly with Cubase and reason and I’ve got a Virus TI, a Supernova 2, an Emu e5000, and lately, sequential circuit pro one and Oscar synth. Just entering into the world of analog synth and I totally understand why people get addicted to it.
You are originally from Italy; when did you move to the UK? How does it compare?
I moved to the UK in 2007, both for life experience and music. UK music culture is just unbelievable, I mean, where else can you end a track and it gets played on BBC Radio? And I always really really enjoy DJing in UK. By the way, the weather really sucks, lol.
Can you tell the readers something about yourself that they might not know?
You can ask many people, I’m a great chef! Also I’m an avid NBA fan, for those who know, Derrick Rose from Chicago Bulls is my favourite player. Definitely need to buy one of his jerseys soon!
What’s next for HLZ?
I’ve got more collaborations with Need for Mirror’s coming out on V Records, Zoltar and Digital Soundboy. As for Digital Soundboy there’s a forthcoming remix of Jakwob’s ‘Somebody New’ done with Shy FX and Need For Mirrors. Also Metalheadz picked a solo track and a collaboration I’ve done with ARPxp, so future is looking good and obviously I hope will get even better!

HLZ/Facebook