I have been amazed with music as far back as I can remember and I have been composing and producing my own songs for about 15 years now. I've been very careful to preserve every single song I've ever written going back to about 1999. What maybe makes my music collection on MadeLoud so interesting, is that you can hear every single one of my songs, there are almost 200 songs here. So you can hear my music skills progressing over the years. What's most amazing to me, is to hear some of my first songs from 10 or 15 years ago, and it's almost as if they are just as good or better in some ways, than the music I'm putting out today. There seems to be some natural ability in me, where I've always had these songs planned out my whole life, and it's not that I get much better at writing music, just that I'm trying to get all of these songs out of my head and into digital music form. I spent the first 20 years of my life playing around on the piano and any time I found a piano I would sit down and experiment for as long as I could. Still, I do not play any musical instruments and cannot read or write music notation. I have virtually no formal education in music, it's just that I've been listening very carefully to all the music I can get my hands on over the years, making mental notes and studying all the different genres or styles of music. I am a virtual artist and virtual musician that works in the digital sound medium. The computer is my music calculator. If I couldn't have programmed my songs with a computer, then I would not have been able to produce any music at all really.

My music is about all the night clubs around the world that I have never visited, all the rave parties I have never been to, and it's about my own experiences in life. All of my music is an attempt to reach out to other people and communicate something about my feelings and my desire for a better world. More importantly, I'm trying to express the joy and times of happiness I've had in my life as a musical waveform, literally. My music is for having fun, making some serious noise, and exploring the mysteries of human experience and consciousness in this Universe. I write music because I like the way it challenges me intellectually and I like how I can communicate all my emotions and create whole new worlds through electronic dance music. The evolution of my music is a spiritual awakening and a high degree of mastery with my audio tools. I have always tried to increase the level of complexity in my songs over the years. My work ethic when it comes to music is very, very strong and I do not give up until I have made a song that I feel is up to the high musical standards I set for myself.

Honestly, I really don't want to collaborate with other musicians much. I have a very specific vision for my music and for each song and I work best by myself. Now, I have done quite a few remixes and some are of major artists, some of them are authorized even. Of course I can't upload those remixes to MadeLoud because of copyright issues and I think that's too bad really because the remixes I have done turned out incredibly good. I've downloaded some free acapellas of a girl from the Netherlands known as 3v3sound, and made instrumentals to remix her vocals. I made three songs with 3v3sound's vocals and these songs really show off my skills in creating an instrumental track for a vocal performance and my ability to make vocal tracks sound really good and shiny. You can hear these remixes on MadeLoud in my "Brand New Singles - 2013 -" album. They are called "Amsterdam Love", "Dreams of Romance", and "Feel My Heart" all featuring 3v3sound of course. I suppose they would be considered collaborations, though only virtually. I have never written any songs with another artist sitting next to me. Listening to my music you would probably think I'm the most happy go lucky carefree person in the world and I'm even amazed when I listen to my own music and hear how happy and positive it is. I guess that's because most of the time I write music to try and cheer myself up as best I can.

My biggest challenge may be a technical one. Just as I was coming into my own and really mastering the art of song writing, I lost most of my music studio gear. I no longer have speakers and a sub woofer, and for the past 3 years the only way I can write music is with a pair of headphones. Actually, half the songs from 2011 and all the songs from 2012 were written with a pair of $20. Philips ear bud headphones. Now that I have a pair of $40. JVC Exxplode headphones, I'm very surprised to hear how well all those songs from 2012 turned out when all I had was the ear buds. It's quite amazing. So I have had to put my studio back together one piece at a time, mostly using free software synthesizers now and drum loop samples that I manipulate for the sake of making my music original and not just using loops other people have made. I try to manipulate all the sounds in my songs to make them my own sounds. Now I take all my songs out to my makeshift car stereo to test the performance of them, because it is really hard to monitor the sound stage and placement of sounds within the mix with just headphones, especially inexpensive headphones like I have. So yes, the greatest challenge for me for a long time has been trying to get a million dollar sound out of my studio when all together my gear is worth less than $3000.

Well, here are the current statistics on my music, as best as I can calculate them. In the last 5 years or so, my songs have well over 100,000 plays and probably around 10,000 free downloads world-wide. I have about 200 different songs online at 30 different websites for a total of 15 hours of original music online. I made it a point to put as much of my music as possible on every single website that allows unsigned artists to upload their music to a website for free. I have spent many thousands of hours in my studio composing / engineering / mixing / mastering / and producing my music. I have also done all the promoting and advertising of my music on more than half a dozen electronic music forums, posted about 100 "tweets" to my 400 or so followers on twitter, and sent out thousands of e-mails about each new song as I put them online. I have very little time to relax and enjoy myself. It takes many hours through the night and into the morning to finish a song usually, and then right after that I have to start uploading to the 20 or so websites that I actively manage my music on. The other 10 websites my music is on, I leave alone and no longer update them or make changes. It can take up to 5 days for me to get a song uploaded to all the websites. I usually finish a song in about 10 - 15 hours, but occasionally I will spend a few days or even a week on one song.

----- This concludes the first interview. Keep reading, to learn more. -----

Interview #2 - with - DJ Frankie Holmes

Haily Sunshine with Emery F. Harmon IV.

July 26 at 9:28 pm ·

My name is Haily Sunshine and I will be interviewing, DJ Frankie Holmes. Now Mr.Holmes, I was wondering a few things:

Q1- What got u interested in music?
Q2- Who inspires u to follow ur dreams?
Q3- Was music ur 1st decision, if not, what made u change ur mind?
Q4- what do u feel when playing ur music and what does music mean to u?
Q5- what is ur favorite song u wrote and what was it about?
Q6- Is this something u want to continue?
Q7- What is ur goal?
Q8- How do u inspire others?
Q9- What is a message u would like to give to anyone that may be a fan?
Q10- (last one:-) ) Is there any one u would like to thank that supports ur decision to work with music, or maybe even taught u some things?

Well that's all 4 now:-) just copy and paste this to answer the questions


Emery F. Harmon IV

Hello Haily Sunshine,

Thanks for the Questions, I only have a small smartphone, so my answers will be brief, but what great Questions you have prepared!

Q1 - I was a child in the 1980's and went to St. Mary's Catholic School in Elgin, IL U.S.A. They taught us music a lot, but nothing technical at all, it was simple. Christian Contemporary music genre makes my skin crawl even worse than Heavy Metal, both bother me a lot.

What got me into Techno Dance was my mom and dad taking me to Rollerskate Rinks around Elgin & West Dundee, by Springhill Mall. The DJ's always played Freestyle music, not Rap... The "Original" Freestyle Breakbeat Electro Pop Dance of the 1980's! That was my favorite music, and I heard songs on radio and MTV a lot.

Q2 - As I got older, I stopped looking up to people, and nowadays, almost everyone annoys me, to the point I would like to kill them. I care for animals more than people and I think they are morally superior to humans. Animals are us, as we were millions of years ago, they are a mirror we can look into. Walt Whitman always admired animals, because they do not lie awake at night and weep for their sins. People bother me, I am disturbed by them.

I think the Bible says, "I am wonderfully, and fearfully made." That means, I scare myself. Though it's not all bad, Alan Watts and Terence McKenna are two people I do look up to though I guess, they have both died. So, I know listening to their lectures, they can never hurt me, they can't, they are dead. They are both Ghosts in the machine now. I think it is better to idolize the dead, our ancestors, people who we will never meet personally.

I just know that the dead can't hurt me anymore, but the living, can.

Q3 - No, Haily, music was not my first choice for a career. I originally wanted to be a Veterinarian and help sick and injured animals. I did do a lot of good for lost pets and injured wildlife though, when I had a car about 3 years ago, and I kept thick gloves and an animal carrier in the trunk of my car. But I am too poor to afford even a cheap old car now.

I hate being thought of as a burn-out musician only, and I have not much musical talent; even worse still, most musicians are not that smart, but they have talent, and I respect that.

I am a Scientific Thinker, Psychologist, Philosopher, English Writer, and much more, but I have burned and destroyed everything I ever wrote on paper. I hate reading myself, it's torture, so people will never know much besides the lyrics to my songs.

I am a lazy student, though I love knowledge. I had to drop out of Elgin Community College due to social anxiety, but I never stopped reading and learning. That is important to me, but i want to live, too.

Q4 - Music is a religion to me, and I am as obsessed with music. When I hear music, I must smoke a cigarette, or i will freak out. I don't dance, never really have, nor did I ever practice singing much at all. Music is the only way I might make money some day, I like honey, but "no money, no honey" is true, at least in America.

What happened to "true love"?

I have been single for 17 years, and I thank the Gods that cats keep me company, or I would have gone insane.

I have also been composing and recording music for 17 years, before that, I was just obsessed with messing around on the piano all day. However, I do not play any instruments, I can only program the computer; it is my musical calculator.

Q5 - This is getting to be hard for me Haily, please forgive me, but I must make my answers more concise and shorter now.

My Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, my wrists, hands, and fingers hurt so much from all this music work, I am afraid I will be crippled soon.

I am losing feeling in my fingertips, and I still want to be able to feel my cat's fur when I pet him; that is about all I have left, my little cat buddy Lenny (Full name; Lenny Arnica Ferdie Holmes), he is my entire emotional life and also, I must be able to care for him, I need my hands to work, for my cat.

Lenny is a sacred Cat, they are, the Ancient Egyptians were not wrong about Felines, they are Ghods.

My favorite song I wrote, is the last song I wrote, it always is. You see, I get so excited about every new song I do, that I always think it is the best, it's everything. You see, I have lost all perspective on my own music, and I don't know if it is all so good, or if it is just so much amateurish crappy noise. I do not know, but I think it is good.

Makes no sense to me that I have never made any money with my music.

Sigmund Freud, whom I worshipped and have read almost half of his many books, (Now, I wish that I had read Carl Gustav Jung instead, more interesting, sorry Sigmund.), well, Freud compared our attitude toward money to our attitude toward excrement (excrement is another word for feces, defacation, crap, you know, ..., sorry, but I think Freud was right. Money is ...).

What I mean, is that the way we measure people as they relate to money, is just plain wrong. We all deserve to be happy.

And, how.

Money, I say, was invented to keep transactions between people fair, but look what it has done instead, turned us mad with greed, things are not fair now. The people who have all the money, don't need it, and those who have no money, need it so much, and so how is that fair?

I'll tell you, it's not fair.

One more thing. After I finish a song, I listen to it non-stop hundreds of times, until I feel empty, until the song is empty for me, and it hurts to hear it anymore; hurts my ears and my emotions. This is a ritual for me, and it helps me to study and understand myself, and the creative process. And hell, it's fun, for a while.

Let me take a break please, and let's save the first half of the interview now, just in case of a technical disaster.

Because in my day, computers used to crash, and I mean all the time. It was a digital hell, and paradise back then.

Nowadays, I save my song file every 20 minutes or so, or after a big change that suddenly makes the song sound special, and I think, "Wow, if I lose this now, there is no way I can make it happen again, ever. My songs are a one time, unique performance.

So, I save the file in My Documents, then, Backup - 1, Backup - 2, and Backup - 3, every single time I save, every 20 minutes. It is a serious pain, really, but losing a song project would be unbearable to me. So, after a song is done, there are usually 20 files of it, as it has progressed, and in case I make a huge mistake and need to revert back to a previous state.

Can you tell? I take work very seriously. Too seriously.

How important could just one of my 300 songs be? I have done well over 20 hours of continuous original music now, but the mainstream hit song that makes me rich, and life very interesting, still eludes me.

I have so many interests and hobbies I would like to pursue, like art collecting, but that takes money. I want to buy a medium sized house, maybe 5000 Square feet, and fill it with art and treasures. This is the same dream most Americans have, I think, to never have to work again...

But, let me warn you, retirement is an ideal and just a dream, a lie they tell us about "Golden Years" and a golden future that does not really exist, and they tell us this lie, so everyone keeps working hard to make the Corporate Elite fat, rich, and satiated, happy. At our expense.

Live for today, not for when you are 75 years old and vegetative in a nursing home.

I want to die young!

Well, I better hurry and save this now. Part 2, when I get back...

Like · Reply · 1 · July 27 at 9:45 pm .

Emery F. Harmon IV

Sorry, to say I am long-winded would be the understatement of the century.

I am only doing this interview because you are the one requesting it Haily Sunshine, otherwise I would avoid this at all costs.

So, onto Part 2, and I better make the second half short, or no one will care to read it.

Q6 - I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and like some other music producers, I go through terrible withdrawals when I stop producing. Even worse, after a few days of thinking myself quite important, I lose almost all my self-esteem. Then, nothing it seems will help, unless I do a new song. As soon as I do, I feel like a normal person again, then a few days later it's back to hating myself, my life, and everything.

Isn't that strange?

Maslow's hierarchy of needs includes work, and I am sure it's high on the list. I want to stop this madness, honestly, but how? My hearing is so badly damaged now. I think it would take either, a nice steady Music Royalties paycheck, so I could stay busy with hobbies other than writing songs. Or, losing so much hearing, that I am mostly deaf, which will happen soon, because the damage is done and now ageing will do the rest.

This became my life.

Composing music is a solitary activity that I have always done, and I do not go to parties anymore. Never partied much, just hung out with one or two friends, I could never figure out how to manage a social life.

In Buddhism we say, "The idea of doing something, is very different than actually doing it."

Well, I never liked crowded places and I never liked to be at a party anyway, it was never, ever, fun. Fun was being a teenager, and a sleepover with a few guys, and no fear of each other, we were just peace-loving and liked games. Like Super Nintendo (SNES), Card games like Spellfire and Magic The Gathering, and Dungeons & Dragons in the Gary Gygax, TSR (Tactical Rules and Studies) days.

Actually, we used to mostly just listen to World, Experimental, and Ambient Music, you know like Soundscapes and Atmospheric Electronica. Not EDM and Techno, no, no, not at all.

I have never even been to a Rave Party (Well, I saw Paul Oakenfold & Dave Ralph in Chicago once), but I write Rave Music? It's a weird obsession, but I like freedom, and I used to love drugs, until the Government made me feel like a criminal too many times. Then, I became too paranoid, then a schizophrenic.

Q7 - The goal is just to have a normal life, which will not happen, I am actually a pretty boring person. That's normal enough. I do not know how to relax and have fun. Oh my, I am spiraling downward now... let me answer the last ones fast.

Q8 - I hope that someone lists me as a major influence on their music or art some day. Though, I will be long gone by then, I'm sure.

Q9 - My message to my fans is this. I had to break almost every rule in the book to make my music happen, to make it what it became. Rules are made to be broken. Just try not to hurt anyone, including yourself, while being wild and crazy.

Always think of the possible consequences to your actions.

Just balance yourself, take a deep breath, relax, and be safe. Never take unnecessary risks. I am not sure what else to say, it is late and I am very tired, I can't feel my hands from holding this smartphone and stylus.

Q10 - Thank you Haily Sunshine!

DJ Frankie Holmes

Like · Reply · 1 · July 27 at 11:29 pm .

--- End of Interview ----

This concludes the interviews with DJ Frankie Holmes