NeoQor shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi NeoQor, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Learning Japanese. I’ve always been interested in learning more languages (I took German throughout high school and college), but after I graduated, studying new languages got put on the back burner for many years. It’s been really rewarding to notice the changes in my ability to read a whole different writing system and to start to interact, in their native language, with the Japanese artists with whom I’m connected online.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m NeoQor, and I’m just a goofy guy who loves to make and mix extreme rave music. Basically, if it’s a genre of electronic music that is hard and fast with a silly or aggressive energy, chances are I make it and play it in my sets.
I’ve played shows in literally every corner of the U.S. and done numerous collaborations and remixes, which have been released on different international labels such as EMFA, Future State Music, Relentless Records, and, most recently, Prototypes Records.
At this point, I’d consider myself a multi-genre artist, and I think that versatility is one of the main things that makes me stand out in a niche where it’s very common for artists’ brands to be based around one very specific subgenre of music (nothing wrong with that, by the way– it’s just not for me).
Essentially, I just make and play what I’d like to hear. I grew up going to anime cons & raves as well as playing a lot of rhythm games (DDR, In The Groove, Stepmania), and I’m always looking for new sounds that inspire me to experiment. So, I have a lot of different influences, which lead to a lot of different ideas that I want to realize.
I used to think that this was a weakness, and that I was too “scattered”, until only recently. Now I consider it to be one of my strengths, because I realized this versatility keeps my releases and sets varied and interesting.
For releases, I think my listeners never quite know what I’m going to drop next, and I kinda like that. It could be happy hardcore, gabber, drum ‘n’ bass, hard techno, industrial hardcore, who knows. One thing that’s guaranteed, though, is that it will be hard and fast.
The same goes for my sets. We can start the hour together at hard techno or hardstyle at around 150 beats per minute and end up at 200+, but only after being taken on a roller coaster ride that runs the spectrum of different sounds and moods that the world of hard dance music has to offer.
I’ve leaned into the versatility more so than before, to the point that one of my goals as an artist now is to be the guy who pleasantly surprises listeners with my range. I want to be one of the guys that makes people go, “What CAN’T this guy do?”
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
There was a phase I went through in my life where I was very much drinking the hustle culture Kool-Aid, so to speak. Anyone who’s been in this type of environment and got out will likely know where I’m going with this.
I got deep into the common vein of “self-development” culture at around 25 (think motivational & entrepreneur-centric podcasts, books, etc.). I won’t say it’s all bad, as it did help peel back a lot of unproductive habits of mine and made me hold myself more accountable for getting stuff done. But while it helped me develop some healthy habits and character traits that still serve me to this day, it came with a cost.
This version of me from about 5-6 years ago became obsessed with getting things, with being “someone”–being “this certain person” with “these specific achievements”. In my mind, at the time, everything that defined a person was based upon their accomplishments and what they had to “show for themselves”. It was very ego-centric
Now, I’m still all for having goals, not making excuses, having a strong work ethic, and developing oneself. But I think my problem was that I got into all the superficial aspects of self-development (body and physical actions/habits) without fully developing the mental, emotional, and spiritual foundations necessary to be able to look at those aspects from a balanced, healthy perspective.
This led to me being the most superficial, toxic version of me that I think I’ve ever been. I also became very unhappy to the point where I could not sleep, I could not live with myself, and I was viciously critical and judgmental towards myself and everyone around me. My mental health was at an all-time low.
It wasn’t until I started taking inventory of my thoughts and feelings, taking inner change seriously, and spending more time facing inward in meditation as opposed to constantly chasing things on the outside that I started to balance out. Without opening a whole other can of worms, I’ll say that taking time to self-inquire and to learn about one’s consciousness and its operation through experience can help put a lot of things in perspective. The spiritual investments are the greatest investments you can make in yourself (and when I say spiritual, I’m NOT referring to traditional religion or some trendy new age stuff here).
Sometimes I still feel myself getting caught up in trying so hard to “be somebody”, but it’s a lot easier now to catch myself and be aware of when it’s happening, and to readjust my perspective to just being pure, present awareness. I’ve learned through making this adjustment many times that life and opportunities tend to flow better when I am in this state.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Things aren’t as bad as they may seem at the moment. Other people (and even yourself at times) will try to convince you that you don’t know anything and that they have all the answers. Don’t be afraid to trust in your innate ability to learn and figure things out as you go. It’s greater than you may think.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
That consciousness is the fundamental source of all existence. That “beingness”, existence, in its purest absolute form, is pure awareness/consciousness.
I do not believe in a “god” in the sense of a separate being judging humans from afar.
“God” to me is just a word that actually points to a formless, infinite, absolute awareness, in which all possible realities exist simultaneously as potentials beyond space and time.
And our individual, subjective minds are just individualized expressions of this infinite consciousness. But we have access to this infinite consciousness because we are “in” it, and we are part of it, Essentially, we *are* it, and thus we can effect changes in our worlds and move into different states/frames/timelines/versions of our lives through not only physical actions, but through subtle, unseen actions done in consciousness.
These changes are often gradual, though, and happen in a way that appears perfectly natural to an outside observer, not like some kind of movie magic.
Of course, I can’t prove this to another person. I have come to this through my own study, experimentation, and experience. I think it’s safe to say that anyone who truly believes this has tested this idea enough times to have proven it to themselves.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What will you regret not doing?
When I have an idea for a song — it could be a melody or a hook– that nags at me or wakes me up in the middle of the night, I know I need to record it somehow, even if it’s just a rough little voice recording on my phone. I never want to let a good idea for a track slip, because you never know which one might end up being your best work and really popping off. Unfortunately, it’s happened before where I’ve forgotten a great idea I’ve had, and it really hurts.
I just hope that before it’s time for me to leave this Earth, I somehow have managed to carve out the time to realize all of the awesome ideas for songs that I’ve had — the ones that presented an itch that I just had to scratch.
The idea of leaving this place with a folder still full of dope ideas that I never got to fully realize makes me really sad to think about.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://neoqor.net
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/officialneoqor
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/officialneoqor
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/officialneoqor
- Other: https://neoqor.bandcamp.com/
