Felly talks new record and current tour

We caught up with the talented Christian Felner, known as Felly, and chatted about his first night of tour, isolation, writing, beginnings, and music. If you haven’t heard of him yet listen to his latest Young Fel 2 and catch him live in Seattle February 17th at Neumos.

PlayXear: Where am I catching you?

Felly: We are in Portland at the moment. We played our first show of the tour last night and I’m so happy we had a good first show. I was a little nervous of what it would be like but it was sick.

PlayXear: Is this the first official tour since the pandemic?

Felly: We had a few shows at the tail end of it all to dip my feet in, but this is the first tour officially.

PlayXear: How is the vibe right now?

Felly: The questions of what’s cool to do or not is a little weird but everyone is on the same page trying to focus on the good things and have fun. I was excited to see that because I thought it might be a little uptight, fear in the air, not coming out, but people came out and had fun and enjoyed their lives. I was so happy to see this.

PlayXear: What are you looking forward to most on tour?

Felly: I’m there to bond with my fans which is cool and refreshing. I just turned 26 and I was talking to my friend’s mom before we started, and she said to me “This one’s going to be different from when you were 19.” I think for the better and that’s great, it’s cool to see these other kids get older and have the same passion for me and my music. I’m so grateful because they probably have other things to do, starting families and whatnot but I’m still in their hearts.

PlayXear: How was your beginning with music?

Felly: I’ll give you the short story about my life. I’m from Connecticut, small family, lost my dad when I was eight, then my mom remarried a couple of years later to a guy who had also lost his wife to cancer and they fit like a puzzle piece. I had a lot of free and alone time and I was around a lot of older people who showed me partying and music, I had the cool older brothers. I started making music and selling beats and immediately attached to it, then I got into school at USC, got into music industry and met a bunch of people who make music out there. I found my crew, on tour with one of them right now, “Hey!”

PlayXear: When did you realize when music could be a career?

Felly: I think even before I got into college, I was selling beats and seeing how I could serve people and what I was good at. I was writing my beats and then it was kind of out of necessity to write a song. My beats needed words and I created songs. So I filled that role and now I want to make songs that everyone can sing. When you pick up a guitar and play “Wonderwall,” I want my music to be something like that, for someone to pick up a guitar and play. I want to write timeless music.

PlayXear: Tell me about your latest release, was that written though the pandemic?

Felly: It was born through the first two years of the pandemic, the first half was a little overcompensating me trying to go back to my roots. It’s called Young Fel 2, where Young Fel was more of me on my rap thing having fun. I wanted to double back to that because I felt like there were things that were unsaid and I had unfinished business. My later album, Mariposa, had more guitars on it and that’s where I plan to go. I wanted to give people like a hat tip to the past before I really start branching out. It was a little more of a nostalgic thing I wanted to tap into and the essence of how I got into this position.

PlayXear: You have already collaborated with some pretty impressive folks, how did those happen with Carlos Santana and Jack Harlow?

Felly: I met Jack Harlow at a few shows in Texas and he’s good people and likes me as a human being. I just asked him and he was like, “I got you.” The Santana one started with this song I had which the label sent out to his team on a whim. We were going to originally get a rapper and that sounded traditional and easy to me and I wanted something more exciting and different. It was the first month I was trying meditation and when I got the call at home that he wanted to play on it, I was meditating and thought, this really works.

PlayXear: What is your creative process? Do you find yourself writing on the road?

Felly: I need to make time to do it, last night while everyone was going to sleep I got in my little bunk and sat with my guitar and found a melody and a line that I liked and just stayed there with it . I told myself that I’m going to write one song a day, which is very ambitious goal, but I want to do it. It’s hard to do both at once but I hope to and see if it’s possible for myself. It’d be sick to come home from tour and have an album written, it feels like the right time to do it.

PlayXear: What’s something you’ve brought on tour to remind you of home?

Felly: I like bringing homie things like incense and candles, smells, and teas. We have to get some plants too I like to feel at home and not a squalor, I’m older now.

PlayXear: What are your plans after the tour?

Felly: I think a couple of festivals in the summer, and back to the studio again. Trying to write all the songs first and record them all there instead of doing them all scattered. I think I can make the process better with what I’ve learned and hope to do so this time around.

PlayXear: What hobbies do you have outside music?

Felly: I meditate a lot, listen to a lot of podcasts, do a lot of spiritual things. I feel like I’m intuitive enough where I can turn going for a walk into a hobby. I can make sure everything I do is very fruitful, even talking with people. I feel like I can get something even from going out and drinking with people. Actual hobbies? I don’t know, I want to do some woodwork someday which would be cool.