My name is Fran Prieto. Born in Spain I have been collaborating with other musicians for several years as musical composer and now I have decided to promote my own musical project in which I am incorporating musicians from Spain and from other countries
Q: How easily do songs tend to come to you?
Ans : It depends a lot on each song. There are songs in which I find inspiration and the right moment to create the basic structure (chords and main melody) in a short time
Q: You write all of your own music; where do you draw inspiration from when you write songs and what’s your favorite part about the proccess?
ANS: At all times I am looking for ideas for my music, many times exchanging ideas with other people, not necessarily musicians. On many occasions I reinforce inspiration visually by watching music videos. In the case of the song “September Song”, I was inspired by the nostalgic but warm atmosphere created by singer Lisa Hannigan in her music videos and in her performances.
Q: Which instruments do you play?
Ans: Keyboards, Piano and Guitar
Q: What was the first tune(s) you learned?
Ans: The first songs I learned to play were versions of classical music pieces: Air G String (Bach), Canon in D Major (Pachelbel), fragments of Four Seasons (Vivaldi). When I was a child made simplified versions of these pieces by playing it by ear
Q: Which famous musicians do you admire? Why?
Ans: I admire above all the musicians who are able to integrate the best music elements of past times into their music by combining them with new ideas. I could list many but maybe the ones that have marked me the most would be Alan Parsons & Eric Woolfson (The Alan Parsons Project, Benny Andersson (ABBA), Mike Oldfield, Johan Schmoelling (Tangerine Dream), Roger Hogson (Supertramp) , The Beatles, Queen, Eagles
Q: Describe your first instrument. Other instruments.
Ans: I started playing at the age of 5 years. My family was moving to a bigger house and I found a small children’s keyboard in the new house. The next years I spent hours playing that small keyboard until my parents bought a vintage wooden organ!. For many years I have played synthesizers and workstation keyboards, especially from Korg and Yamaha. I especially like the sounds of the 80s and 90s.
Q: Were you influenced by old records & tapes? Which ones?
Ans: I am absolutely influenced by ancient music, especially the music of the 80s. Maybe my favorite LP is “The Visitors” (ABBA)
Q: Who are your favorite musicians? Groups? CD’s?
Ans: In addition to the ones I mentioned before,
Marillion, Dire Straits, Yes, Alphaville, Toto, Phil Collins, and much more
Q: Do you teach music?
Ans: Currently the only person who taught music is my 3 year old son. He seems to have a good ear for music!
Q: How do you balance your music with other obligations – mate, children, job?
Ans: It is usually easy since my wife like me is very involved in the fine arts, not only in music, but also in painting and sculpture.
