Exposed Vocals just interviewed Alternative Rock group ‘The Feedbackers’

The Feedbackers, are an Alternative Rock group, founded in Montreal, consisting of four members: Mike Gerbasi, lead vocals and guitar; Jorge Flores, bass, keys, and vocals; Chris Renaud, drums and percussion; Antoine Bensoussan, guitar and vocals. 

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

It’s a bit of a mixed bag! Mike (guitar & vocals) and Renaud (drums) are both from Montreal, Canada; Jorge (bass) is from Mexico City, Mexico, and Antoine (guitar) is from Paris, France. We were all exposed to music from a very young age and it has always been and remained a thriving inspiration in our lives. Looking at musicians such as Freddie Mercury, bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, MUSE, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin left such a mark in us that it was impossible to escape from becoming a musician.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Feedback! A LOT of feedback! haha Pretty much Renaud, Mike and Jorge, us three (before Antoine joined us several years later) were working with another singer who always tended to point the microphone to the amp, causing a LOT of feedback in the room. After a lot of thoughts on the matter and trying to come up with a claver name, Mike came up with the very appropriate name The Feedbackers, which has remained with us since.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Well, it is a delicate subject. The music industry has been constantly changing very drastically throughout the years, sometimes having a hard time to keep up with the new trends. The digital era is now replacing the tangible hard copies of printed albums, making CDs a thing that is already becoming something of the past (like vinyls and cassettes). With the rise of downloading sites and streaming services (both legal and illegal), the revenue for recorded music has shrunk exponentially for everyone in the music industry. All that being said, there is almost little to no money in selling your music online. This has its pros and cons: music becomes much more accessible for everyone around the globe and more people can listen to your music which is a pro. The budget and expenses paid to record the album are not covered anymore by the sales, which is a con. It is a two sided coin for sure. The Feedbackers would like to be able to share music for free whilst remaining viable in some way so we can continue to produce more music for many years to come. Basically striving for a sustainable, happy medium between both worlds.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

First of all, in order to become a good musician you need to spent a LOT of time crafting your musicianship and your instrument.
Practice, practice, and practice, and rehearse, and rehearse, and rehearse. That will solidify your abilities as an individual and as a band. Same applies for live performances, if you wan to get better at performing, you need to go out and perform in a lot in different places so you learn all the different scenarios you will encounter in your musician life. Also, don’t be afraid to explore new sounds and new horizons with your instruments and your musicality. Don’t be afraid to talk to other people you encounter at gigs, specifically those whose music you enjoy! Network, network, network! Be nice with everyone you encounter; musicians and artists are very interesting people and in many cases very nice and welcoming! Be just as good to them as you would like them to be with you! (And this applies to life in general, not only the music world).

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

A band or a musician that makes no mistakes is a musician that is not performing, and that in itself is a mistake! Every time you go out there and perform there is always the possibility that something might go wrong! Whether is a malfunctioning cable, a broken string, a false note, a detaching guitar/bass strap, a detuned instrument (caused by and old string, a temperature or humidity change, etc), the electricity shutting down, a non-functioning amp, the dying batteries of a wireless microphone or of an active instrument or pedal… There are always unexpected scenarios that can happen at any time! The key to all this is to become adaptable to whatever happens. A musician need to be versatile by nature and needs to be ready to improvise a solution on the spot, preferably without skipping a beat, missing a chord, or (for the love of all things good) stopping the song. No mater what happens, the show must go on!

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Well touring can always be a very interesting and fun experience. You can sometimes get lost and have your bandmates and everyone looking for you! You get to argue about what places you want to eat and who gets which bed to sleep in! You always meet great and cool people where you go (some less than others). One time, Mike and Jorge went to play a gig in Toronto with our previous singer (before Renaud and Antoine joined). The venue and concert organizer was supposed to provide most of the drum set except cymbals… We were supposed to play late at night (around 9:30pm-10pm)! We got there around 7pm and the guy at the door told us we were next on stage! The gig organizer was on a cabin in the woods vacationing, so we couldn’t even contact him. Our drummer was still on a bus about to arrive to Toronto! We had no other choice than start playing the three of us until two songs later the drummer arrived. They didn’t even provide a drum throne! He couldn’t play! The sound engineer ended up beatboxing for us! It was quite an experience, but truly prepared us for the worst possible occurrences.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Life! Anything can become a source of inspiration for songwriting. Mike is our lyricist and he find inspiration on the challenges and struggles in life, the mundane routine, current issues, hate, love, relationships, breakups; pretty much anything can become the object of a song.
In terms of the songwriting process, it changes all the time; it really depends on the song. Sometimes it all starts as a communal jam, as a simple riff, as a conceptual song in which the subject has been chosen clearly way before writing the music. Sometimes it’s a set of words that morph into a melody which morphs into a hook or a song. Sometimes all the lyrics have been written before the music, other times it’s the other way around and the music is all written with no words; we have even had cases in which a random sound becomes the object of inspiration that ends up into a whole song!

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Of course we do! We have our own website: www.thefeedbackers.com
We have Facebook (facebook.com/thefeedbackersband), Instagram, Snapchat Twitter (@thefeedbackers), Bandcamp, ReverbNation, YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandsintown, Google+, Amazon, iTunes, and pretty much all we can get our hands on!

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

RENAUD: I don’t know about you guys, but I know Jorge has Taylor Swift’s “I knew you were trouble” on his.

JORGE: Yes, and I love it! Hahaha (Everyone laughs)

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Probably recording a lot of music, releasing it, prepping a world tour and making it happen, and vacationing a bit! Haha
Also acquiring new music!

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

We recorded most of the album at Mike’s studio! Currently were working with a Mac, an audio interface, two studio monitors and an entry level mic inside a homemade vocal booth. It would be great to upgrade any of these things!

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Well, right now we have emphasized exposing our music to new audiences through live performances. Our manager Carlos organized a huge amount of shows from February to the present, playing about a gig per week with several amazing bands from the local scene. Our crowd would see their shows and theirs ours, which is an excellent trade-off! We particularly like putting up a good live performance that mesmerizes anyone that attends our shows, making sure that whomever see us remembers us with a smile and a lot of excitement.
Asides from that, we have been using several social media platforms making sure that we also have a presence on the Internet so people can listen to us anytime in the comfort of their homes!

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

WHOLE BAND: Red Hot Chili Peppers, MUSE, Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin

ANTOINE: John Mayer

MIKE: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Arctic Monkeys, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, Van Halen, Pink Floyd

RENAUD: Deftones, Opeth

JORGE: The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, The Strokes, The Jim Hendrix Experience

Queen, Freddie Mercury!

They all inspired us to become musicians! We grew up listening to their music. We all respect them a lot and we would be humbled to share the stage with any of them!

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Sure! We just finished the recording and mastering process of our first EP which will be released on December 3rd! We are pretty much waiting for the printing process to be done.
We will have a big release show on December 3rd at the fully renovated Piranha Bar!
Also, before that we are playing a pre-release show on November 25th at Club Lambi alongside Chair Warriors!
We are very excited!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

ANTOINE: Volcanologist
JORGE: Music Teacher or History teacher!
MIKE: I honestly don’t see myself not doing music somehow. A luthier. Does that count? Maybe teaching studio recording or live sound?
RENAUD: I also can’t picture a world where I’m not in music. If I had to pick, it would be something sports related. If not playing sports, then sports journalism or photography.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

Antoine: Oh wow!! The first Rage Against The Machine album. I just saw the Matrix and one of their tunes at the end of the movie, I think it was the second one, I loved it, so I got their first album. Just bought it in a French Best Buy kinda store, nothing really exciting. Just started guitar, was about 13.

Jorge: Well, I have always been buying music with my parents since I was around 3 years old, before I started Kindergarten and before I learned how to read. The first cassette (yup, this is right before the CD Era in 1990) was a Michael Jackson cassette.
Other than that, I think the first album I bought by myself was the self-titled album by the Mexican pop singer Fey (1995). I bought it at a Mix-Up store, which is the biggest music retail store in Mexico. I always, and still up today get SUPER excited when I buy new music!

Renaud: First album was actually not purchased by me but I remember it like nothing else. Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers. It became the soundtrack to my youth and still influences me today. I remember really getting into the feeling and structure of music because of this album.

Mike: Funny enough, it was AC/DC’s Highway To Hell. I was like 11 or 12 and remember walking into HMV and buying that album, thinking “I only know one song off this entire record,” and that was when I learned how to give new music a try. The next album, however, was what truly taught me to listen to an album front to back and appreciate it, not song by song, but rather as a whole.
Dark Side of the Moon.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

It is always hard having to balance the many responsibilities and things that one has in life besides music. Even having several musical projects (like Jorge or Antoine) can become a challenge when you have to deliver a good performance in all of them. I guess the easiest way of accomplishing all that needs to be done is by having a clear agenda that one uses at all times. Assigning particular times for a certain tasks or projects helps a lot. Once you figure out what your routine is, rehearsal, gig, and work schedule, you can start adjusting the one-time activities and extra rehearsals which could happen that week. It’s all about maximizing the hours that one has in the day by having a clear vision of what the day and week looks like!

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2017?

Playing in lots of music festivals, newly released music, new compositions, and a LOT of awesome shows!