Felix Indiana - Interview

by Owen Peters

published: 25 / 9 / 2015

London-based singer-songwriter Felix Indiana shares his love of poetry with Owen Peters and how he plans to develop his career now university studies are finished

Article

During the early part of my telephone interview with Felix Indiana I do believe he blushed (he’ll probably deny it) when I relay a story to him. “I saw you play live earlier this year,” I tell him. “When you finished your set I said to the guy you were supporting, 'He’s really good, you’d better watch yourself.# I put Indiana out of his misery telling him it was Robert Chaney’s album launch at the Servants Jazz Quarters. Currently, you kind of come across seeing Indiana play live, as opposed to making plans to see him as he has limited gigs set up. “My aim is to put together an EP. I want something which is tangible, not just a download or stream option. Once I have more songs in place then I can set up more gigs,” he tells me. It’s only four years ago since Indiana, then aged eighteen, first stepped on stage in front of an audience, playing an open mic night at the BirdCage in Bristol. “I’d always written songs mainly for my own benefit. I like to play around with words. I’m no great expert but I do like poetry." He quotes Betjeman, Smith and Larkin as being amongst his favourite poets. He recites the opening line from Larkin's poem 'This be the Verse'..."they fuck you up, your mum and dad." Clearly from his laughter he finds the line or thought amusing. The wordplay he eludes to is evident on his trio of Bandcamp (2013) tracks titled 'Deep End.' 'Lust' is the stand out song in which he conjures up mental pictures of half-smoked cigarettes, accompanied by a lover's face he can’t forget, no matter how hard he tries. Along with his simple guitar chord arrangements, I’m sure many listeners won’t waste any time aligning his style to mainstream artists. To my ears he’s more in the groove of Billy Bragg and Tallest Man on Earth than the Jake Buggs of this world. We talk about the challenges singer songwriters need to overcome in order to move from open mic to setting up gigs. “Yes, it can be difficult and that’s why I’ve decided to focus on an EP, to release more tracks so I have a bigger range of material to work from. To be honest, opportunities to play at a festival such as the Upstart Crow are a huge plus for me. I played there last year, and really appreciate the organisers asking me back to play again this year. I’ve seen the line up. There are so many quality singer songwriters. It's both inspiring and a little daunting as well.” So where does he go after the Upstart Crow Festival? “Back to writing more songs, setting up the EP and playing my music wherever and whenever I can. Now I’ve finished my studies at university, I intend to really focus on my music.” Indiana to his credit doesn’t seem to be chasing anything titled success. “I love playing, if I can play to bigger audiences that would be great. In the meantime I couldn’t be happier than where I am with my career.” Google Felix Indiana, it’s a good start point to see what he has to offer. He has the talent, I hope he has the stamina as well. As Kipling said…”If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same…” Judge for yourself when Indiana plays at the Upstart Crow Festival on the 27th September.