Today we’d like to introduce you to Harrison Rodriguez
Hi Harrison, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My creative journey started in the fifth grade when I played trumpet in band class. Since then, my musical skills have grown vastly, and my true passion for music and the arts began in high school, where I played in my school’s jazz band, starred in many shows and musicals, and even had the opportunity to create a musical project with some of my best friends during the last semester of my senior year.
Being born from parents who both have worked in music and entertainment, I grew a knack for anything creative, and my interests have, for as long as I can remember, grown roots in acting, modeling, and learning languages in addition to music. I learned Chinese in middle/high school and won the opportunity to study abroad in China after winning first place at two regional speech contests at Emory University and third place at a national contest at UT Dallas. Because I studied the Chinese language while being on Chinese soil, I found that these opportunities to travel contributed to my empathetic approach to learning more about art and our world I always try to approach learning various forms of art from a holistic standpoint. There are many examples I can think of, but I will share only a couple:
I love learning acting in film and theater while studying direction, cinematography, and different camera rules/techniques like the Rule of 180˚.
I earned a degree in Music Technology, which mainly focused on audio engineering and post-production, which feeds into being able to produce, record, and mix my music and further develop my sound.
I can sum up my approach to life by highlighting my emphasis on the “why”, and not just the “how”. This made the skills that I picked up along the way, like bartending and cooking, seem easier to learn for me and also help to separate myself from other peers and coworkers.
Today, I am working as an assistant engineer at a recording studio owned by super-producer Tricky Stewart and continuing to develop my own artistry and pursue my interests with friends and contacts I gain in the community.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the biggets obstacles I am currently facing is having to develop my skills in social media and content creation right alongside my artistic skills. I am not one who favors the state of social media and how much independent artists seemingly need to create content around their work. I seem to have an avoidant response to the side of social media and content creation that suggests both a quantity-over-quality approach and the resulting drastic loss of my potential audience’s attention spans. It’s often discouraging, and I have felt in the past that I need to make viral content that I may not even resonate with just for the chance to have an audience reach my music.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have recently released my first single, Domain Expansion‽, on September 27th, 2024. I am proud of this release because I made a roll-out plan and stuck with it alongside having produced, recorded, and mixed the record. I am currently working on new music and hope to continue to bring my unique light to the music world and am excited about the idea to incorporate different languages into my music.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I am working on a couple of music videos, one of which featuring martial arts choreography.
Currently teaching myself bass guitar, Japanese, and looking to get better at speaking Mandarin.
I helped organize a youth-led organization that marched to the Governor’s mansion to protest and raise awareness for racial injustice following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/motohama
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motohama_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@motohama2750
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/2kWqjnr39PiBBWkU7
Image Credits
Asher Wawerna, Andre Serrano, Kennedy Thornton, Amari Cook, Justin Jones
