Words by Justin Lintag

I know you’re on the road touring, so tell us where you’re at and who you’re currently touring with.I’ve just finished the Canadian leg of my Popular Music album tour and am laying low in London, Ontario right now. I’m touring alone in support of the album and the US dates start this weekend with St. Louis and Chicago.

What would you say is your favourite place to DJ and play your music and why?I’ve always really enjoyed playing in Berlin. It’s such an amazing city with a great young/artistic vibe.

Can you describe a day in the life of Felix Cartal on the road?

Wake up and find my way to whichever airport I am headed to that day. Waiting for planes gives me time to respond to emails, and on the plane I’ll usually sleep or work on music. Once I land I check in to my hotel, do any interviews if there are any, go out for a nice dinner and then DJ at the club that night. Then off to bed for sleep. Wake up, rinse, repeat.

You just had a show in Vancouver last Friday amidst all the Winter Games hoopla, how was it playing for the home crowd in that atmosphere?

Amazing!! I was so excited and fortunate to be a part of the Olympic festivities, it was hard not to be taken over by the Olympic spirit. Lots of friends came out as well so it was a great time.

Now I just found out you came up in one of our very own cities, New West; that small city let alone Vancouver doesn’t breed too many entertainers of your calibre. How did you “make it” as that kind of needle in the haystack?

Well I owe a lot to New Westminster because our highschool had two things that really helped contribute to where I am today. First off we had this amazing course called ‘Music Composition’ that taught production programs like Reason + Cubase. I still use Reason to this day to compose, so to learn at a young age benefitted me a lot. Secondly, we had a recording studio in our band department that I used with some of my band teachers, so to have access to that was amazing. Just kind of sticking with it and networking has helped me get to where I am today.

Would you say coming from a small town influenced your career in music in a good or a bad way?

It was a good thing for sure because of all the facilities my school provided access to. Also, New West wasn’t overly removed from the Vancouver scene, so to get out of town to the city was never a difficult thing to do.

You’re on quite a big stage coming from some humble beginnings, what kind of advice can you give artists trying to come up in djing and production on more than just a local scale?

Stick with it, find your own sound and try and ‘master’ one program rather than 10. Networking is a huge part of it too.

Can you speak on the “tangible” projects you’ve got out that fans can get their hands on? Downloads, your album?

My record ‘Popular Music’ just came out digitally on Feb 23rd. You can get it on iTunes and Beatport. The physical release will come out on March 30th in stores on CD/Vinyl. I also released my first EP last year called ‘Skeleton’, it’s digital-only. Aside from that I’m always doing remixes and those can be found on iTunes and Beatport as well!

What’s next on the slate for Felix Cartal?

Recently I worked on a single while I was in Belgium with my friend Keatch, and that will be coming out later this year on a European label. Other than that, it’s a busy year touring the clubs and jumping on some festivals. I’ll be doing Europe in May and Australia in June as well! Busy busy busy!