[Video] MusicCast: HopeFortheStars
McALLEN - Robert Barrera isn't sure why people are saying his band could be a hit in Japan, but he hopes they’re right.
HopeFortheStars, Barerra’s Alamo-based instrumental band, just signed with Japan’s XTAL Records, a move that will make the band’s ambient and melodic indie rock available in stores all over that country.
"The producer who’s signing us ... is constantly saying ‘we feel your music is going to be a hit over here (Japan),’" Barrera, 20, said. "I’ don’t know what’s over there, but if they feel it’s gonna be a hit, hopefully it will."
If HopeFortheStars' EP "A Moment in Time" does hit, Barerra and his band mates might have to learn a new language.
"If we sell 10,000 records, we go to Japan," he said.
XTAL will fly HopefortheStars to Japan and book a tour for the band, if the quota is met.
The trip could happen soon. The band receives daily messages written by Japanese fans, Barerra said, and its MySpace profile is popular with Japanese viewers.
"When we started getting e-mails from Japan, we didn’t know what to think," he said. "They really love our music over there.”
The band members never had an Eastern audience in mind when they formed HopeFortheStars in 2005. In fact, the band’s origin is closely tied to that all-American sport - football. More specifically, it’s tied to the 2004 high school football movie "Friday Night Lights."
Before HopeFortheStars, Barrera and his brother Joey, 17, played in an emo band called Life on Standby. Then things evolved.
"As soon as the movie ‘Friday Night Lights’ came out, I swear, we just immediately changed," Barrera said.
The brothers were inspired by the movie’s soundtrack, which was largely composed by the Austin instrumental post-rock band Explosions in the Sky.
The Austin band’s ethereal, guitar-based melodies made the brothers realize that a successful rock band doesn’t need a vocalist. They soon started writing their own instrumental songs and were joined by bass player Manny Arambula, 20, and guitarist Oscar Moreno, 19.
The band’s ambient sound was met with mixed reaction locally.
"A lot of people think that we formed HopeFortheStars as instrumental because we never found a singer, when in fact the case is that we just chose not to (have a vocalist)," Barerra said. "We can’t find anything to complement the music ... as much as the music does itself."
Bass player Arambula, thinks local audiences will catch on to HopeFortheStar’s ambient sound.
"It’s a new genre for the Valley, but it’s here to stay," he said. "Bands like Pink Floyd have been doing the same thing ... it’s been around for a long time."
HopeFortheStars recently played for a gracious audience on Oct. 19 at the McAllen Convention Center. The band performed all five songs from the "Moment" EP and ended the set with an encore performance, proving that their fans don't necessarily have to be Japanese.
"I think the more we play, the more people will understand it," Arambula said, "and they’ll like it."
HopeForTheStars will perform Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 at the South Padre International Music Festival on South Padre Island.
For more info on the band, visit www.myspace.com/hopeforthestars.
