The one thing I deeply appreciate about the world of music is exploring the vast amounts of talented individuals who have mastered the art of converting their ideas into life, gifting us music lovers a range of stunning music to pick from.

One artist we recently came across goes by the name Falco Holmz. A brilliantly minded virtuoso who’s built a catalogue of sublime music over the years, a truly grandeur discography.

And with the release of his newest ballad, titled “Find My Way”, we realised an interview with Falco was an opportunity we couldn’t pass on.

In our chat I was able to uncover a whole lot about Falco, understanding more about his background, a bit more on his unique sound, and his perspective of the music environment.

It’s an honour having this chat with you. Could you tell us a bit more on your journey into the music world?

“The journey starts from where I grew up.”

“I grew up in the Eastern Cape in a small town called Mthatha. While I was growing up there I remember this one lady forced me to join the choir. That’s when I joined because I wasn’t doing any extracurricular activities, so I was basically forced to do something.”

“I was like okay cool, let me do the choir and I did that for a while. I didn’t exactly love it, or to try and make music or anything like that. I was just doing it to pass time.”

“And then years later, when I was sixteen, I moved to Joburg to study and to figure out my life. As time went by I met a lot of people within the industry. I used to record back in my day using Virtual DJ and me and my boy figured out that if you had the beat on one deck and you had the vocals on the other deck and recorded them simultaneously, it was a track you know?”

“That’s how we used to do it and I never really regarded it as making music. It was just a hobby, just a fun thing to do. When I came to Joburg I saw how things were going this side and meeting people who had access to studios.”

“I started just following them, and I had a friend who was making music at the time. His name is Caleb Kalz, and then it just got to a point where I hopped in the booth and tried something out.”

“And yeah that’s how it started. In terms of me becoming an artist, it started when I connected the talent with my story, and when I started feeling that I could tell my story through the art is when I felt my journey as an artist started.”

You started in the choir, would you say you had a musical background growing up?

“Not at all bro. At home I grew up with my mom and my grandmother and they just listened to Gospel.”

“My mom knows all the songs, she’s a Gospel lady so she just listens to Joyous Celebration and all of that. 

“I wouldn’t say I come from a musical background, but my father was a big pianist.”

“That’s probably how he serenaded my mom. He never became an artist or anything but his side of the family, some of them are Gospel artists, so his side has the musical background.”

“But the household I grew up in, nah there wasn’t much of a music background.”

Listening to your music is lovely. However, the one thing I struggled on identifying was the genre your music fits into. Could you perhaps tell us?

“Yeah that makes sense. If I had to put it under one spectrum, I’d say it’s alternative.”

“So it could be Alt-Pop, Alt-R&B, Alt-Rock. I basically see myself as very versatile and agile in the way I approach the art. I would say I’m a genre-bending artist. I take from different genres and combine it into one cohesive idea.”

“So yeah, I’d say it’s alternative but if I had to put my own way of saying it, I’d say it’s genre-bending music.”

“It’s funny because I actually wanted to be a rapper. Then I came to Joburg and realized niggas rapped! And I’m not that. I can rap but I can't rap like yall. And that was the time Nasty C was blowing up, A-Reece was blowing up, and so you could see where the future was heading.”

“Clearly, I was right about it because look at the industry now. Those guys are like top five. So, I felt I needed to find my own voice and express myself in a different way.”

“I started listening to a lot of Alternative music, and my favourite artist during that period was Dominic Fike. I think it was his “Don’t Forget About Me” demos. That’s when I realised this guy never gave a fuck and just does whatever he wants to do.” 

“I’d say the thing that made me switch over to making Alt-music was wanting to find my own voice and to express myself differently from what was in the market.”

You recently released “Find A way” off your upcoming EP. Could you dissect a bit more on what we could expect?

“The track is basically a continuation of my EP (“4 Peace Sake”). We have a young trilogy, so this is the second installment of that.”

“So, what you can expect with “4 Peace Sake 2”, is its way more mature than where I was in my early twenties. Now in my mid-twenties life is different, things are changing, and all of that. So the experience is just way more mature.”

“Another thing that I’m very proud of is there’s no strong language at all. It’s a hundred percent clean so expect a way more mature sound. Again the genre-bending sound will still be there. Expect music that will make you think about a lot of stuff and make you feel a lot of stuff as well.”

“I would say that a lot of the music now is way easier to resonate with. I’m not just talking about my own personal experiences but also experiences that are happening around me. I’d expect the music to resonate more with more people now.”

“I’d say those are the more core things to expect. Way more sounds, better sounding sonically, better instruments, better sound production, better lyricism, and yeah. It’s just better development of all forefronts.”

“It’s very personal, very vulnerable music. I mean it’s literally in the title of “Find My Way”. What inspired the song was me coming to Joburg at sixteen not knowing anybody here. People were speaking differently, dressed differently, and that’s when I realised I needed to find my way.”

“It’s a song that would’ve explained exactly what was going through my mind when I was sixteen coming to Joburg.”

Navigating the music world can be a challenge. What tough moments have you had to face?

“Jeez, so many!”

“Limitations in terms of resources. Limitations in terms of network. The industry is very locked in with the people that it knows.”

“That’s general knowledge and I think everybody knows that. If we don’t know you, we’re not gonna let you in.”

“In order for you to get in, you must come with someone that’s already in, you know. Those types of situations. So it’s difficulties in those aspects I would say are the big challenges.”

“The other stuff is just personal stuff. Stuff you go through as a man and as a normal human being. Just going through life plays a huge part.”

“And also, just being the underdog. No one knows you, no one knows what you can do, everybody is scared to take the risk, there’s a lot of artists out there, and overall, just the global thing that a lot of artists are seeing is how music is undervalued.”

“I don’t know if you’ve been seeing the same thing, but music is really, really, really undervalued. That directly impacts the artist because that’s your art. We might be facing a crisis of a lot of musicians quitting. A lot of the great minds that we have in the industry are gonna be like “you know what, fuck it, let me do my other job!”

“And yeah, that’s sad for me because it doesn’t just have to be five people, it could be twenty. The gatekeeping definitely needs to stop and I think it’s abigger problem than just looking at the labels.”

“It’s just an agenda within the music industry.”

For you, what’s the best part about being a musician?

“Ah that’s easy. Creating.”

“That’s literally why I do it. When I was a kid, I used to imagine all the things I could do. I wasn’t thinking I wanted a show on SABC 1, or SABC 2, or ETV. I wanted an SABC 4. Like I wanted to create my own channel. Just because I loved creating.”

“I think that’s one of the best gifts God has given us. To go out there and express yourself and create. That’s my favourite part.”

“But, there’s also an added layer to that. It’s creating and also connecting with people through that creation. Its hard to say which one I prefer more. Me creating the art or sharing the creation, it’s very hard to choose but it’s one of the two.”

To close off this chat, I must say I was really fascinated by your name. How or why did you decide on taking on that title?

“It’s so weird. I wasn’t gonna have like a stage name, I was gonna use my name. But I had this T-shirt that had a falcon on it.”

“So, it was me and my cheap ass Cotton On shirt just chilling with the boys and I was thinking the gents and I should start a band. And one of them was like “yeah we can call it the Falcos”. And then I was wearing the shirt so I thought it was cool.”

“Obviously the band never happened, so I wasn’t gonna call myself the Falcos. I needed to call myself Falco, which was cool because I now had a name.”

“Then I figured out there was another artist who was already popular with that name, and he was big in Europe and the world back in the day, so I figured I couldn’t use that name.”

“That was like an incoming lawsuit before I could even start!”

“So, I thought about another thing that I liked, like an animal. I also wanted to go with an eagle but of course there’s already Shane Eagle, so again I was like fuck!”

“So, I stuck with Falco, and I thought to maybe give the title that superhero kind of sound. And one thing I think about myself is being a problem solver. In any situation I’m always looking for a solution to a problem.”

“What character reminds me of that? Sherlock Holmes...”

“So I used Falco and Holmes and yeah.”

Having such a simple yet absorbing conversation with Falco was an experience that I’ll never forget, deeply understanding more about the world of being a South African creative.

I learnt so much and I hope you as the reader did too.

Check out Falco’s newest release, titled “Find My Way” and experience a sound you’ve yet to come across, and keep an eye out for the upcoming EP.