Picture this: A lone cowboy, wearing the largest wide-brimmed hat in the west. Emerging from a cloud of dust on horseback, wandering the desert we call life. This is how Australian-based producer Falqo (Alexander White) would like your first impression of him to be painted as. “My music is my horse,” he says, “a means to travel and I have no destination.”
And his music is a beautiful horse, with a coat of many colors and a rich, warm personality to boot. His newest single, “Someday,” was recently featured and is your newest summertime jam. (It’s about heartbreak, but it’s catchy. So who’s keeping tabs?) Eager to discuss what’s down the pipeline this summer, Falqo gave us a look into his creative process and musical journey as well.
You’re from Silverton, NSW, correct? How do you think that has aided in shaping who you are and how you live your life?
I was born, raised and still live in Sydney, Australia. Silverton is a small town in the middle of nowhere, outback Australia but it’s relevant to a graphic novel that I am writing, another one of my hobbies.
When did you first realize that music was your career calling? What is your music background like?
I started playing the trumpet at age 8 and was in the school band, I was pretty good and could read and write music. My family always had keyboards as toys and I could always play on them. I used to make songs (ringtones) on my Sony Ericsson phone and when I left school I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Architecture or joining the Air Force seemed like good ideas. I started djing in my last years of school, which didn’t help my grades. I got any job I could to fuel this expensive hobby. It wasn’t until I was 19 when my older brother downloaded a version of Fruity Loops and I seemed to understand the concept. My family disapproved of this hobby and encouraged me to go to college or get some kind of real job. I made this particular song one day and it changed everyone’s idea of me making music. It wasn’t even any good and I didn’t release it but from that moment I knew I just wanted to keep making music. Nowadays my family couldn’t be more supportive and involved in my music.
So how did “Falqo” come to be?
I have many nicknames from school, some were bad and some were okay but Falqo wasn’t one of them. I used to DJ and make music under many different names but I wanted to create a name that sounded like a single person rather than a band (i.e. Kazinsky or SebastiAn). I love American football, cartoons and also super heroes so I wanted a name that could represent any one of these things. My favourite animal is the Peregrine Falcon, it’s the fastest animal on the planet and I love the idea of flying. There used to be an Austrian pop singer by the name of Falco so I changed one letter but it’s still pronounced the same way.
What serves as inspiration for your music?
I love all music types, from rock ‘n roll to country and from classical to blues. I listen to everything and the music I am writing today is different from the music I was writing 2 years ago. A lot of the guitar stuff I do has some of rock elements while the keyboard is more disco/jazzy. But lyrically for a while I was writing a lot about relationships. As I get older–and more recently–I’ve been writing more about the planet and the relationship we have with the planet.
What made you choose Surfin Wavs Records to work with on your releases?
Surfin Wavs is actually my imprint, it serves as a platform to release and distribute my music. Before I started making music I used to surf a lot but now can’t seem to find the time.
Your new single “Someday” is amazing. How did you originally meet Wild & Free, and when did you decide they might want to be a part of the track?
When I released “Feel Your Love” in 2014 they asked to do a remix of the song. We started chatting a lot and thought it would be cool to do a song together, months went on but one day I just sent them an idea and we came up with ‘Someday’ quite quickly.
“Across The Sea” begins with guitar that is very reminiscent of Santana, and has a very Chromeo sound to it. Who did you work with to make that track come to life?
I made the song “Across The Sea” around the same time as “Feel Your Love” but I wanted it to have a lot of live attributes. I worked with Alex Bennison and Chris Kamzelas for their different types of guitar styles, Alex being more lead whilst Chris more rhythm. At this stage we didn’t have a lot of references, I just knew what guitar parts I wanted. I gave the song to Kam Salamba and he came up with the vocal melodies and lyrics.
Do you get to perform very often?
I performed for the first time on May 20th of this year. It was a lot of fun and I played a lot of unreleased music that was taken really well. I don’t have an agent as of yet but I’m excited to perform live to see people’s reactions first hand.
Who is your favorite superhero?
I’m not sure I have one, but the newish Dark Knight trilogy is definitely my favourite out of the superhero films. If I had to choose though as characters and powers, probably Superman.
A collection of songs is being released on Surfin Wavs November 23. Look out for a single or two before then.
