Name: Fer Franco
Nationality: Guatemalan
Occupation: Composer, producer
Current release: Fer Franco's Ritos de Paso, featuring Gary Burton, I. La Católica, David Chinchilla, Mabe Fratti, Tom Leach, Patrick McGauran, Hugo Quezada, and Katie Tavini, is slated for release on February 9th 2024. A new single, "Eliminar Lo Innecesario," is out now.  
Recommendations: A book I loved: Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan.
Music, I keep coming back to Milton Nascimento’s Clube da Esquina.

[Read our Mabe Fratti interview]

If you enjoyed this Fer Franco interview and would like to keep up to date with his music, visit his official homepage.  



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening?

Depends on the type of music. But I do experience music in a “visual” way, often making connections between sounds or songs and images or scenes of nature.

Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I mostly listen with eyes open these days. But when I was a teenager I used to go to sleep with my headphones on.

Listening to Björk or Sigur Ros at that stage of life definitively prompted some amazing dreams!

Entering new worlds and escapism through music have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

Atmosphere, melody and sound design. I think that’s a constant in what I’m drawn to both as a listener and as a musician.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

First steps go back to three memories:

1) watching Kurt Cobain trash a stage and feeling that energy and excitement as a young boy (5 ish),
2) fiddling with my grandfather’s guitar, who was a classical guitarist and sang Latin American Boleros and
3) jamming with my brother in my late teens.

I’m pretty happy with what has happened in my life so far in terms of music. I’ve recorded and played with some amazing musicians, I’ve seen my favorite bands playing live and have had many opportunities to perform in venues all over the world.

So, excited to what’s next, but overall satisfied.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

For my it was a bit later, let’s say 16 – 23 … but music was everything then! I had headphones on 70% of my waking time. I became obsessed with finding new artists and listening to as many songs I could, it was great, those years were truly amazing.

My relationship with music has changed a bit since, moving in cycles. But I recently established a base (I moved around a lot during the past few years) and reconnecting with my record collection has brought some of that teenage excitement back.

How would you describe your own relationship with your instrument, tools or equipment?

I love my gear deeply! I’ve spent 15 years buying, selling, buying and selling equipment, always in the search of hitting that spot of “now I have everything I need …” It doesn’t exist, but I enjoy the game.

Recently, I’ve fallen absolutely in love with a Telecaster and Hudson Broadcast.

I don’t see instruments as tools, I do see them as magical things and sometimes they connect with you, sometimes they don’t and at other times, you have to work for it.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I think images, nature. I grew up in a country with pretty dramatic landscapes like erupting volcanos, lakes, the sea, etc. Also walking is a great source of inspiration. Reading biographies.

In a more practical sense, most of my musical ideas come from playing around with loops.

Occasionally I do dream fully formed songs but I am yet to capture one of those.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you couldn't or wouldn't in your daily life? If so, which are these? What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music?

I would say yes. Not so much in recent years, but I was notoriously quiet as a younger person and music was the avenue to really express who I was/am.

I cannot describe which parts of my personality flow freely through my music. But I would say that whatever is flowing, is flowing without much thought and restraint.

Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and about discovery. How do you retain a sense of playfulness and how do you still draw surprises from tools, approaches and musical forms you may be very familiar with?

First of all, it’s hard for me to maintain that sense of playfulness and surprise.

Luckily, after a not-very playful season, I feel like a teenager again when I listen and play music. I think that’s because of a few things: one, my wife, she’s incessantly curious and a big source of inspiration. Also I think it must rub on me or something!

Then, being in close contact with other musicians or creatives, people who are curious and venturing to push themselves out of what’s known. And seeing myself as a life-long learner, I constantly take courses, tutorials, there’s so much to learn.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I love the sound of the ocean, water in general, but crashing waves have a big impact on me.

With the ocean, well, there’s a rhythm there, so you could say it has a big element of musicality.

What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

Huh! Not a big data or numbers person, however I do pay attention to symmetry in song structures.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

I think we can. I think making music can be a reflection of how we are as people, our character, fears, passions, etc.

For me, the biggest lesson has been to be more confident and comfortable about who I am.

Going back to my mid-teens, the music I listened to had a big impact on how I felt about myself and how I interacted with the outside world. That hasn’t changed much, what I get from making music permeates most other aspects of my life.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

It’s a tricky one because I’m 99% sure I have tinnitus, so I’m always listening to something to avoid the “ringing silence”.

On a more intentional note, I listen to music constantly, but! I do enjoy the ritual of sitting down and playing a record once or twice a day.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Hmm, this is a great question (especially because I love making and drinking coffee). Something within the craft of playing a song relates to other activities like the example you suggested. The care, the patience, getting all the materials in place, it’s pretty similar in my experience.

Now with the things I can only express with music, yes! I believe there are things you cannot communicate in any other way, but I couldn’t say what those are, you just have to listen to the music I guess.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I would love to see more bands recording live with little to no “we’ll fix it in post” edits.