This is our first release as a duo…
and we plan to do many more. We had a ton of fun putting the EP together, from promoting our remix contest on Soundcloud and Facebook groups to perfecting it in the recording studio with our audio engineer Jeff Olson. Also notable was writing lyrics with our amazingly talented vocalist Michelle Molineux, who is a very accomplished performer in her own right, having been in TV and movie productions, and she is also a lawyer. We’ve made many lasting connections through our I’d Do Anything project, especially with our remixers, who come from Chicago, Portland, South Korea, and El Salvador. There are so many different musical influences on this project, and we could not have done it without all of our contributors!
We recently got to play our first gig as one of the opening acts for Borgeous in September. We couldn’t have been more thrilled for our first gig!
Live Interview Episode #405: A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://tobtr.com/9682369
GETTING TO KNOW J-HAMZ & JACULATOR
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live Radio
Interviewing: Jonathan Hamill and Jamie Olesen, we are the electro duo
Music Business…
It’s a puzzle to figure out but we enjoy the challenge. It’s no easy task figuring out how bring a release to the market, it takes lots of research and persistence, dealing with rejection over and over, and really refining your craft because the quality has to be there or no label will accept your submissions. And then once you have music of sellable quality on the market, without effective promotion it goes nowhere. But we have really enjoyed the game so far, we’re experimenting with new methods all the time to see what works and what doesn’t. In some ways it’s a difficult time to be in this industry because it has become a very over saturated market, in other ways it’s a great time because things like social media are great equalizers, making promotion free or cheap, and accessible to anyone, not just huge record labels with massive advertising budgets. Also, digital releases are much less of a production than pressing and distributing physical copies like CDs.
I’d Do Anything…
This song was written to commemorate Jaculator’s engagement to a lovely girl we call ATN. An earlier version of the track served as the background music to the proposal. We submitted to many record labels for release, and decided to go with Digital Empire Records, a medium-sized, independent label from South America. When we asked if they’d consider hosting a remix contest for our song, we were very excited that they agreed!
Choosing the winners was very difficult as we got a lot of great entries, but we settled on 4 remixes, genres include electro house, future house, dubstep, and tropical house, our original is progressive house. We are quite pleased with how the EP has performed, charting on Beatport, peaking at #12 in dubstep releases, #18 in electro house, and #20 in progressive house, and hitting many top ten spots on a variety of college FM radio stations on the CMJ electro charts.
Coming up…
We have so many projects in the works that we can’t wait to release, in many different genres ranging from deep house to hard dance! J-Hamz is a classically trained pianist with a Bachelor of Music degree, his in depth understanding of music theory and years of playing lend greater complexity and emotional depth than you’ll find in a lot of electronic music, with lush, complex chords, advanced chord progressions, and unusual intervals that still sound harmonious. We work as medical doctors by day, so music has been an extremely effective way for us to stay balanced and connected in areas outside of our medical spheres.
I would love to spend 5 minutes with …
Dave Franco because he’s a lot of fun as a fun person, you can just tell, his personality shines through in his movies, it’s obvious we’d get along. He’s definitely a cool guy, but not intimidating.
Purchase link:
btprt.dj/1SdFHMM
Social media links
soundcloud.com/jhamzandjaculator
soundcloud.com/j-hamz
soundcloud.com/jaculator
soundcloud.com/jhamzbootlegs
Facebook:
facebook.com/jhamzandjaculator
facebook.com/jhamzmusic
Instagram:
instagram.com/jhamzandjaculator
instagram.com/jhamzmusic
Twitter:
twitter.com/jhamzjaculator
twitter.com/jhamzmusic
Youtube:
youtube.com/jhamzmusic
Website
jhamzandjaculator.com
j-hamz.com
Other
Podcast feeds.feedburner.com/j-hamz