We were lucky to catch up with P.H.0 recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Howard thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
At this moment, we are happy about where we are as artists and creatives, despite having regular jobs that we need to commit and prioritize. Being an artist or a creative in general in this age is not easy financially – for both unestablished and established artists at least from our experience, and we in fact feel extremely fortunate and privileged that we have a steady stream of incomes to support our creative works, especially during the phase in our creative career where, like for many musicians, the path ahead for us is uncertain. The nature of our jobs allow us to apply what we learn from there to all aspects of running our band, from the creative side of things such as performance and production to marketing and management, which in turn allow us to scale our operation appropriately and advance our goal of eventually turning this into a full-time career.
Howard, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
We are P.H.0. (pronounced “P-H-ling” or “P-H-zero”, depending on whether you speak Mandarin or English), a NYC-based silkpunk/cyber-metal quintet, introducing a novel mix of industrial electronic soundscapes, the ancient elegance of traditional East Asian musical elements, and the fragmented chaos of analog modular synthesizers.
Formed in 2021 by drummer Pierre and guitarist/producer Howard, the band wasted no time in releasing its first self-titled EP online later that same year. When Pierre arrived in New York the very next year, Howard shared his vision of transforming P.H.0 into a full-on heavy music project based here in the city, not one that uses East Asian musical elements as merely ornaments, which has been done so many times in other places even in Asia, but one that subverts the public’s perception of what East Asian musicians can be, that challenges the western-dominated musical palette by re-contextualizing western sounds in an Eastern framework, and that encapsulates the cultural values of where we are from – something truly authentic, unique, and East Asian in a way we as East Asian define it, to which Pierre wholeheartedly agreed. The initial duo quickly expanded their lineup, welcoming new members into the fold. Jun, a skilled post-rock guitarist, joined the ranks, along with Chi-Chi, who brought the mesmerizing sounds of the erhu to the mix. The group further diversified its sound with the addition of Minghim, a master of the modular synth, and Tong, who added captivating woodwind melodies to the ensemble. Each of the member had grown up and lived in various parts of East Asia, imbuing the collective with a wide array of lived experiences and musical influences. Drawing inspiration from genres as varied as heavy metal, ambient, drum n’ bass, techno, and traditional Chinese folk music, the band explored new sonic territories and crafted a truly eclectic and distinct sound that is evident in our first full-length album, “KARMA”.
Through our works, what we want is to create something new using both western and eastern musical elements and based on the musical framework of the east and give these historically rich and now endangered musical instruments, techniques, and ideas the representation and the reinvigoration they deserve and desperately need. We aimed to capture the essence of East Asian music not by merely adding traditional instruments as superficial ornamentation but by reflecting our social, cultural, historical, and religious experiences living in various parts of East Asia, from Taiwan and China to Japan. This very much encompasses the core theme of “KARMA”: expand upon the western-dominated musical palette, make musical elements derived from western music traditions serve the musical framework of the east instead of the other way around, and develop our unique musical language, which is authentic and truly East Asian. In that sense, P.H.0 is an “experimental” band, serving as an experiment in flipping the power dynamic between the musical framework of the east and the current musical landscape dominated by western music traditions.
In Bandcamp Daily’s review of “KARMA,” the contributor used the term “silkpunk,” coined by the Chinese American science fiction author Ken Liu in his The Dandelion Dynasty series, to describe our music. Understandably so, as our music draws influence from cultures along the historic silk road as well as from punk (or in our case, cyberpunk) aesthetics, but as we wholeheartedly embrace the term “silkpunk”, we aim to embody its true essence, or at least our interpretation of its true essence – a new kind of punk born from the cultural values of the East, and ask the question of whether that new kind of punk can exist or be accepted in a space predominantly occupied by western cultural values. We want to use our music as a platform to share our unique perspectives shaped by our lived experiences outside of the U.S. and use these perspective to present a fresh approach to understanding cultural, societal, and political problems here in this country and redefining what resistance can be aside from how the majority of the punk culture from America has defined it for the past few decades. We want to contribute our voice to the broader social and political discourse as we believe through our music and our multicultural experiences we can perhaps pioneer a new path, a fusion of cultural richness and innovative resistance, which, in our opinion, encapsulates the spirit of silkpunk in its most authentic and meaningful form.
To achieve our goal, we recognize the need to overcome the current lack of depth in our music. It’s not that our music lacks production value; in fact, considering the resources available during the making of our first album, its production value is relatively high, in our opinion. However, we aspire for our music to go beyond sounding merely cool and innovative. We aim to create a community for like-minded individuals who share our values as well as those who may appreciate our refreshing look on a lot of the subjects and embrace our values. To accomplish this, we must delve deeper into our core values and learn how to convey them effectively through our music, creating a profound and lasting impact beyond just surface-level appeal.
As for the name “P.H.0,” it originally started as a joke. Howard took both his and Pierre’s initials, “P” and “H,” and combined them with the number zero so that the resulting combination looked like pH value zero, which is associated with strong acids in chemistry and is a direct reference to the band’s heavy use of acid basses in their first EP. However, after writing down the name, they couldn’t help but notice that it also resembled the Vietnamese food “pho.” Eventually, the two decided to embrace it, finding the name both humorous and catchy.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I wouldn’t say it’s a single book, video, or essay that shape our way of managing the band, and notice how I say “our” way and not “my” way. We think it is very important to first identify whether a project is truly a band or a one-man or one-woman operation, as there are “bands” we know that are actually just a one-person operation from start to finish, which is not a bad thing, but when it comes to a band, our philosophy has always been “人人有事做”, which translates to “everything has something to do”, rather than “事事有人做” or “there is someone doing everything.” By doing so, everyone plays a crucial part in advancing this project to success and in doing so get a sense of accomplishment from participating in what they are good at, from performing, producing, and engineering music to managing the business side of things, running our social media, or broadening our connections in general.
We also do everything with the expectation that 99.9% of the chance we may fail. By failing, we mean failing to turn this into a full-time career as we want it, as doing music full-time nowadays is getting more and more financially difficult. Even for big names, one of them being Periphery, a progressive metal band whom Howard really admires, they do not become financially sustainable from their creative works as Periphery but instead from their subsidiary business endeavors, which do everything from taking endorsements from big instrument or audio equipment brands, selling audio sample libraries, creating audio plugins, to making coffee. It is tough out there, and we know it, but as long as we know the risk involved, we can make better decisions and know how to better pick-and-choose opportunities that are presented to us as a band.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I believe there is an opportunity for us to contribute our unique perspective shaped from our lived experiences outside of the U.S. to the public discourse in America. With the world being more interconnected and more parts of the world becoming more prosperous, the world outside of the U.S. is getting bigger, and we want to share the experience in living that world with people here in the U.S. and update their perception of what Asian cultures are and can be through our music. We are deeply passionate about where we are from and especially the art of where we come from, and New York City has provided the perfect space for us to develop that art in the most organic way possible, showcase that art to the city’s eclectic crowd, and give our art and the cultural values that inspire it the representation that it deserves.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/p.h.0.cyberpunk
- Instagram: p.h.0.cyberpunk
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-7Yacnrro4MvOsHCpY0Plw