Elephant Ears Talks To Fanbase Music Magazine About How He Got His Name, His New Single, And Working With Bressi_Soul Much And Much More
Interviewed by Duzzy Clayton
Intro
I catch up with Afredo Paz or better known as Elephant Ears and get to know this awesome unique talented musician, we also talk about how he got his name Elephant Ears, we talk about his latest singer which features the amazing Bressi Soul on vocals and we also talk about why he waited so long to release this single
Enjoy The Listen
Interview
Hi Alfredo, welcome to Fanbase Music Magazine, you are known as Elephant Ears, can you tell us how you got that name?
Hi Duzzy! It wasn’t easy to come up with a name that best represents what I do. I wanted a name that suggested good hearing or good sound, but everything I liked was already taken. One day, while waiting in an office for an appointment, I saw a beautiful African sculpture of an elephant with massive ears. That’s how I came up with the name Elephant Ears. At that moment, I remembered that one of my studio clients always tells me that I hear like a bat, so I thought Elephant Ears sounds cooler than Bat Ears. I decided to go with it and rebranded my audio production agency and myself as Elephant Ears.
Can you tell us where you are from and, what is your earliest musical memory on how you got into music?
I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, but I live in the UK.
I’ve always been attracted to music and sounds; they really pull me in. Some of my earliest music memories involve being captivated by the big symphonic pieces one of my grandfathers used to listen to. I was always amazed by how powerful a group of players could sound.
I started learning music by coincidence. I had some motor skill difficulties because I was born prematurely, and one of my therapists suggested to my mother that I take instrument lessons to help improve my fine motor skills. We had an electric organ at home, so I started taking lessons when I was about 10 years old. It was very hard at the beginning, and I kind of hated it, partly because my hands and feet couldn’t do what they were meant to do. But after trying and trying, I started enjoying it. I also started taking guitar lessons and eventually moved to piano lessons towards the end of my musical studies.
During my teenage years, I became very curious about how songs and film soundtracks were made. I started doing very amateur recordings at home, experimenting and recording on cassette recorders and things like that. This led me to start writing my first “compositions”. Eventually, I began playing in bands with school friends, and everything progressed to a more professional level for a while.
How would you describe your sound and genre?
This is a very difficult question with many answers. My priority when making or writing a piece of music is to evoke emotions. So, if there was a musical genre called “emotions/feelings,” my music would fit there perfectly.
Currently, my latest work mainly consists of piano pop-rock- ballad-driven songs. However, I have many projects in the pipeline that will divert from that into more pop or darker cinematic sounds.
Additionally, as I collaborate with multiple artists, I will always be adapting to their style as well.
Are you a solo musician or do you perform and record with a band?
I mainly describe myself as a producer, sound designer, and songwriter. At the moment, I’m not intending to play live or be a member of a band. I’m focused on creating and recording as much material as I can. That said, I have many song collaborations with other regular artists, such as bressi_Soul, with whom I constantly record. So, you will start seeing more work from us coming out from now on.
Okay, let’s talk about your new single, ‘Learning To Say Goodbye’ which features the amazing bressi_Soul, first of all, can you tell us a little bit more about Bressi and how it came to work with her?
Of course, I met bressi_Soul through a songwriting course over a year ago. The first time I heard her singing, literally a few notes in, she blew my mind as she sounded like Janis Joplin, who I’m a big fan of. So, I thought, I really want to work with her. I approached her and asked if she wanted to make some “dark” cover songs, and she agreed. Since then, we have been working and recording a lot together.
When I was auditioning singers for “Learning to Say Goodbye,” I asked her, and her voice was perfect for it. She also connected to the song so deeply that it was an easy decision to make.
What is the track about?
Learning to Say Goodbye” is about learning to let things go. It’s written as a breakup or goodbye song, but it goes deeper than that, and I’m glad a lot of people have felt the same. The energy and reactions the song creates are truly mind-blowing
In our case, bressi_Soul and I are both on a transformational path, both coming back to making music after a long break. In my case, a lot of my insecurities as a musician were stopping me from continuing to make music. So, the song can also represent learning to let go of the past and carry on.
Where was the track recorded and who worked and produced the track?
The song was produced, recorded, and mixed by me in my home studio in London. Apart from a few exceptions—the cellist, pianist, and drummer, who all live in different countries—we recorded remotely thanks to the technology we have these days.
I also co-wrote the song with Emmy Award-winning songwriter Andrew Rollings via Zoom. He’s based in California, and once again, technology has opened the borders for remote collaborations. It’s truly amazing and great to be able to do this
This is your first track since 1999, can you tell us why it took this long to release something and what has the journey been up until now?
I gave up making music after experiencing burnout. I was trying far too hard to make it as an artist, which led to burnout and made me feel very insecure about my music. So, eventually, I gave up. Then life got in the way, and I slowly abandoned playing and writing music. Luckily, I took the sound engineering side seriously and became a full-time audio engineer and sound designer. However, I really missed working on my own projects and writing my own music. The Covid pandemic gave me some extra free time, which helped me come back. I started relearning music, writing again, and rebuilding networks within the industry from scratch
Will you be releasing any other music soon and what can you tell us about it?
Oh yes! I have a lot of demos recorded already that I’m planning to start producing as soon as time allows. I have several projects with Bressi_Soul, including a dark cover EP I mentioned before, plus we will soon start recording another original song written by both of us. Budget permitting, we intend to record a full choir for this new song called ‘Dreaming of You.’
I also have other projects with different songwriters and artists, all in good shape. So, hopefully, you will hear more soon!
Thank you for doing this interview do you have any last messages for our readers?
A big thank you to you for this opportunity, and to the readers, thank you for reading the interview. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I do. Personally, I put my heart into everything I do, and I hope you will feel it when you listen to my work
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