Hi Felix, thanks for your time...where are you today?
I am calling you from Melbourne, at the moment it’s pretty beautiful but it’s been bleak as hell...
Where did you find the time to write and record this album after the release for Cinema with The Cat Empire and a hectic tour schedule to support that album last year?
I actually wrote and recorded this album before recording cinema. I started in 2010 with this album and it was recorded in about a week, over ten days maybe in Melbourne. So i recorded this one very quick and it was a very natural process and then we virtually went straight into the studio with The Cat Empire.
They are very different sounding albums and this Album is a very different sound to The Cat Empire is this why you felt the need to do a solo album?
I don’t see this solo album as anything but a collation of songs that mark a point in time, I think there is a lot of Stigma attached to a solo album so far as what your next move is and things like that but I love writing songs, this is what I do in this life and these songs are of a very personal nature and couldn’t be taken to a band like The Cat Empire....So It was a natural thing to do to get that classic sounding band and to record it that way...I really don’t think about it to be honest about what a solo album means or didn’t mean...
That leads to my next question...Bernard Fanning's solo album famously spelt the end for Powderfinger what does this mean for the future of The Cat Empire.
The Cat Empire is in a pretty good spot at the moment. For me The Cat Empire is like a kind of chaotic festival that resembles a band and I’ve got to get into character for it and we put a lot of energy into every show but it is a very demanding band which is about a time and a place for me...Everyone in the band enjoys being in the band and when we are touring we all make the most of it... when it comes to me as a songwriter and an artist separately it is a different headspace a different emotional space as well. I don’t think a solo album dispels The Cat Empire at all in fact I am sure The Cat Empire is going to do something very unexpected and exciting when we next decide to record again....so I don’t think so... I am interested in working on stories as they happen and this happens to be the story at the time and I am working on another collection of songs at the moment and I am about to do a tour so I am just taking one story at a time.
How do you create songs?
I think songs come out of life really they come down when you can’t explain something, sometimes you can articulate it in a song...It’s part of you and you can’t put your finger on it and often it comes out of you as a song and that can happen in various means, sometimes the lyrics come first sometimes the chords, sometimes it’s just a line....They just happen in answer to your question. I don’t really have much of a formula...I sit at the piano a lot and I try to be engaged in life as much as possible.
Where was the album recorded?
I recorded this album at Sing Sing studio’s in Melbourne. I finished living in New York in 2009 and got back just for Christmas, within a week I was in the studio in January and it was a pretty amazing experience so far as musicians were old friends also very good performers as well and it was really a matter of deciding these were the people I would like to record with out of anybody in the world.
You are doing some shows around the country, what will the set list look like?
We will play this album and we will probably play a few Cat Empire songs that are closer to this style of writing songs like “No Longer There” that are of a quieter nature. I suppose so I think I will play at least one cat empire songs and maybe a couple of new ones I am yet to record.
A few tour dates are up on your website any chance of a visit to Cairns?
I would love to come to Cairns unfortunately not on this run...the tour is booked in and I will get to Cairns when I can maybe during a festival or when I can do a solo show.
What’s your favourite travel destination and why?
My favourite place to holiday is a place called Santorini which is part of the Greek Islands. I think it’s just something about the colour of the Aegean ocean and the magic of the city on the cliffs that really gets me....that’s just for a holiday....for places to play and perform and just to be amongst it I really love New York city and I have just been there and I would love to go back....I like Berlin as well and also country victoria where I spent a lot of time growing up, it’s kind of special to my heart.
Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?
I would like to be following the stories I have in my head whether this is through songs or something else I would still like to be able imagine something and make it come to life....
What effect has technology had on the music industry?
I think technology has changed the nature of how musicians release music and also the way musicians make music, it’s exciting and its fantastic because a musician can be in their bedroom and create a sound which is completely unique to themselves and release it to the world via their computer which is a pretty extraordinary moment in time and yet on the other side it can be very distracting it can also really mess with the way people think about themselves, every generation has probably had different challenges and in some ways you make the best of what you have got, you can like it of dislike but it is just a fact.
What advice would you give young musicians?
Play to your strengths…its sometimes very confusing to imagine how you’re going to turn this song from your starting point to releasing it into the world and if your distracted by all that stuff then you can distract your music but if you have something to say or a sound to present then work on that and try to make it as strong as you possibly can and then have faith that the right situation forms that allows you to make a living out of it.
Felix Riebl’s new album “Into The Rain” is out now and can be purchased online through iTunes or in Cd Format from Jb Hi Fi HERE
For more info check out www.felixriebl.com
To win one of Two copies of "In The Rain" Friend us on facebook and message us why you should get a copy
| 
