David Hernandez & Effie Passero

American Idol’ Stars David Hernandez & Effie Passero Join to Become ‘2nd Hour’

The perfect duo called 2nd Hour, “American Idol” stars David Hernandez and Effie Passero, have just put out some new music together titled “What I See.” They are currently working on their EP and intend to shoot some music videos as well.

I spoke with them regarding their singing style and their future endeavors. Both are extremely talented and are proud of the fact that they are bringing music with emotion back to humanity.

INTERVIEW

David, you were on “American Idol” 12 years ago, and you, Effie, two years ago. How did you come together?
David: We have a mutual friend, a booking agent that represents both of us. I basically hunted her down via his iPhone, and I asked her if she wanted to sing with me and told her she was phenomenal, and she said yes. I had a show that following week. We had a sound check, and the first song we sang together was “Say Something” by Great Big World, and we decided that that was a good sound for us.

We are balladeers, and we are songwriters, and we decided from that point we were going to be a duo, and we wrote a song together, which is currently out now. We released it yesterday, and it’s called, “What I See.” We shot the music video, which we also released yesterday, and it’s being received really well. I was kind of surprised, because people are super critical, and the comments we are getting [are that it is] “amazing” and “we need this kind of music back in the world.” I’ve been a solo artist for a long time, but it’s cool to always have somebody on stage with me. It alleviates the anxiety, and there’s something comforting about being in a group. The “Idol” engine is what sort of catapulted both our careers, but now it’s time to create our own identities and take the world by storm as a duo, which is called 2nd Hour.

I love the name. It’s eloquent.
David: We had good vibes from the moment we met. We didn’t have to work at it. Now we’ve been traveling the world together. It’s kind of cool to share it with your best friend.

If you could have your ultimate stage fantasy, what would you need to happen?
Effie: I would love to perform at Wembley Stadium, perform in a stadium and make everybody cry and to get back to humanity. Music today is so robotic, and there’s not a lot of feeling happening anymore.

David: Agreed.

Yeah, agreed.
Effie: It’s really special that people are able to talk but also not talk too much. It’s really important to connect with thousands and thousands of people with music alone, and really get emotion to come back into music.

David: I’d have to agree with that and say I’d want to do that, and also television is the #1 way to reach millions of people at one time. I feel like it’s been a dream of mine to perform at the Grammys, not necessarily win one, because I feel like that’s all kind of bullshit anyway in terms of the Grammy community.

It’s all about politics. But I think just to be in the same room as my peers, and to be on the same stage with some of the greats and share that same stage, I think that would be a full-circle moment for me, and I’d feel like we’ve made it. For her and I to perform on that stage would be incredible. I probably would just pass out afterwards.

What do you enjoy most about performing live?
David: That’s a good question. I think it’s just the element of surprise. Since we are human, we are obviously flawed, so no performance is going to be the same, which I think is the beauty of live music. With Effie and I, when we first started two years ago, we listened back and thought that we have grown so much. We don’t perform any song like we did when we first met, and it’s kind of cool how that evolved. That is something you can’t teach. Not everyone can do live music, and that’s the cool thing. You have a lot of these manufactured stars these days that sing a track or don’t sing at all. It’s kind of more refreshing to see two people on stage that are actually singing their fucking faces off, and there’s no auto-tune. It’s definitely a lost art.

Effie: I think one of my favorite things about singing live is the people watching, because of that exact thing. So many people don’t hear live music, let alone hear people who actually sing well anymore. It’s fun to watch people’s reactions to just someone that truly works hard to hone in on their craft.

David: We’ve spent a lot of money. I actually went to school for it and took voice lessons. How many demo deals I have cut in my life is sickening. How much money have I dropped on music that has never seen the light of day? It was like a learning process. So, yeah, we spent so much money, and it’s nice when it pays off. People are so jaded these days. We will walk into a situation and tell people we are going to sing live, and they don’t believe it. Then we do it, and they are like, “Holy shit, I can’t believe that really happened.”

If you could have me ask you any question, what would it be, and how would you answer it?
Effie: What is the future of the duo?

Where do you hope or expect to be in five years?
Effie: I expect that if our music is a little too intense, too cinematic, and we aren’t in the public eye within five years, that fucking sucks for people and humanity.

I love you guys.
Effie: I really feel truly that people are craving some touch of humanity. People need this type of music, and if we’re not doing it on a grand scale, we will still be doing it all over the world, and we will get bigger and grander and more beautiful. Right now it’s just piano and vocals, but five years down the line I would love to do concerts with strings. I want it to be a humbling and beautiful experience for everyone that comes into the theater. I want people to sit there and be completely shaken. It sounds dramatic, but I want people to say, “That music really touched me, and it evoked something in me that I need to think about.”

Website & tour dates:
www.DavidHernandezOfficial.com

@DHernandezMusic
@EffiePassero
@2ndHourDuo