The Musical Journey of Blues/Soul Singer-Songwriter Frank Viele

Frank Viele is the quintessential “weekend warrior,” working at his full-time day job during the week and still managing to squeeze in over 100 tour dates each year on weekends and holidays. He describes his sound as “new music with an old soul,” and after hearing him describe the recording process for his new album Fall Your Way (out April 7) and a bit of his tour history, you get the feeling Viele has seen a lot the past few years along his musical journey — both the good and the bad. But his passion only grows stronger every step of the way. 

Americana Lady:  Congratulations on your new solo album Fall Your Way! How was the writing process for this body of work different from your past releases?

Frank Viele:  Thank you!  The recording process for this record was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as an artist.  I worked with my producer, Vic Steffens, who’s worked with a bunch of legendary artists that I grew up listening to, including Sly Stone and Harry Connick Jr. Coming from a band environment, I was used to building a song or a sound around the band. In this recording process, I had the ability to look at every song individually and find the right cast for each song, which is a luxury beyond explanation. I’ve performed with so many amazing musicians over the years and I was able to call on them all to help me build the record I heard in my head. Overall, simply an amazing experience.

You seem to have many different influences and genres mixed into your music.  How would you describe your music in one sentence?

In one sentence? That’s tough. I guess I’d say what it says on my tours flyers…”New Music with an Old Soul” because that’s really what it is I think.  I believe that genres come from feelings and emotion, so in my case, if I’m feeling sad when I write a song, musically and lyrically it will probably come out that way.  If I’m in more of an upbeat mood when writing, the songs tend to have a funkier or livelier feel.

You’ve toured quite a bit in the past few years.  How has touring shaped your music?

Playing out over the last few years has definitely made me the artist I am today.  The road has helped me to hone my craft in numerous different settings.  It has also helped me to find myself musically and spiritually in a way.  It’s inspired tons of songs and has basically made me walk on stage in front of an audience every night, test my material, and make fans one at a time.  I sincerely love the journey.

What’s your favorite anecdote from the road?

Ever play in Roanoke, Virginia?  I walked into a club down there last year where legitimately I thought I was in the Blues Brothers movie.  There was a sign behind the bar that said “if you’re drinking to forget, please pay in advance.”  As I walked in the front door, the gentleman up front looked at me and said, “Y’all the band?”  To which I replied yes.  He then said, “Where y’all from?”  I told him Connecticut.  He said “So y’all Yankees.  Do you play the blues?” I replied, “A little bit.” He said, “We’ll see about that,” and simply walked away.  I’m delighted to say that he bought a copy of my record that night!  To me that was a victory!

What was it like collaborating with Joe Bonamassa and the members of Kung Fu?

Amazing.  Simply amazing.  All my songs start with just me and an acoustic guitar on my old beat up couch. To be able to hear players of that caliber perform on the songs is simply an unbelievable experience.  I’ll never forget the night my producer called me at 3:30 in the morning the day before Joe Bonamassa left for his tour to send me the final cut of Joe performing on my song, “Broken Love Song”.  I’m pretty sure I listened to the track 700 times that next day.

I understand you’re a big fan of The Simpsons, and your new music video “Easy Money” speaks to that.  How did you go about creating the video?

People tend to look at you a little bit funny when you tell them you’re an adult that watches a tremendous amount of cartoons.  My response is always that the real world is tough enough and after a long day, for me sometimes there’s nothing funnier than watching four-fingered yellow people live a very comical lifestyle.  And I always wanted to make a music video so when we decided to release “Easy Money” as the first single, I called my college buddy and my close friend from high school.  My good friend, Mike Guenther, from college is a phenomenal artist and web developer who had always helped me with my art related music needs.  He designed my first ever logo on a cocktail napkin over a few cheap beers back in school.  So I sent him the “Easy Money” track and I asked him what he thought would work for a video.  Based on my love for The Simpsons, we both agreed that only a cartoon video would do for this track and he wanted to take a shot at doing some full blown animation.  We watched all sorts of cartoons from different eras to get different ideas and then the video concept came to life.  My good friend from high school, Will Talamelli, then swung by the house and filmed the real life portion of the video.  To me there’s nothing better than goofy looking cartoon people dancing to a song that I wrote.  I knew that when I showed it to my mom and she started laughing that I had a hit.  I also like how one of the characters in the bar scene looks like Frasier from the TV show Cheers :). 

In addition to your album release on April 7th, what are your plans for 2015?

In 2015, I’m going to do what I believe I do best.  I’m going to continue to hit the road playing shows acoustically and with my band. I’m also going to be putting out a few more music videos, some alternate versions of some of the tracks on the record, and by the end of the year will begin pre-production on my next album!  But for the foreseeable future I’m simply beyond excited to share the new record with everybody.