Rick Treffers vocalist of Mist, keeps his presentation of his new record, The Loop of Love.
Rick Treffers is a common man, he walks, sleeps, but suddenly magic appears by his hand. Melody appears in his mind as a whisper. And with the help of magic, he creates a universe. His music is born.
Rick Treffers was born in Holland. His father was musician and was him who brought Treffers closer to music. Music was intrinsically born inside him.
He lives in Spain, where he keeps working with Mist, and together have published ten album. Until 2012, he did it under the pseudonym of The optimistic tourist, now he is simply him.
Rick Treffers will keep disseminating his music his music and publishing his last record. A homogeneous, surrounding and sensorial record which will put him beyond the spanish borders. That’s the way he explains it:
Your career as musician began in 1995 according to your webpage, but: when was the music born in Rick Traffers?
My first group of music was born when I was 15. I was the voice of a group of heavy metal, the kind of music I liked during that time. We made themes composed by the guitarist, my friend Arnold Smits, some version of Iron Maiden, and I wrote the letters. Long before, when I was a kid, I liked singing in class, where we used to sing The Beatle’s songs. My father was musician too, he played the piano and the accordion, music was always present at home. When I was 20 I began to compose songs and to play the guitar, during the late 80s, and in 1990 I moved to Madrid for a year and there I found out that my passion was the composition of music. And I leaped.
Although you are an international musician and you were born in Holland, you live in Valencia and you have promoted your music in Spain, do you think that the spanish audience appreciates you? What do you think that they find in your music?
The spanish audience usually connects with my music, with the sensitivity, the melodies and songs. Although the spanish people are embarrased for some things- in comparison with Dutch people- they are not ashamed to express their feelings when a song touches their heartsand I love that, because live music it’s about communication. Sometimes listeners say that Mist’s songs transmit them love and it’s good to hear that.
Mist’s music have a gloomy and intimate aura, how much of you is within your music? How is the process of composition?
My music is private, there is a lot of me within them. Usually when I’m cleaning, sleeping or walking, the melody begins to appear in my mind. With this melody I begin to work and develop the song. Then, using the sounds I murmur, I begin to write words and to decide the theme of the song. So, the melody and the “atmosphere” come first and then I begin to perfect the song. My voice works in a perfect way with that privacy and melodies you mention.
Although you have a dozen of records the essence of your music remains untouched, what is the secret factor of Mist? Which word defines Mist?
I like the word “surrounding”, a word used by Lara Lopez from Radio 3 to describe Mist’s music. Evocative and surrounding, he wrote. I don’t know the secret factor, and I’m not interested on it. It’s better to work on the songs and try to make it perfect.
Which are the main influences that are present on your music?
They don’t exist. I could name a lot of artists who I have listened during my career and for sure I have been influenced. From Neil Young to Brian Wilson, from Talk Talk to Radiohead, from Gorécki to Charlie Haden, from Nick Cave to Nick Drake, from Loney Dear to Midlake, etc.
Twelve years have passed since the publication of We Should Have Been Stars, do you think your music has evolved in comparison to your last record, The Loop of Love?
The way of recording has evolved, I have more experience at the time of taking decisions. I think that The Loop of Love is very homogeneous, while We Should Have Been Stars is very irregular. But The Loop of Love is more luminous than the others, maybe it’s due to the influence of Valencia, or the age!
How is The Loop of Love working? The tour began on 2015, will it carry on? Where is it going?
The Loop of Love is going well. In Spain the audience accepted it well and in Germany it was given 4 and 5 stars by magazines and important newspapers, so I’m very happy. I’m playing a lot in Spain, Germany and Holland, and I will carry on with that. By the end of this year an album with B faces and weird things will be released; it will be named Underwaterand in 2017 I will work on the next album. I already have some ideas.
The Loop of Love, ends with a song called HappyMan, does your record have a happy ending?
It does, if you look the title, and the song is lively. But if you read the letter carefully, you find out that the optimism is a naiv one, since the protagonist wants to return to the old times, when everything was fine.This gives a melancholic tone. It is a loop difficult to escape from.
If you want to convince someone who hasn’t listened you yet, what would you say to him/her?
I would say that beauty and happiness are found in the most unexpected places, and not in the supermarket or in the 40 principales.
