In Conversation With Attawalpa
Image: Gabriella Maria Gonzalez
Young Turks OG, Attawalpa, is back; slow dancing on the sleazy side of Baroque Pop, with the release of ‘Killer’, the second offering from his forthcoming EP ‘Patterns’, arriving in 2021. As he navigated himself through the first lockdown, then a second, playing a string of small shows in between, Attawalpa (AKA Luis Felber) has managed to maintain a sense of positivity in an otherwise negative external environment, writing and recording into the midnight hour, and feeling happy with the results. We caught up with him one Sunday afternoon after he returned from a walk with his family, and he was feeling rather chipper…
What’s changed for you from one lockdown, when we spoke last time, to the next?
My beard’s gotten shorter. I guess the way I look at releasing music – it was quite daunting to do it during the first lockdown, ‘cause no one knew what it meant, you know? No one knew what the lockdown was. I feel like I learned a lot in that first lockdown, there was a lot of time for reflection. I guess with most things that you have to get good at, I find the main thing is confidence, and I’ve got confidence now with releasing music. Since we spoke a lot more people have been listening to my music, having ‘No Fools’ on Netflix made my numbers go up loads, and I’m really happy that I released my EP around April because a lot of people listened to it. I’ve been in contact with a lot of – I guess you could call them fans? People who listen to my music! It’s weird to think of having fans. I make music I want to listen to so when I speak to people about my music it’s a really nice, full-circle feeling. That’s given me the confidence to carry on doing what I’m doing. When we spoke I had this idea that a label would swoop in and save me, wave a magic wand and I’ll just be sorted. In reality the work really starts when you start releasing music. No one’s going to wave a magic wand, I just need to do it myself.
What was it like dipping your toe back into the live world?
It was amazing! It’s the best feeling in the world. I’ve taken all the drugs under the sun, and when you’re fucked up in your twenties you think that’s the best feeling, but it’s not. It’s the best way of numbing your feelings. But playing music… You put all the work into making the songs and then get told you can’t play live. I have an ego, but I do realise the rest of the world is in the same position! Then suddenly the doors open and you can play live, so I just booked as many gigs as I could. And it was weird! The first gig was at the Windmill, and I got a whole new band together because none of my band could make it. We had one rehearsal then just played, and it felt great. I’m kind of a perfectionist so I like to rehearse a lot, but after this whole lockdown thing I just want to play! It was weird with everyone sitting down – I usually go into the crowd a lot and obviously I couldn’t do that. But I felt like people listened more. They can’t go to the bar, they just sit down and experience something that they haven’t experienced in months, and they just take it in. The George Tavern gig after that was weird. The venue looked beautiful, and I had my old band with me. Literally 40 seconds into the set, the owner came up to me and asked me to stop playing. Long story short, there was a guy from the council there – we all thought it was a Covid check, but it wasn’t that at all, it was a noise complaint. Which is just like, what the fuck man? Have a soul!
You’ve said that your track ‘Killer’ is written from the perspective of mother nature, and the theme of mortality crops up quite a bit– is that something inspired by current events?
I’ve had a lot of death around me since I was a teenager. It’s always scared me. At the end of the day, all we really have is ourselves. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always had this fear, just knowing all these people that I love aren’t always going to be around my whole life and vice versa. My best friend passed away on my 22nd birthday – when I was thirteen a kid died of meningitis at my school, on the school grounds. It’s always been around, that idea we’re not immortal – but when you’re a kid you do feel like that, so it’s this duality of different thoughts and feelings. I still feel immortal sometimes! But it’s the only thing that we can be sure will happen to all of us, and I find it weird how we’re not taught that at school. We should embrace it because we literally can’t do anything about it. But I think that song comes from that fascination. I wanted to give myself some closure, and make a positive statement about death.
You’re releasing a remix of ‘Done Hanging On’ with Joel from Wolf Alice, how did that come about?
We’ve known each other for lifetimes, it feels like – since I was in punk bands and he was in a band called Mafia Lights. We’ve always wanted to work together, but never have – this is the first time! I sent him the song, and he got his head around the harmonies and the melodies. I wrote the song on the piano, and the melodies come out more like that, but the single is more drum and bass, more of a driving pop song. But Joel’s just really dived into those harmonies and melodies and made something really fucking cool.
You’re releasing another EP this year, ‘Patterns’. What can we expect from that? You’ve worked with Matt Allchin for some time, are you continuing that relationship?
I’ve had these songs for just under a year. If the EPs were an album, ‘Spells’ and ‘Patterns’, it would always open with ‘Borrowed Time’ and always close with the song ‘Patterns’ closes with. It gets a bit darker on ‘Patterns’, but also more beautiful, and the arrangements are a bit more complicated. The last song is six and a half minutes long – I’ve never written a song that long! It just happened. When I and Matt were working on it the computer would crash every five minutes. It was a really drawn out process but I’m really proud of it. It’s basically a love song about me and my phone! It starts with me on the piano, but it ends with just electronic music, and all my voicemails stretched out and weirdly processed. I think that’s the most ambitious thing I’ve done musically. I love all the songs on ‘Spells’ but I think ‘Patterns’ is a bit more advanced.
We spoke the other day and you were doing some casting assistant work! Have you got anything else lined up that’s not musical?
I’m gonna start a TV show! I’ve written three ideas, and they’re all based around ‘TFI Friday meets 120 Minutes’. Quite 90s references! And ‘The Word’! I got really close with one of them a couple of years ago, but it didn’t quite make it. My idea is basically a music show, but set in a restaurant. I’d be the host and the interview would be in the kitchen, with the band making the food that we serve to the audience while they’re watching the gig. What’s cool about those 90s shows is the guest and the host don’t take anything seriously. If they’re doing something that’s completely out of their comfort zones, then they’re not taking it too seriously. And with the state of live music, we could pay bands, we could help!