We talk with French rock musician and songwriter Franck Carducci about opening for Steve Hackett and Sting and his band The Fantastic Squad.
PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
My name is Franck Carducci, I’m a French rock musician, singer and songwriter.
I grew up in Lyon, France, in an Italian family where 70’s classic-rock music was part of everyday life. We would listen to the Beatles and the Stones as well as Billy Joel or Supertramp, Led Zeppelin and old Elton John records. As a teenager, I grew particularly fond of a band with very weird album covers. They had this cow with no band name on it, and another one had 2 guys shaking hands but one of them was on fire. My favorite one pictured a pig flying over an old London power station. They went by the name of Pink Floyd, and their music changed my life. So I started to play covers in pubs and clubs downtown Lyon, where I was not even old enough to be allowed in as a customer 🙂 I was also doing some studio sessions work in the area. In parallel, I was writing my own songs and recording some demos. Regularly, friends would tell me: “Hey, these songs sound good, you should make an album!” and I would always give the same answer: “What for? Nobody knows me and it’s never gonna work!”
Later on, I moved to Amsterdam and joined the local scene there.
Then I got to meet one of my childhood heroes, Steve Hackett from Genesis. I opened a gig for him and we had a long discussion. At some point he said to me: “Your songs sound good, you should record an album!”. So I fired my usual response to this, but then he replied: “Well, just do it for yourself, that way you can’t be disappointed, if it works you’re happy, if it doesn’t, you’re still happy because you did it for you anyway!”
The next day, I started the recording of my first album “Oddity”. Steve was very supportive in the process and he enjoyed the album because he then offered to play on the next one, which he did on “Torn Apart” in 2015. So I guess, everything I achieved as a solo artist, I owe it to Steve somehow, I wouldn’t be here without his wise words. We even opened for Sting last year, how cool is that?
TELL US ABOUT YOUR LATEST ALBUM OR SINGLE
I released 2 albums in 2023:
- an acoustic album as a duo with Mary Reynaud called “NAKED”
- a live album with my “Fantastic Squad” in 2023, recorded in 2022 during “THE ANSWER TOUR”
I'm now currently working on my next studio album.
WHICH SONG WOULD YOU SAY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND THE BEST?
I guess that would have to be “Alice's Eerie Dream” because it has all the 70s rock aspects and sound, and also the more psychedelic and prog aspects (there's one long version and one short radio-cut)
DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC IN A FEW WORDS.
I’m a new classic-rock artist with strong 70s rock influences and a lot of visual stage effects. Some call it “Theatrical Rock” I kinda like the term.
WHO HAVE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES BEEN?
My musical influences are quite obvious, Pink-Floyd, Led-Zeppelin, Supertramp, Kansas, Billy Joel, Elton John, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Genesis, … and The Beatles
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?
I was born in a family of musicians so I guess it's in my DNA
WHAT IS THE CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU WHEN MAKING MUSIC?
There's no such thing as a creative process. Sometimes I get inspired, sometimes I don't. I have no control over that whatsoever. It comes to me (or not) Most of the songs I write are about fantasy. I want to make people dream and travel through my music. But I’ve also got a few more down-to-earth numbers, about relationships and stuff like that. I often take inspiration from ’60s’60s and 70s Hollywood movies, I love Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Steve McQueen, Robert DeNiro, Marlon Brando and so many others … But also Greek mythology and English literature from writers like Lewis Caroll.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE COOLEST COLLABORATION PROJECT BETWEEN YOU AND ANOTHER ARTIST?
Obviously Sir Paul McCartney. He's the ultimate rock star you'd want a collab with. But there are many others ...
PLEASE TELL US A RANDOM FACT ABOUT YOURSELF.
I love to cook, especially Italian dishes :)
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
The one from Steve Hackett: “Whatever you do (in arts), do it for yourself, be selfish!”
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT THE INDUSTRY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I'd make it a bit less short-term results-oriented. It's good to leave time for bands to develop and evolve. Nowadays it's all about short-time profits ...
WHAT'S NEXT?
I'm now currently working on my next studio album. In the meantime, we'll be touring the UK in 2024:
FEB-28 : LONDON - The Bedford
FEB-29 : SWINDON - The Victoria
MAR-01 : PORT TALBOT - Seaside Social & Labour Club
MAR-02 : STOURPORT - Fusion Festival
MAR-03 : SOUTHAMPTON - The 1865
MAR-06 : LEICESTER - The Musician
MAR-07 : LIVERPOOL - Cavern Club
MAR-08 : GLASGOW - Ivory Blacks
MAR-09 : NEWCASTLE - Innisfree Sports & Social Club
MAR-10 : OUNDLE - Queen Victoria Hall More info on my website: www.franckcarducci.com
