Interview: Ryder The Eagle (Fr) - 11 Questions with Princess Chelsea

Secretly talent scouting while recently touring the world, Princess Chelsea aka Taite Music Prize winner Chelsea Nikkel has invited French songwriter Ryder The Eagle to perform in Aotearoa for the first time ever. He'll be here next week, playing at Tāmaki's Double Whammy with Pony Baby and Créme Jéan, and at Artworks Theatre on Waiheke Island (all-ages) with Nikkel's legendary band Teen Wolf and newcomers Lemoncholi — co-presented by Strange News and Susie Says! Princess Chelsea cooked up eleven questions for the Mexico-based heartthrob, learn all about Ryder The Eagle below and nab tickets for these very special shows today...

Ryder The Eagle (Fr)

Wednesday 23rd October - Double Whammy, Auckland w/ Pony Baby, Créme Jéan
Thursday 24th October - Artworks Theatre, Waiheke Island w/ Teen Wolf, Lemoncholi (all-ages)*

Auckland tickets on sale HERE via UTR
*Waiheke Island tickets available HERE

Princess Chelsea: Hi Ryder!

1. You seem to be touring all the time! How many shows have you played over the last 3 three years?

Ryder The Eagle: Yes, touring is my favorite thing. I usually try to release an album a year, and do around 100 shows per year. So I’d say around 300 shows over the past three years.

2. What are some highlights and any lowlights or interesting tour stories you feel like sharing?

I got robbed at gun point in LA during my first headline US tour last month. They took all the cash I had made on the tour, and it was maybe the first headline tour I did where I thought I was maybe gonna earn something. I think it’s a sign that means a tour can only break even at best, and I think I can live with that idea.

3. You’re currently touring with Jack Ladder in Australia — how did you two meet?

I’ve been a Jack Ladder fan for the past 7 years! I remember the first time I heard his music. I was on a solo tour in the Czech Republic, alone in my car at night and stumbled upon the video of his song 'Come On Back This Way', which totally blew my mind. I kept following his art then, and texted him on Instagram telling him how much I liked his music. When I released my second album Megachurch, he reached out to me to let me know he really liked it. So I opened for him in the UK last year, we got along really well and here I am today in Australia, playing with one of my favorite songwriters and seeing kangaroos for the first time.

4. Who else have you toured with in the past — and what are the challenges and benefits of being a support act on tour?

I’ve opened for Franz Ferdinand, Adam Green, Jonathan Bree, Dean Wareham, Luna, Cut Worms. I liked being an opener, cause you never have to worry about how many tickets you’ve sold. You soundcheck last, which means you have more time to drive to the city or get some tourism done before the show. You play for 30 minutes, which is a good time frame to do high energy sets, in and out. And the audience never really know what they’re in for, which I find exciting.

5. How many albums have you made?

I’ve made 2 EPs and 3 albums.

6. What 10 songs of yours should people check out first if they’ve never heard of you? [I have made a playlist out of Ryder's answer to this to plus 1 extra to bring it to 11 — interviewer's choice!! 11 is the magic number!!]

7. Everyone has a different way of seeing things — what is your modus operandi or “supreme vision” regarding being a musician and how does live performance fit into this for you? What are some lessons you have learned so far?

For me, being an artist is more important than being a musician. Music is the main medium I choose to use, but having a global artistic vision for what I want to convey is the most important for me. I usually think of my albums as a whole, more like a photograph of an era, which has to include music, visuals, videos, and of course live performances. The performance aspect of it is the main pillar, cause it’s where all this abstract vision can come to life. It’s a challenge to incarnate and embody something as ungraspable as a “vision,” but in my case it’s the most cathartic thing. I don’t know if I learned any lessons doing it, maybe that it can get mentally dangerous using your personal life as artistic fuel, but I think it’s a risk worth taking.

8. You are an amazing front person, have you always been this way or was it something you learned as you went along? Any tips or wisdom regarding being a front person?

I used to play drums in a band and remember feeling quite frustrated not being able to explore what a front person can. I think being a front person has to be some kind of a need more than a will. In my case it’s like an urge, really. That’s why I don’t get sick of performing ever, and I feel like I’ll never get sick of it. When I perform is one of the rare moments (if not the only) where I truly feel like myself, where I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.

9. In the years that I’ve been following you I’ve seen you change your presentation, if not your musical stylings, from a greased up shirtless biker to a sexy blue denim bad boi, to white denim cowboi, to a silent movie era priestboi (with cape) to your current incarnation which is tipping hats (quite literally) to the sailorbois from France. Forgive me if my interpretations are basic — can you correct me or tell us about these presentations? Are these characters or parts of you — when you change into these characters is it usually paired with an album cycle, or a tour cycle. Let us know only as much as you want to!

This character thing was not a conscious choice at first, I think it really started with my first album and the mariachi outfit. I had just moved to Mexico City and needed to represent that in the global album’s vision. Then it became something I needed to do, because each album is about a different era of my life. But you’re right, each of these characters are not really characters, but a different part of me that gets revealed by an album, an intention. I like to use the codes a uniform can hold to convey a very personal emotion. And even on a more selfish level, it helps me embody an emotion of mine and give it a life and representation of its own so I can get freed from it eventually.

10. Who was your first musical hero?

I remember listening a lot to The Doors as a kid, but maybe my first musical hero was Leonard Cohen. The fact he didn’t make music until his late thirties, that he was not a singer but a fallen writer, and that he ended up writing such pure songs always amazed me. I just feel like he was very human in the best and worst ways, but his music had this universal beauty to it that it must have been made by some omniscient godly figure.

11. You collaborate a lot visually with your partner Eloïse who makes distinctive hand coloured film imagery — does Eloïse ever collaborate with you musically and will she be coming to Auckland?

Eloïse’s art is so beautiful, powerful and subtle, I’m a huge fan. I’m super lucky we get to collaborate visually. Also, she has sang on songs of mine, and will be in Auckland too, singing a song with me.

Ryder The Eagle will be performing at Double Whammy on Wednesday 23rd October (early show!) with Pony Baby, Creme Jean and DJ Chanel 420, with a Karaoke after party hosted at public bar by Bespoke Priya Sami. Tickets available HERE.

Ryder The Eagle is also performing at Artworks Theatre, Waiheke on Thursday 24th October (all-ages) with Teen Wolf and Waiheke High School band Lemoncholi. Tickets available HERE.