Q+A with Ricardo Fiel of Moon Cowboy
Following a spree of inspired re-imagination of shoegaze, Moon Cowboy presents an explosion of sound, a new four-song EP fusing the classic moods of the genre with his experimental fancy for alt-sounds. Coming soon to shoegaze: disco and pedal steel guitar?
"I think it would be boring to just keep on doing classic shoegaze stuff. I want to take the guitar layers and vocal harmonies and bring in country, ambient, EDM, whatever feels right for the song, and make it something different."
Ahead of its release on May 17th, I talked to Ricardo Fiel, the boots and spurs behind Moon Cowboy, about the songs of an explosion of sound and his creative process. He's definitely no tenderfoot to the scene.
an explosion of sound is on the 1991 Recordings label - why did you decide to go with a label for this EP? You've released two others on your own - what have you learned from each type of experience?
Since I started Moon Cowboy I always said I didn't want a label. I have been in majors before with other bands and wasn't a great experience. But there's a few labels like 1991, Sonic Cathedral, AC30, Mute, etc. that are doing outstanding stuff. When 1991 reached out I didn't even blink, immediately said yes. I love their other bands. Being part of something is really good to have someone to share ideas with, and we all share the same passion for music at 1991 so it's been really helpful. Also, John from Last Tourist mastered the EP and did an amazing job.
Have you played all instruments on this EP? Was there a driving idea or concept behind this collection of songs?
Yes, played them all. I'm yet to buy a drum kit so drums are programmed. These songs were quite old actually, at least the early demos for them. I wanted to release each one as a single every 6 to 8 weeks, but joining 1991 was a good moment to rethink that and do an EP instead. After "beehive" was launched, I had "baby jane" and a lot of demos. So I went to every single demo I ever recorded and completely reimagined it, then each song just happened so quickly, I was on a burst of inspiration. "in colors" was the next one finished and I knew then what I wanted the EP to sound like and that song would be the perfect ending.
Do you have a favoured instrument to play?
Yes. My 12-string Rickenbacker. Everyone thinks of them as Byrds and Beatles, but they sound amazing through distortion and effects pedals - actually most of Ride's Nowhere is that guitar. I don't know how to play other instruments very well so guitar is just easier for me. I do want to get a drumkit soon. And I'm in love with lap steel and pedal steel guitars, but more in a BJ Cole kind of way.
You've drawn on some instruments/sounds that listeners might not typically associate with the shoegaze genre: distorted harmonica and a thick synth in "your bright light", piano in "in colours", the tinny beats of "a moment" or maybe some of the alt-country sound of your other songs. Your end product is quintessentially shoegaze - how do you do it?
And get ready for disco and pedal steel guitar, my wife gave me some time ago :)
Ha ha haaa!
I love the idea of experimenting and I love a lot of different music. I can be listening to My Bloody Valentine and immediately follow that with a 50's love song or some classic country. Writing music for me is a way of having fun and experimenting with all these things that make my musical universe, I think it would be boring (for me mostly) to just keep on doing classic shoegaze stuff. I want to take the guitar layers and vocal harmonies and bring in country, ambient, EDM, whatever feels right for the song, and make it something different.
Name three people that you would really like to hear an explosion of sound.
I'm going with Pete Kember (aka Sonic Boom) and James Chapman from Maps because I admire a lot of their work and they gave some feedback on social media and encouraged me to pursue the early idea for "a moment". Will send them the EP. Finally I guess Andy Bell from Ride, hearing him play was the reason I wanted to play guitar more than 30 years ago.
Was that Ride live or on album?
Album. I was 14 years old and learning to play the keyboards at the time, then I got a copy of Nowhere and as soon as I heard the intro to "Seagull" I knew I wanted to play guitar so I grabbed a cheap one as soon as I could. Then I spent a couple years not knowing any chords or anything, just trying to play along to stuff like Ride, Pixies, Adorable. Which I believe was a good thing to never have any guitar classes, it allowed me to explore sound rather than the instrument. Something I still do theses days.
Tell me about "a moment" - what was the inspiration behind it? It has a Flying Saucer Attack feel that I really like.
It started three years ago as an instrumental with the drumbeat and 13 e-bowed guitars and bass, but it didn't feel right. It was the exact same chord sequence as Slowdive's "the slab", which only came out last year, cosmic stuff. When I was going through the old demos earlier this year this one stood out and I came up with the vocal melody. I mostly rewrote the song by writing it on a synth first which I had never done, usually it's all guitars. I found this to be a much quicker way to write for me and I've been doing it ever since.
"in colours" sounds quite sad - what's the story behind this song?
Another very old one, the demo had about 15 years and I could never figure out how to make it a song. While writing the EP all of the words and guitars just popped out of nowhere and it was the quickest song I've ever recorded. Took me less than a day to do everything (and not even a full day because I have a day job). There's definitely a Slowdive "Pygmalion" feel to it and I wanted to keep that. It can be sad or happy, depends on how the lyrics are interpreted, and I'll leave that blank so there's room for everyone to feel it differently.
What's the shoegaze scene like in Portugal?
Portugal has to be the worst country for shoegaze. I remember watching Ride at Primavera Porto main stage and there were a handful of people, not more. It just never picked up around here. There's some really good bands like ALCATUNE and The Allstar Project, but it's not a scene. Hard rock won over here. That being said and moving out of shoegaze, Portugal does have amazing bands and the music scene is good. The Legendary Tigerman, Sean Riley, David Fonseca, Linda Martini... just some examples of really good stuff being done.
What's the biggest compliment someone has ever given you?
There were two recent ones that blew me away. Different people said my vocals on "baby jane" seemed like Neil Halstead, which is unbelievable because I think I'm a lousy singer and he's an incredible one. Must be the effects I'm adding to it. :) And a friend said the EP is better than Ride's Today Forever, which is my all-time favorite EP ever, so that's a big statement and blew me away.
Your vocals do sound like Neil Halstead on that one!
What's the weirdest thing someone has ever said about your music?
"wow, it sounds a lot like Keane". Nothing against them, and they're cool people, played with them twice, but I'm failing to see the similarity.
What's next for Moon Cowboy?
After the EP I want to focus on bringing to market an app I made to help other indie musicians better plan, release and promote music. I built it to help me and it saved me hours of work, so I want to see it there's market for that. Then I have some ideas in early stage worth exploring including an EP of cover songs, but it's too early to tell if I want to do that or release a few others that I'm working on first. They do sound a lot less noisy than the current ones, there's even a ballad in there, maybe a duet as well. Exciting.
Saddle up and head on over to the Moon Cowboy Bandcamp for more of Ricardo's shoegaze tunes and you'll find links and vids at the Moon Cowboy website.