The Next Wave: Getting to know rising star Feki
We sat down with Brisbane's rising star, producer Feki to get to know him a little better on his journey to the top.
Brisbane producer Feki seems to know no bounds, and with each and every release he sounds more and more accomplished. Seamlessly blending genres into an emotional, vulnerable state, his brand of electronica really gets to the core of you to have you both crying (happy or sad tears depending on the tune) and dancing in no time.
But, although his trajectory continues upwards, Feki remains as humble as ever, and we had the privilege of sitting down with him at this year's Splendour In The Grass, which he performed to an overflowing Tiny Dancer tent. Down to earth and real, we got to know Feki - a major player in the next wave of electronic music both here, and abroad.
So, tell me about the name Feki.
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That is my family name. Basically I just couldn’t really come up with an actual alias or anything like that so I was lucky I had a name that’s different.
I noticed that you’ve done some pretty cool collaborations recently, do you have any more coming up?
I do, I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about them as much, but I’m definitely always working with other people. I’ve been working with Xavier Dunn, I’ve been working with other people too…
I get it you aren’t allowed to talk about it, we’ll move on. So what would you be doing if you weren’t a producer?
Woah… Now that’s a good question because all I’ve known is music, so I don’t know if it wasn’t creating music it’d be maybe the business side of it, managing or something to do with music.
It’s always been music?
Yeah. So I started playing the piano when I was four, growing up I was always playing different instruments, but then production was like high school, and it wasn’t until after high school that it was like okay let’s try and see what happens, what I can do and make.
How did you first get into music?
Starting production was in high school. I was just watching a video of Timbaland in the studio with Jay-Z and I actually just wanted to be just a producer for rappers and singers, but then as time went on I couldn’t really find people to work with at that time, and the people I was working with... It sort of got annoying waiting for their vocals and things like that, so I just decided to start sampling stuff and putting vocals drops throughout. Then from that came the production side of my music and my sound, and then it sort of just morphed into me just putting music out on my own instead of having to wait on other artists.
Who would your dream collaboration be with? Dead or alive?
Dream collab… Actually since Ta-Ku is singing now I’d definitely love, Ta-Ku is a big inspiration to me so working with him regardless, but now that he’s singing I feel like that’d be a cool collab to have with him singing.
What inspires you?
I don’t know, I can’t really pinpoint it to one thing. I think just the joy of making music, I don’t know there’s this feeling when making music, i don't know it’s just like it’s right to do. That’s so weird, I don’t know.
Can you put your music on shuffle and play 3 songs for us?
Oh crap, okay… Ooh yes good song! One of my favourites, 'Fix You' by Coldplay, one of the best I’m seeing them later this year and I saw them back in 2012 as well. Next… That’s a demo. Yeah we won’t be listening to that, next. Okay, this one I do not know because I stole a whole heap of music from my cousin, he’s into all this jazz stuff and this is one of them.
Are you trying to get into jazz more?
I’m definitely trying to find music that I would not normally listen to, so that when I am not making music I can sort of chill out with this music and sort of maybe grab something from them. Yep cool, so that song is 'Land of the Free' by Esperanza Spalding. Let’s go to the last one... Oh yes James Blake! Keen to see him, one of my favourites. So that one’s called 'Give Me My Month'.
Yes highly recommend James Blake. What’s the best live act you’ve ever seen?
Coldplay back in 2012 was probably my highlight, but also Listen Out last year I saw Hayden James. I missed him last night which sucks but yeah he’s more in my realm of music so watching him play I see what I could take from him, he’s a big inspiration too, big fan of his.
Who’s your favourite artist?
Well I take inspirations from obviously Ta-Ku, Flume as well, I know Flume is a bit generic to say for Electronic but yeah. I also really like Jamie XX for sure. There’s a producer called Stwo from France and lives in Canada now, definitely one of my favourite producers that I found.
Who’s your favourite up and coming artist?
To be honest… Have you heard of Golden Vessel? He’s a good friend of mine, I feel like he’s underrated a lot. His music is amazing, the vibes the authenticity of his music shines through I feel. But, for some reason, he hasn’t really been picked up as much as I think he should, so I think he’s under the radar but he’s definitely a hustler. I really admire that about him and I think he’s definitely one of the more authentic up and coming artists that I feel is really good.
What did you want to be when you were little?
There were a few things. I wanted to be a builder, but then that changed and I wanted to be a lawyer. But then I realised how much reading you had to do so I changed that but I always wanted to be something that was, in a way, made something of yourself. I don’t know - an entrepreneur type thing, or business related, but I do have an interest in Psychiatry. I like helping other people with issues and stuff like that. I might be good at it but I don’t know we’ll see.
Maybe your music can speak to people.
Maybe. Maybe I could set up a Feki clinic, I don’t know.
Words by Julia Insolia and Emma Jones.
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