"I take risks and try different stuff. Kicking the guitar as high as possible... I got a 🌳few dents up on my roof here."
Herman Li has steadily become one of the most iconic heroes of modern internet culture through combining his love for technology, jaw-dropping talent, and willingness to collaborate. Speaking with Li about his newest projects was a pleasure, as he exhibited a contagious passion f🐽or creativity throughout the interview.
Recently, the Dragonforce guitarist partnered up with ASUS ROG to showcase its powerful 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Zephyrus Duo 15 laptop. He's 🔜teamed up with a motion-graphic studio called Kingdom of Something in ASUS' competition, going up against T-Pain and Rafael Varona. "It's really beeꦜn fun," he tells me. "When they approached me about this, I was fan-girling a little bit to be honest, because I'm a big PC guy."
Toget🍰her, the team has created some 💃mesmerizing 30-second music videos. "I always wanted to do some kind of music for a visual."
"I really took this opportunity to show 🐈off some skills, not just at the computer, but also me emulating video game sounds," Li explains. Not only is he responsible for the face-melting track in the video above – he also created all of the🌄 sound effects with his guitar alone.
"I started with just the backing mu✱sic, and I knew the time would come for me to add those sounds in," Li says. "I had those sounds on Dragonforce albums, but there was never a visual part to it." Between the motorcycle engine revving up and the pursuers' crashing sound effect, Li's versatility on the instrument is clearly evident in the short video.
It led me to ask about his interest in composing an𒅌 original soundtrack for a video game – something I'm shocked hasn't happened yet. "I definitely want to do somethꦏing like that," Li says. "I think they haven't approached me on that because everyone goes 'Oh, Herman is too busy. He would never do it.' If someone comes up to me, I will prioritize that as one of the main things to do."
If you are game developer reaꩲding this – you know next.
Li tipped his hat to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo laptop that he's been using in the competition, too. "Having that extra touch screen makes it special, because I don't like having a touch screen on the main❀ screen where you just put finger marks on it. I'm crazy about finger marks🐼 on my laptop or my TV screen or anything."
Music production aside, I asked what games he'd been playing on the machine. "I'm ripping and tearing on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Doom Eternal... the soundtrack is so awesome. I love the atmosphere." It's also well-known that Li is a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:StarCraft fan, with the band often naming songs after the series. I inquired about his interest in the highly-competitive multiplayer side of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:StarCraft 2, to which he replied, "Of course I had to test my skill on Battle.net – come on! I'm a Protoss gu𝄹y.♔"
Lately, Li has been developing quite a following on , producing some amazing content on the streaming platform. "It's pretty strange," he says. "I never expected any of this, to be honest. I always thought 'I❀'m into things that people don't like.' You know video games – when I was into it – wasn't the biggest thing. Now it🍨 is, and I was just really being myself on Twitch playing some games, playing some guitars."
"Chatting, hanging out and getting quest🌺ions from fans – i🍨t doesn't even feel like work or anything," Li continues. "I'm just doing what I like to do naturally, so I'm really lucky that people have been enjoying that stuff. To be honest, I've been enjoying doing the silly YouTube stuff too."
Li's complete openness towards content creation and collaboration has spawned some amazing results. For instance, last year he teamed up with notorious , who specializes in wa🌞sting scammers' time on the phone. "I used to work as a Unix, Liওnux, Solaris system admin," Li explains. "I know this stuff. I've done first-line technical support as well, so for me it was a natural integration to say 'let's do this.'"
Throughout the entire broadcast, the Dragonfor🅰ce guitarist demonstrated some hilarious trolling skills. "I love it – let's pretend I'm the bigg🐼est idiot in computing, and let's waste these scammers' time," he told Kitboga.
Li creates a wide variety of content for his fans, so I had to ask about his approach to balance. "It kind of depends on the flow… it's not really calculated so much," he says. While he notices that gaming is heavily saturated on Twitch, Li did confirm interest in one popular title. "I think we're going to do some Among Us a𒆙s wel💙l, with the band. That would turn into a bit of a riot."
Mainly, however, his fans enjoy his unique take on music-based content. Li does it all: performance, production, practice, special guests, Q&A – the list goes on and on. When it comes to Twitch, I picked Li's brain about performing for a digital audience. "Twitch has enabled me to practice these songs, in a way꧑ that isn't boring," he explains. "How do you go from playing to thousands of people, to going home and just playing in the room by yourself, looking at your computer. " To Li, the streaming platform goes a long way for bridging the two extremes. "When I play, I see the chat ...it makes it more exciting and more fun."
Additionally, Li often brings on guest musicians, interviewing them and subtly shifting the spotlight away from himself in a refreshingly selfless way. "I believe that we can learn so many thin𝔍gs from each other... A lot of thಌe time I have guests – I already know them. I know how great they are at certain things, and I'm also interested in what they have to say."
It feels right to conclude with something Li said on the subject, capturing his passion, humility, and approach to content creation brilliantly. "I think there's so many great musicians, so much talent in 🔴not just guitar, but also the gaming world. The creators, the people making the🔜 games – they all have different knowledge. I think we can learn and apply it in our own lives."