FEDE PAOLES

● Welcome to your interview with Songbirds. Please introduce yourself to our audience.

My name is Fede, I‘m from Bracciano, a small town close to Rome, Italy. I‘m a musician, mainly a guitar player, but I also compose for film, commercials and I am a sound engineer, both in live settings, and on film sets. I do a little bit of everything.

● Speaking of doing a little bit of everything, you‘re truly a genre-shapeshifter. How were you able to develop such a diverse set of skills? What genre do you feel the most at home in?

(Chuckles) Piano was the beginning of everything. My mother is a classical pianist / music teacher. I grew up around Chopin. Then I slowly developed an interest for the guitar. My dad had actually bought the guitar for my brother, but he didn‘t have much interest in playing the guitar and became a biomedical engineer. I tried to understand the instrument as soon as I came into contact with the guitar. I started playing on my own and navigated how to play specific notes by comparing it with the piano. Soon after, I was playing scales on the guitar and that led me to play melodies that I knew from the piano. My mom saw this and suggested I take guitar lessons.

I started learning classical guitar and when the time came for me to choose a route for university, I chose the popular music route. I left the classical world for a bit. I love improvising and having more freedom in my music, and pop music is more accessible to me in that way. I also wanted to compose. I ended up studying the guitar as my major, but took classes in composition, music production, arrangement, orchestration, etc.

● How did you find your passion for composing?

It started from playing the piano. I always played it even after starting with the guitar. As a kid, I didn’t receive proper classical training, which gave me the opportunity to experiment with the instrument more. As a teenager, who made drama out of everything in life, I expressed those emotions through trying out different tunes on the piano. Soon after graduation, I was lucky enough to start working as a composer’s assistant for Hans Hafner (The Matrix Resurrections, Babylon Berlin, Kleo & more). He taught me so much and encouraged me to explore this world more deeply, which led me to continue my studies and complete a Master in Film Scoring.

● Is there a genre that you‘d like to try out next?

I would like to try more Latin music. In the past few years, I have been experimenting with Brazilian music: Bossa Nova or Samba. I would love to expand that to Rumba and other Latin music that is out there. This has also given me the chance to get into classical guitar playing. One of my favorite composers is Villa-Lobos, so it all ties together. In the end, it‘s all music, so boundaries set by genres don‘t mean too much.

● You grew up near the capital of Italy and you’ve also worked there. Now you live and work in the capital of Germany. What would you say are some differences between the two cities and what makes them unique?

They‘re so different. I think in Italy, people are a bit more conservative and that makes you less free. I understand where it comes from. There are big cultural differences. In Italy, you don‘t have many opportunities to perform, so you see the same people performing everywhere.

In Berlin, if you want to, you can go to an open-mic at a bar, or small stages and perform. Also, as a professional musician, I get paid for all of my performances, which is not always the case in Rome. My friends and colleagues there don‘t have this luxury. 

I recently met a guitar player in Rome and he was excited about an upcoming tour that he would be doing with an artist who had just released some new music. I told him: “That’s great! You’re getting paid for your work!” But then he told me that he would be doing this tour for free. He was so happy to be able to just play after years of not being able to play, even if it meant not being paid.

This isn’t just in music, but in other artistic disciplines: cinema, visual arts, performance arts. We are told that we will gain experience and networking opportunities. I feel like being a musician is not a job in Italy, whereas in Berlin, you can make a living out of it. It’s sad to say, this has become normal in Italy, and I hope it can change.

● You’ve worked with many different artists. What makes you such a great collaborator?

First of all, thank you for such a great compliment. It’s a huge honor to be recognized as a great collaborator. I think I have a bit of “musicality” (laughs), but I think it’s mostly personality. I can communicate well with other artists. I have the ability to empathize. It’s also very important that I serve the music, no matter with whom I am collaborating. I want to do my best to please the composers and make their visions come true in the music. I have no desire to simply show off on stage.

For me, making music has nothing to do with that. Being able to play difficult passages has no meaning, unless it serves the music. Of course, when the music asks for it, I should be able to do it, but my purpose of playing music is not to show how virtuosic I can play, or how much musical knowledge I have.

● Here’s a follow-up question for you: Do you approach playing music differently, when you’ve written it yourself and when you’re playing music written by someone else?

It depends on how it was written. Is it a demo with just piano parts and voice? Has it been arranged? Is there a guitar part written? If there is, I follow it, but I always try to bring a bit of myself into the music.

When it’s just a demo, it becomes a bit more challenging. I don’t want to do too much that would stray from the composer’s original intentions. I try to do the least possible in the beginning and if the composer seems to like what I’m doing, I develop my ideas more, but I always tread softly when I start collaborating. I wouldn’t want to overplay and step on other people’s toes.

When I write music myself, it’s a different story. I haven’t written for myself lately, but when I write for a singer, I find inspiration from their voice and their melodies. I always ask them to improvise something and that gets me in the flow. I very often disregard music theory when a singer’s voice inspires me. I would write something in a direction that had never occurred to me before. 

● You do a lot of work as an instrumentalist and play with singers. Most of times, the singers receive more attention. Do you think that’s the job of an instrumentalist, or do you think instrumentalists deserve more attention, and if so, how?

I understand fully that singers get more attention. I am fine with that. I don’t want too much fame. I still want to be able to live my life (laughs). Even I pay more attention to singers during concerts and ask to take a picture with them afterwards. I think this is very understandable. But I do think instrumentalists can be treated a bit better by some organizers.

I’ve seen it many times when organizers don’t acknowledge the instrumentalists. It has happened to me as well. I was very often asked to leave the stage after playing, while the singer takes center stage for a Q&A or an interview, for example. Sometimes, I was handed my things and was told to get off the stage in a demeaning way. In those instances, I think to myself: ‘at least treat me like a human being.’ There was one concert in which I played, and afterwards, the organizer gave everyone flowers, even to audience members, but not me. I honestly don’t care about getting a rose, but I don’t mind a bit of appreciation, which I do, however, get from all of the amazing singers I keep collaborating with.

● Going back to all the different artists you collaborate with, there is one in particular that I (Timon) find very impressive: Aria. How long have you worked together? How did you meet? Tell us an interesting story from all your travels together.

Aria and I met 4 years ago on Facebook (all laugh). I found so many people on Facebook that I have made music with. Aria posted an ad with a video looking for musicians to bring her first album to life on stage. I then wrote to her and she told me there will be an audition, which made me very nervous. Mind you, I was still very new in Berlin and didn‘t really know how things work around here. I prepared myself very well and when we met, I immediately understood that I should have been much more calm than I was (laughs). What I also noticed instantly was that we connected right away. She‘s from Spain; she‘s also quite crazy, which made it very easy for me to connect with her. 

We played a lot together, mostly in Berlin, before she moved back to Barcelona. Then we started to make music together in different cities and venues and we are currently working on our next EP together with music-producer Jan Gandi. We also played on a boat with pirates. Real pirates. It was a boat with a sound system. Then there was another boat, where people went on to enjoy our performance. (Jeeyoung and Timon looking very puzzled) We sailed to a dock in Costa Brava in northern Spain where we played a show for people watching us from their own boats. The thing that made this even more special was the fact that the sound system that these pirates had was not the best, so people got closer and closer as the concert went on. People even swam towards us to listen. There was even a woman who threw us a tip of 10€ from the water.

● Thank you for sharing that. Could you just tell us a few projects that you are currently working on that you are proud of?

I love every project that I work for. I always get to work with interesting musicians and I get to share my music with people everywhere. I am collaborating at the moment with artists such as Vio, an amazing Indie-Soul singer, with whom I am working on bringing a new live setting to the stage. I played guitar for a lot of recent recordings of Moore, a singer at home in the disco-funk realm. We are thinking about recording and releasing more songs together. I also get to frequently work with an amazing singer-songwriter: Timon Lumière, preparing new songs, live sessions and also arranging together. In the next couple of weeks, I will be in the studio with “Last Laugh.” recording lots of great pop-rock tracks. These are the four main projects I would name. Recently, I also finished a program in Hamburg called “Popkurs” and met a group of very interesting musicians there as well, with whom I believe I can start collaborating as well. It’s all very exciting.

● You’re very active in Berlin's FLINTA* scene, both as an artist and privately. Could you describe what that scene is like in Berlin?

I would say the FLINTA community in Berlin is very homey. Whenever I perform at FLINTA events in Berlin, I feel very safe. No one is there to judge anyone else and everyone is supportive. When you’re on stage, the audience cheers you on, because they are proud to see you perform on stage and they love every moment of it. It is an amazing feeling to be seen in that light and to bring joy not only to the people watching, but also for myself.

The FLINTA scene is one of the main reasons why I decided to stay in Berlin. It’s something that I’ve never experienced elsewhere. I hadn’t even heard of the term FLINTA before, since it doesn’t exist outside of Germany. I am so glad that this community is slowly starting to build a bridge between Berlin and Rome. Now this term is also spreading in Rome and it makes me so happy to see people in my city getting this freedom and safety of expression that they have always deserved. I’ve heard from so many friends back home that they would love to have these kinds of safe spaces in Rome and it is slowly starting to take shape. They started doing open mics in Rome representing the FLINTA community. It is going to need a lot of time, because Italy is still very conservative, but it is coming along.

*FLINTA = Frauen (women), Lesbian, Intersex, Non-Binary, Trans & Agender

● Let’s talk about another part of your artistic identity. You have been a part of several movies. Could you give us an insight into what your process is when composing for a movie? Also, what would a dream movie be like, for which you would like to compose music?

I actually wish I was writing more for movies. I love doing it. This is where I have the freedom to express what I want in my music. Yes, I do need to collaborate with the director and follow their vision of a movie, but I still feel like I can be creative, when it comes down to making the music. 

When there is a scene that I need to write for, I put it on a big screen and sit down on the piano. Then I start doing exactly what I used to do as a kid. I don’t think too much about specifics and dive into my emotions. I try to see then, whether the direction I’ve taken matches with the mood that is being suggested in this particular scene. From there on, I do go into specifics such as: melodic progression and detailed musical ideas. Then I think about how to orchestrate it or what the director asks from the scene.

I think I would love to write music for an action film. It has everything that I want to express in my own music: drama, rhythm, orchestra, a bit of mystery as well, there is also a lot of guitar music involved. Something like a James Bond film would be amazing, actually. It’s also got suspense in there, which goes so well with guitar.

● Talking about movies, this brings us to another fun question: Which fictional character (movie, novel, cartoon, etc.) portrays you as an artist, or as a person the best?

If I were to reimagine myself, I would be a cartoon character. Let’s see, I think I would be Winnie the Pooh. First of all, we are both very cute. Yes, I know I am very humble (all laugh). We both love sweets, and both have such diverse groups of friends and care a lot about others.

● Where do you find inspiration?

Whenever I write something, I don’t think about things I’ve experienced myself. I think I always look inside myself at what I am feeling at the moment. Even when I am performing, I always try to close myself off from the rest of the world and look inside myself. Then I strap on my guitar and whatever I feel in that moment on stage is what my inspiration is. Of course my past experiences do impact the way I feel in certain moments in life, so in the end it all ties together.

● Is there a certain trend that is going on in the music industry that inspires you? Is there one that worries you?

Well, something I really like, that’s going on right now is fusion of genres and cultures. For example: mixing folk music with electronic music. I find electronic music to be very interesting and inspiring. Even mixing orchestral and electronic music. 

Something that Aria and I do together is, for example, also trying to create different mixtures. We usually don’t have a blueprint of what genre we are aiming for. We come from different cultures and backgrounds and we mix elements from each other to create something of our own.

A trend that worries me is musicians facing the pressure of social media. Feeling a constant pressure to promote yourself and to stay active on social media is actually very distracting for my music. I try to be good at self-promotion on social media, but I just cannot keep up. I understand this is the new way of presenting yourself as an artist to the world, but on the other hand, if I am not as active as I want to be on social media, it’s because I am actually doing something with my music in my real life. I am busy performing somewhere, practicing, so I try not to feel guilty for not being active on social media.

Another trend that worries me is the use of AI in our field. Not just in music, but in the arts in general. I think it is an amazing tool to have. I also use it frequently for bureaucracy. I think it may also be okay to gather ideas through AI, but actually creating art and composing with AI is something that worries me deeply. It actually makes me very sad as well.

I have a story about this as well. I once was playing with an artist for a concert and I found out later that she wrote all her songs using AI. Not only the lyrics, but even the melody and the whole musical structure. It was such an odd experience. Of course it didn’t feel authentic, but I still had to do it. It was my job to play these songs. The scary thing was, it sounded quite good. Of course, it does not compare to what real artists write, and it sounded odd, but it did scare me how well it was written.

● Summarize each of the following fields you’re active in into one or two sentences (or a list of words): Live performance, producing/composing, sound engineering.

Live performance: Emotions, feeling myself, adrenaline.

Producing/composing: Freedom, showing myself through my music.

Sound engineering: Giving other artists the right path to make their music shine.

● Are there other art forms that inspire you?

I love traveling, and every time I visit a new city I’m drawn to its architecture. I’m also a big fan of museums and visual arts; I love looking at paintings, even though I don’t have one specific style I prefer. Besides that, I’ve always been into graphic novels. I actually used to collect them when I was a kid.

● What songbird would you be?

I had to prepare myself for this question (all laugh). In Italian, it’s called fringuello, and in English it’s called a finch. This bird is very small, and so am I. It also changes the way it sings every time. It improvises. Also, you can spot a finch a mile away if it were to be in a group together with other birds. It has such a distinct voice.

● We have one last question for you. Is there something you want to tell our readers that we haven’t asked you about yet? Or better said: is there a question you’ve always wanted to be asked?

I think I would like to ask myself whether I am proud of what I do. And yes, I am very proud of myself. We all have our ups and downs, but I am proud of keeping on this path and I am also proud of all the experiences I’ve gained along the way.