Interview - Hey Negrita

Hey Negrita, named after a Rolling Stones song, formed in London in 2002. M Online caught up with lead singer Felix Bechtolsheimer.

1. You spent time in the US, jamming with one of Ray Charles’ backing singers and a cowboy who had worked with Gram Parsons. How did this influence you?

My time in Florida was massively important to me as a person as well as a musician. I had always been a fan of the Rootsy and Country-tinged elements of what the Rolling Stones had played around with, but I had never been exposed to the real thing. I think it was the honesty of the lyrics and the tradition of story telling in American roots music that really appealed to me.

2. Last year Hey Negrita supported The Beach Boys. How was it?

It was a huge honour to be asked to open for the Beach Boys in Germany. The guys were absolutely lovely and the crowd was very open to our music.

3. Who has been your greatest musical inspiration?

I think that each of the musicians in the band would cite a different artist, most likely in completely different genres. This is what gives us our unique sound. That said, aside from my obsession with American singer songwriters like Guy Clark, Steve Earle and Jonny Cash, I have probably drawn the most inspiration from The Rolling Stones. It is their combination of amazing songs battered by an unmistakably decadent vibe that never seems to grow old.

4. You were included on the award-winning documentary We Dreamed America about the growing British Country movement. Do you feel part of a scene?

We do feel like we’re a part of this scene as we know a lot of the bands on the circuit. Alabama 3 are our mentors and maître d' and we play regular gigs with The Barker Band and Kitty Daisy and Lewis. They’re both incredibly talented and some of the nicest people we have met in a long time. The Broken Family Band and The Coal Porters are also good friends of ours, as are Cedars and Viarosa. There is a real sense of community amongst the new British Roots bands, we try to help each other out and we drink together when we’re not gigging.

5. How did your recent tour around the US and UK go?

The UK tour last year was great. We went all over the country and had a great time. The US tour last month was even better. The venues were rammed, the beer was cold and the audiences were incredible. Canadian Music Week in Toronto was incredible and our five shows at SXSW in Austin went down a storm.

6. Tell us about your new acoustic album due out in October.

The album is a collection of acoustic versions of songs from all three Hey Negrita albums plus a new song, the title track, Burn The Whole Place Down. We recorded everything in five hours, with the band sitting in a circle in the live room. No overdubs. No studio trickery. We didn’t even bother using headphones. We just wanted to capture the sound we make when we’re jamming in the kitchen.

7. What song are you most proud of?

The Last Thing That I Do, I love the video (it got to number three in the YouTube Charts with over 650,000 views). I love Paul Tkachenko’s Dixieland brass band at the end.

8. How important are royalties to you as a writer?

Royalties are incredibly important as they can be the only steady stream of income during times when the band is not on tour. Without royalties we would have to deal with an incredibly irregular cash flow. We would also be earning far less money, making it almost impossible to keep the band going.

9. With ever-changing technologies do you have any unusual ways of reaching fans with your music?

I think that the amount and quality of new technologies available are giving artists an opportunity to think outside the box and to promote their music without spending a million quid on a national advertising campaign. We are currently having three fully animated videos made, which will show the band fighting zombies on a ship. The videos will be pretty violent and gritty and are aimed purely at web-based services as we strongly believe that MTV is of little use to artists like us. We will run these as viral campaigns, one a month leading up to the album release date.