Hugo Flores
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Interviews
Forum Description: Original interviews with Prog artists (which are exclusive to Prog Archives)
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72003
Printed Date: November 26 2024 at 22:54
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Topic: Hugo Flores
Posted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: Hugo Flores
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 14:19
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Hugo Flores is young Portuguese multi-instrumentalist that has a passion to compose and perform music. He is already a veteran in the scene with several albums under his own name, under the Project Creation name, Sonic Pulsar and Factory Of Dreams, http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71254 - I caught up with Hugo Flores for the rest of his story. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are a very
active musician so it is natural to ask where you were born, your
current life situation and what's your motivation for doing music.
What motivates you and what is your ethos and musical philosophy ?
I was born in
Portugal, at least that’s what my mother told me (laughs) and lived
near Lisbon most of the time. I always had a good ear for music, be
it guitar or piano or singing or guitar…wait I said that already.
I started doing
some mods on the commodore Amiga in the 80s, and that was my first
approach to more serious music composition. I even contributed to
some demos that were so damn popular in the Amiga Era. Those were
precious years.
I later went to
Belgium to study in the European high school and there I did many
songs, had music lessons, and played occasionally for people and
friends. Then I got in touch with synthesizers and music assisted by
the PC. That's when the whole thing started and I think I must have
composed some of the most orchestral and progressive songs I’ve
ever done. Some were rerecorded for my new projects actually. I was
14/15 years old by then. I'm currently very active music-wise,
otherwise I wouldn’t probably be giving two interviews in a row for
you guys (laughs).
My motivation is
simply to experience new sensations, you know, and to feel better by
doing so, simple as that. Feeling the power of a melody growing
within a song is something unique. Feels like you’re creating
something new and alive.
Playing what comes
to mind, making that melody evolve and having a piece that feels
right from start to finish, but without thinking of the norm, that’s
my ideal.
You have four
projects. Factory Of Dreams, Hugo Flores, Sonic Pulsar and Project
Creation. Why four projects and which ones of them are still active
today ?
Actually two now,
Factory Of Dreams and Project Creation. Factory Of Dreams has been a driving force over
the last couple of years.
About the initial
two projects, these served as an formidable intros for what was to
become FoD and PC. Sonic Pulsar's music turned into Project Creation
naturally and my solo effort into Factory of Dreams.
There might be
another solo album, I’m not saying that it won’t happen. I have
a set of songs that were crafted for that purpose. But for now, it’s
not in my plans to work on those coz that music doesn’t really move
me. But you asked, why
four projects or at least why two simultaneously. Well, even though
there are similarities, and talking about PC and FoD, they’re much
different. PC is totally prog metal and within that project I can
expand a song, experiment new sounds, and really be psychedelic when
I want. If I did that often on FoD I would be compromising the band’s
main genre. So, FoD is more conservative, and stays within a specific
style as mentioned. It’s still prog, but also very metal and
atmospheric, all with shorter songs than PC.
So, having different
bands enables you to try different music, each on its own place.
Over to your solo
albums as Hugo Flores. Please tell us more about your first album
Hugo Flores from 1998
Both first albums
were not officially released, they’re a compilation of demos that I
did, and my first attempts at making more serious and complete
music.
But there are songs
from that album that I still cherish today, such as 'The Unknown'.
Actually I used that melody somewhere over the years. It’s a
fantastic song that follows me everywhere I go, and it’s my own
mentor when I need to think of a beautiful melody and
atmospheric/mysterious music.
This album also had
a few experiments with a more techno/dance music approach and I guess
it still helps me to craft some distorted sounds or beats in my music
nowadays.
Please tell us
more about your second album Perspective from 1999 There's a song
called 'Sons of the Stars' that is part of Project Creation’s Dawn
on Pyther, that is actually a rerecording of a song from
‘Perspective’. I recall that I used more songs from this album on
my new officially released ones.
‘Perspective’ is
the title song, and I think I rerecorded it somewhere… now where
did I put my keys (laughs).
 Please tell us
more about your third album Atlantis from 2000 Atlantis is probably
my first real conceptual album… well, not entirely, but the songs
do follow a very specific path, with ideas that revolve around life,
death, the ocean and civilizations. This was my first more
professional release, backed up by Fossil Records. You can find several
melodies and music styles also present on my current projects.
Atlantis also
showcases most of the subgenres of prog rock that I wanted to explore
for the next years. It was my first attempt at making something that
could find its way to the market. And it’s funny because I've been
rerecording several songs from that album. An example is a song that
will be recorded for the 3rd FoD album, called 'Something calling
me'. It is a very honest
and raw album, I would do lots of things differently now, but that's
the beauty of it. The album is
currently available as a digital download on cdbaby.  You then set up
Sonic Pulsar. Please tell us more about your first album Playing The
Universe from 2003 This was also
available via Fossil Records and later I also did my own pressing of
the cd. It's currently available at cdbaby, both as download and
physical album. Strong tracks on
this album, and it benefited from a more professional sound than
Atlantis. ‘Radio Silent’ the opening track is your more typical
Prog rock song, with heavy synths, many rhythmic changes. ‘Radio
Silent’ was actually recorded with the same mic and mixer that I
still use today. ‘Dreamscapes’ is
one more my favorite tracks ever. Even today I still think it's one
of the best I've made. This album also has
a track called ‘Wasted’, if I’m correct, and it’s actually a
song that I did many years ago in my high school years. It was all
composed on guitar, which differs from my synth usage today for that
purpose.  Please tell us
more about your second album Out Of Place from 2005 Out of place is big.
Huge concept, a prologue to Floating World, from Project Creation. It's about the
feeling on not belonging, of being an outcast and not being able to
control things around you and not finding anyone similar to you. And
despite this theme, it then moved over to conceptual scifi with
tracks like a ‘Chain of actions’ and the huge 'I heard of a place
called Earth', one of my favs. Totally prog rock
with a touch of modern stuff. This was released by Mellow Records. I love this album,
maybe not as much as my Project Creation, yea, but still in that
vein. It’s all about the passion to create a concept album, to make
people think, it’s huge really.  You then set up
Project Creation. Please tell us more about your first album Floating
World from 2005
It’s a natural
evolution from Sonic Pulsar. Sonic was basically me and Carlos. Nuno,
bassist, was just leaving the project now, so, it was a good time to
move forward.
It follows the
tradition of Sonic Pulsar’s Out of Place sound and concepts, but
this time gathering much more musicians to play along, including Linx
ex-Forgotten Suns, Paulo Chagas on flutes and saxophone, Fred
Lessing, Vasco on guitars,… This album is the
first in as series of 3 albums, and it's all about a planet-like
ship, with an atmosphere, a city with a normal day-to-day life. This
vessel is travelling through space to find habitable planets and to
develop new life. It's epic, it's
long, 14 songs with 'Returning Home' as the finale. This is a
favorite track from several fans. There are memorable songs like
Queops, Desert Planet, Floating World, among others. This is my first
release on Progrock Records.  Please tell us
more about your second album Dawn On Pyther from 2007 Dawn is ambitious in
its sound and complexity. Stronger than Floating World, gathers more
musicians including Zara and Paulo Pacheco, on vocals, from the band
Unified Theory. Very progressive rock/metal album, complex, huge in
scope and continues the story started on Floating World. This time we follow
this mechanical dragonfly on a journey across space, and we get to
see life evolving on the newly created planet Pyther. ‘Voyage of the
Dragonfly’ is a great song with heavy guitar riffs; the intro song,
‘Dawn on Pyther’, is epic and Linx’s vocals are amazing to me.
Some people prefer
it to Floating World, others prefer the honestly of the first album.
You know when you start something new, it’s different, original,
and when you make the sequel you instinctively try to make it better.
That’s what I mean about pureness and honesty, it’s not in the
bad sense of it. Overall I may prefer the heavier sound approach on
Dawn than on Floating. And then you
started Factory Of Dreams which is covered in http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71254 - .
Looking back, how would you describe the music in your four projects
? Factory of Dreams is
a much more focused band in terms of genre as we saw on the first
interview. Still very prog in essence, but focuses more on pure
modern metal and Dark atmospherics. Sometimes you can even describe
it as Dark atmospheric metal or remember the 80s synth pop movement?
Call it synth metal.
All my albums have
this very strong synth approach, heavily orchestrated music, edgy
guitars and very bipolar and sometimes dramatic; you can have
aggressive guitar passages and in the next moment I can capture the
essence of the song's melody and transpose it to a piano piece or a
more ambiental section. Depends on the theme that is being addressed
on a specific track. It's great to make
this kind of music, and that's what I do naturally. I understand you
are now concentrating on a new Project Creation album. What can we
expect from this album ? Besides of this new album, what else are you
planning for the rest of this year and next year ? The next Factory of
Dreams is now consuming my time, and next I'll have to focus on the
3rd PC that will require lots of work. But now, I wanna complete the
mixing of Fod’s album.
Oh, the Single is
out! Go to http://melotronical.com -
To wrap up this
interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview ?
Come join our
community on facebook, myspace, reverbnation, iTunes. Send us your
comments, share the music and buy the albums.
Thanks again for a
great time! Links http://strangeutopia.com - http://melotronical.com http://www.myspace.com/projectcreation - http://www.myspace.com/projectcreation http://www.reverbnation.com/factoryofdreams - http://www.reverbnation.com/factoryofdreams http://www.youtube.com/projectcreation - http://www.youtube.com/projectcreation http://www.facebook.com/factoryofdreams - http://www.facebook.com/factoryofdreams http://twitter.com/factoryofdreams - http://twitter.com/factoryofdreams http://www.last.fm/music/Factory+of+Dreams - http://www.last.fm/music/Factory+of+Dreams Thank you to Hugo for this interview His PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=604 - and the homepage http://hugoflores.no.sapo.pt/ -
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Replies:
Posted By: memowakeman
Date Posted: October 09 2010 at 10:51
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He is a prolific musician whose projects are quite interesting. I enjoyed this great interview! ------------- Follow me on twitter @memowakeman |