Fever Feel founders Landon Franklin and Logan Gabert left their hometown of Calgary, AB for the wilds of Vancouver Island to cultivate their craft as artists.
We are very excited to have 60s-psychedelic-fuelled, Fever Feel as May’s The Zone @ 91-3’s Band of the Month.
Through the magic of the internet, Tyson Elder was able to chat with Logan and Landon about the band, their extensive touring, their recording process, and their love of film photography.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rocktographers made the very difficult decision to postpone all of our Band of the Month photo shoots. We love supporting the local music community and being a proud sponsor of The Zone @ 91-3’s Band of the Month program, but we knew that keeping ourselves, and our bands, safe was our first priority. Unfortunately, that meant we couldn’t work with Fever Feel this past month.
Rocktographers is anxious to get back behind the camera, but only when we can do it safely. We will continue taking cues from the Canadian and British Columbian governments on when we can safely resume photo shoots.
That said, we are still committed to being part of the Band of the Month Program in any way we can.
Tyson Elder: First things first, congratulations on being May’s The Zone Band of the Month. It feels like it’s been a long time coming.
Fever Feel: Thanks Tyson. It’s great this worked out.
TE: It’s a strange world we’re living in right now. How have you been doing during this COVID-19 crisis? What’s been keeping you sane? Any guilty pleasures?
Fever Feel: Yeah it sure is. We’re doing fine. Friends and family are healthy so we’re happy. We record at home so we’ve been able to spend a lot of time doing that. We just got the masters back for Less Precious, Pt. V and are in preproduction for the next record. We have a few guilty pleasures, but I’m not sure it’s radio friendly content.
TE: I spent this past weekend revisiting your 2018 self-titled full length LP. It is truly an outstanding record both conceptually and sonically. The album feels like an unearthed gem out of time and really lends itself to the vinyl pressing.
Fever Feel: Thanks, that’s really nice of you to say. There definitely is a storylike nature to it. We tried to create a cohesive album that flows like a concept record, but with less emphasis on a specific concept so that the listener can draw their own conclusions. Vinyl definitely promotes sitting down and giving it a go from front to back.
TE: Your debut record is masterfully crafted with many songs seamlessly flowing together into ’60s-psych-influenced epics. Most noticeably on A-Side of the record with the songs Spitting Silver, Lose Your Mind, Far Beyond the Path You See, and Who Are You? How much intention and experimentation did it take in the writing and recording process to achieve this?
Fever Feel: We wanted the record to flow like that to support the story. It was very much intentional, and also time consuming. It took quite a bit of planning to get everything to flow right.
TE: There is a fair amount of psychedelic exploration throughout your work but it was that late ’60s LA sound that hooked me. Songs like Good Morning Babe are soaked with that Jim Morrison-esque swagger. How much do your influences bleed into your songwriting?
Fever Feel: We’re always listening to a bunch of different records so naturally those play a role in shaping the feeling or production of what we’re working on at any given time. Looking back, we were listening to a lot of records from the ’60s while we were making the album, so it makes sense you can hear that influence.
TE: The single Somewhere Down the Line will be featured as your Band of the Month single on The Zone @ 91-3. Can you tell me a little about the song?
Fever Feel: It’s the first single we released off our debut LP. The lyrics of the song relate to the theory of solipsism which is the view that one’s self is all that can be known to exist. It’s sort of a merry-go-round thought that if we can only be sure of our own consciousness, could our world and everything in it just be a self projected reality?
TE: Even your self-titled album’s artwork is reminiscent of something you’d find digging through crates at your local used record store. It goes without saying Fever Feel has a very strong brand image. Even when I’ve seen you guys walking around town or at a bar I’ve known who you are without being formerly introduced. How hard was it to settle on something consistent as a young band?
Fever Feel: It wasn’t something we ever sat down and planned. So, not hard at all. The choices we make all feel natural and I think that’s a good place to be creatively.
TE: We at Rocktographers are really disappointed we couldn’t get together for our photo shoot before the world shut down. On the topic of photography, while creeping your Instagram page, I noticed that the band is a big fan of using black & white film. What drew you to that aesthetic?
Fever Feel: Yeah it’s too bad. We’ll have to do a shoot after things become normal-ish again.
TE: We’d love to do that.
Fever Feel: With 35mm film you often get moments you don’t plan for and a lot of times those are the most interesting. We usually don’t tour with any crew either, so we can just set up a camera, hand it to someone and have them shoot a set. There isn’t a lot of explaining necessary.
TE: Fever Feel has been diligently working on new music over the past year with the release of a series of double single EPs called Less Precious. The fourth in the series came out this past April. Can you tell me a little about the concept behind this collection of recordings?
Fever Feel: For sure. Basically, with Less Precious, we kept tracking while we were touring. We set up in hotel rooms and lent studio spaces or whatever other rooms we could get our hands on. We even got to track a song on Buck Owen’s grand piano in Bakersfield, CA. We love his music so that was pretty cool. Because time was more limited, we had to commit to decisions quick and not over-analyze. It makes these songs feel very different from the self-titled.
TE: Is it a fair statement to say Fever Feel is a touring band? The band has consistently burned a trail up and down the West Coast for a few years now. With frequent stops in LA, Palm Springs and San Francisco, do you find it easier to tour in the States over Canada?
Fever Feel: Sure you can call us that if you want. We’ve been on the road quite a bit. We’ve been coast-to-coast across Canada which, we’d like to do more often, but of course there is a lot less driving involved between major cities in the States. In that regard, it’s definitely easier south of the border. We’ve been to the east coast and southern US states too but have focused on west more often because it’s close to home.
TE: Has touring in Mexico changed any of your perspectives on touring? Have audiences been receptive to you there?
Fever Feel: Yeah we had a great crowd when we played there back in February. The people in Mexico were so kind to us, we definitely want to go back soon.
TE: How has COVID-19 impacted your touring schedule? Will you be doing things differently going forward?
Fever Feel: We’ve had a cancel a few plans, but we’ve been pretty fortunate timing-wise. We finished a run of shows right before everything got locked down and had no COVID-related issues, so we’re definitely thankful for that. Other than the impossibility of live shows any time soon, it’s hard to say how little or much things will change going forward. We’ll just have to wait and see.
TE: Thanks for taking the time doing this interview. I’m really excited to Fever Feel on The Zone this month.
Fever Feel: Us too, thanks for having us.
Fever Feel’s psych-fuelled single, Somewhere Down the Line on The Zone @ 91-3 will be featuring for the entire month of May. You can find that song as well as two others available for download on his Band of the Month page. Rocktographers is proud to be a supporting sponsor of The Zone’s Band of the Month program.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Fever Feel’s Zone Record Store Session at Vinyl Envy has been cancelled. Stay tuned to The Zone @ 91-3 for updates about future performances.