THE FELICE BROTHERS
Interview by Karley Sciortino
Images by Michael Schmelling
The Felice Brothers are lounging around backstage prior to the London date of their European tour. Three brothers of blood (Simone, Ian, and James) and two “adopted” as blood brothers (Farley and Christmas), the five scruffy look-ing musicians are in the midst of a role-play, each as their own fictional member of a made-up New York mafia family. Half way through their game, a member of one of the supporting acts walks in and asks the dreaded question: “Hey, aren’t you guys from Woodstock?” The room falls silent. “No,” smiles eldest brother Simone in his part-New-York-City-part-country drawl. “We loathe the concept that people think we’re from Woodstock.”
Growing up in the Catskill Mountains, The Felice Brothers make soulful folk that takes from the greats. Fiddle, accordion, and fedoras in tow, each Felice Brothers gig is like its own howling, sweaty, barefoot religious experience. What’s so endearing about these five, however, (aside from the fact that they’re the most painfully polite and welcoming people you’ll ever meet), is their honesty. Far from concerned about playing up to any sort of rock and roll myth, it’s difficult to describe the feeling you get when watching The Felice Brothers do what they do best. The term “spiritual enlightenment” comes to mind.

You’ve recently completed two American tours, one of which you supported Bright Eyes. How was it?
Simone: It was amazing. You’re the underdog when you’re opening up for someone like that, but we were lucky enough that everywhere we went people were
digging our music.
James: Yeah, even in the South where we thought people were going to think we were fake cowboys.
Josh: We feel really honoured that Conor (Bright Eyes) asked us to come on tour with him. He would bring us up onstage for encores. We all became real good friends.
Was America what you thought it would be?
Josh: It’s a big country, man. You don’t realize. There’s a lot of poverty and there’s a lot of extremely beautiful places. There’s good and bad like everything else.
Have you gotten used to the touring lifestyle?
Simone: Yeah. We really like it. We don’t like staying in the same place for too long. When we come home now it’s a little confusing. It’s nice to have a couple days of rest but then you want to get on to the next place.
The highway calls, ya know?
You seem to have a real affinity with where you grew up. How much does where you’re from and where you live influence your music?
James: I think where you grow up is who you are. The Catskill Mountains are a very inspiring place to live.
Simone: Definitely. The Hudson Valley is very special. The rivers, the woods, the apple orchards, the mountains… it’s a very rich place.
What do your parents think of what you do?
James: They like it now [laughs].
Simone: Our dad used to tell us to get job at GE or join the navy. Now he drives around and plays our CD. He promotes us as well. He’s gives our CDs to all his friends. But he calls them tapes.
There’s a definite family vibe that goes on at your shows. You seem to have a knack for getting people involved in the music.
Josh: Yeah, well when we started out we used to spend all of our time playing on the street, and when you’re on the street or in the subway you’ve got to have that energy in order to get people to look at you. We
got used to howling at people to get them into it.
Simone: We’re not one of those really cool New York City bands. Every night we come out and talk to the people in the crowd just like when we were busking. It’s an experience for us too, ya know? We want to walk away from every gig feeling like were part of something special.
As with traditional folk music, how much do you use your songs as a medium to tell a story?
Ian: Storytelling is a big part of what we do. A lot of our songs are based on stories that we heard when
we were kids or folklore from where we grew up around New York City and then the Catskill Mountains. Some
are love stories from our own lives and some we’ve created ourselves.
Simone: I think the best poetry comes from things you hear. Maybe you’re on the bus and you hear somebody talking about a hardship, or maybe you read something in a newspaper, or overhear something
in the grocery store. That’s what we try to sing about; things that everybody can relate to and that are universal. So it ain’t nothing out of the ordinary.
Your last two albums, Adventures of the Felice Brothers Volumes 1 and 2, came out of your own Label, New York Pro. Why did you decide to self-release them?
Simone: It just seemed right. For us it’s most important for us to have our records on the road with us to sell
at gigs than it is to have them in Tower Records and every store. It keeps to the tradition of when we used
to play on the subway and on the street, and sell our demo to keep us eating. That’s what New York Pro
is based on, that spirit of piracy and self-sufficiency. So even if we were to sign a major record deal someday
we will always maintain New York Pro and put out our own dirty records in that way.
Is it true that you recorded some of it in a chicken coop?
Simone: Yeah, and some in an old train and some on the bus.
And lastly, what was driving force behind you starting to play music, and does that reason still hold true as to why you’re a band today?
Simone: I think that when you love something, you emulate it. You emulate that which moves you to your core. If you love watching football then, shit, you wanna be a Q.B. The things that move us to our core are the greatest songs and the greatest books and the greatest art. Some people want to make babies and build houses, for us its music and poetry. It’s like our religion. So I guess for us it was just natural to try and recreate that creative spirit that we saw in our heroes. We started writing without thinking that anything would come of it. But to answer your question, yes, that force that made us play music in the beginning is the same thing that keeps us doing it today. We’re just trying to be close to whatever that magic is that you feel when you listen to your favourite record.