FHEELS - Interview

FHEELS is a new band from Hamburg, and they deliver finest blues, rock and psychedelic with a hint of soul.

Their first EP 'Traveller' has been released in June via JodelDiplomRecords.

Today, their singer and guitar player Felix talks with us about their debut. 

Interview by Michela (Anesthesia)

Felix: First of all, thank you for the opportunity to do this interview. we are very happy, that there are people who are interested in our music.

LFdM: Thank you for your time Felix. Would you describe your sound and your band, to someone who never heard you before?

F: Our sound is formed by our taste of music which is very versatile. So it´s always hard to define it but there are two elements which appears often in our songs, not necessarily in the instrumentals, sometimes just in the vocals, the blues & the rock-guitar crunch sound. But than there are psychedelic or very soulful, sensitive moments, which shows our different musical backrounds and make sure, that our audience stay  curious & entertained. 

LFdM: When and why did you start playing?

F: The idea of starting a band came from me. I showed Justus (drums) my very first song ideas in fall 2015 at the Hamburg School of Music where we both were students at the time. In the beginning of 2016 Jens (bass) joined and from that point on the project got serious and the first goal, an EP, was set. In September 2016 we recorded our deput EP “Traveller” live at the Melloton Studio Hamburg as a Trio in 2 days. Tobias joined in december. His diverse skills added the colours and depth we were looking for.

Why we started doing music? First of all because it´s fun and we get a long very well on a personal level.

On the other hand is our decicions to study music, it shows that we pretty serious to bring our passion to a professionel level and make music to our job. 

LFdM: Traveller successfully meld blues and rock music with more psychedelic moments. Was this a conscious decision when the band started out or has this sound developed during the course of writing songs?

F: Our sound definitely developed while we played and wrote songs together. We´re an open minded band and we like to think out of the box. So it was not a conscious decision to make blues or rock or bring psychedelic moments in our music, it just happend and we liked it.  That´s our way to write songs, somebody brings up an idea (doesn´t matter which genre) and we start playing around until we´re all happy or decide not to use it.

LFdM: Could you tell us something about the lyrics of "Traveller"? there's a general concept running through every song?  

F: Behind each song is a concept and a topic which is emotionally connected to me. This connection is very important to me and my performance on stage. I always try to build a short storyline with a beginning and an end. That´s sometimes a hard thing to do within 3-5 minutes.

There is no general concept behind the 5 songs. 

The topics are very very special: love, society issues, needs, politics and last but not least love ;)

LFdM: When you compose a song where do you get your ideas from and how does a song evolve?

F: Most instrumental ideas until today emerge while I´m sitting somewhere with the guitar, just playing for myself until I have an “ah-wait-that-sounds-great-moment”.  From that point on it’s like I wrote in question 3, I´ll take the idea to the rehearsal room, we start trying to give it a structure and start playing around with it until we´re all satisfied. After that we evolve the songs either while we´re playing them or with ideas that appear while practicing at home. 

Lyrical ideas come up, while I´m listening to the instrumentals and looking for the emotion they create. Also there is often simply a topic or an issue which moves me and I´m trying to digest it with my own words. 

LFdM: What are your greatest musical influences in your life?

F: That´s a difficult question, I don’t have like an artist or band which stands above all the others. What I have are artists which influence a specific episode of my life and of course the sum of them my music in general. I think that´s a point we can all agree on. 

Nevertheless we tried to give you guys some names :)

Beatles, ELP,The Roots, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Matt Corby, Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix

LFdM: What are your dreams now?

F: For me it is to reach and affect as much people as possible, in as many ways and countries as possible with our music. People who can identify themselfs with us,  learn from and with us, who are willing to come to our shows. In general we want to make a living with our own music without loosing the fun, play good shows around germany & hopefully in europe, especially in italy too. ;)  Get in touch with people & their culture.

LFdM: Many thanks Felix.

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