Felix Cartal Interview

EDM maestro visits Charles V. Keating Centre

Yanik Gallie and Bowen Assman interviewed musician Felix Cartal after his concert at X-Fest. Cartal’s new album Next Season is available for purchase on iTunes. 

Cartal is the DJ who headlined the Friday night EDM event. FDM (Matt McGlashan) and Babz (Thomas Shelby) opened for WAVES and Goliath. FDM and Babz are StFX students in Business Administration and Psychology respectively. 

The event scheduled from 9 to 12:30 took place at the Charles V. Keating Centre. No ambulances were dispatched to the event this year!

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YG: What is your first impression of university?

FC: It felt like an old-school American campus. It feels like we’re in Boston. I forget that schools look this way in Canada. I went to UBC and that campus is quite the opposite. StFX is a beautiful school. 

YG: Talking about UBC, how did your studying there and abroad in Scotland help you in your professional life? 

FC: When I was living in Scotland, that’s when I started to DJ. That was in 2007. I think DJ culture wasn’t popular in North America yet so to do a semester abroad there. People there were used to DJ culture already. I came back and felt uncertain in North America still. I gained confidence that it would take over North America soon. All of the artists I was following at that time were all European, they were from the UK. The classics like The Chemical Brothers, but then also the new guys like Justice and the French dudes who are a part of Ed Banger Records. I think it was the right time for me to live in Europe and I’m grateful for that.

YG: What are some differences in audience when you’re playing at a university versus playing at a more traditional venue?

FC: To me this crowd is going to be more mainstream. People will go out and party versus at a club people are more focused on the actual event. University crowds are more energetic. I played in Halifax last night and they were great gigs.

YG: How’s your experience working with a talented artist like Ofelia K?

FC: She’s awesome. I’ve worked with her now on three tracks. We did a song called New Scene, and then we did Drifting Away and Fakin it. Personally, I love writing with people who are sort of a little bit disconnected to the dance scene. She’s very much a person who’s not involved in EDM culture, then we have the ability to make music that’s more unique. We’re fans of each other’s stuff, but in a way that we know what goes on in each other’s scenes. I think that has served our tracks well. I’m stoked to collaborate with people who are not typical to my own scene. I love indie and folk, but sometimes those people are not aware of what I’m doing and that’s when sometimes magic happens. I want to break down genre walls. 

 YG: Can you tell me about your future shows?

FC: I’m doing Western University tomorrow. I’m doing Calgary next week. Pheonix and my hometown in Vancouver next weekend. Then I’m doing Groove Cruise which is San Diego to Cabo. As always, I keep on writing music.

Photo : Sean Hopkins