The Question: What is the most fulfilling part about what you do?
The Answer: I would have to say, the whole thing? Haha. I know that’s a cop out but when I’m in the midst of writing, performing or singing and practicing a part of my brain shuts off (in a good way.) it’s almost as if my brain is saying “we can get back to worrying about the confusing stuff later” but for now we’re doing the things we are CERTAIN we should be doing right now. To have that as a part of my life is FULFILLING AF if I do say so myself
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It might seem like a cheat, to simply describe Francis Aud as a nice person, but it’s true. From the moment we started talking he exuded genuine nice-ness.
Point of fact: Before I even started asking him questions, he asked what a typical day in my life was like…um, Francis, who is being interviewed here?
Speaking to him, you could hear the enthusiasm for music in every word. Talking about Otis Redding and James Brown and Paolo Nutini, arranging music for horns, playing for kids.
He’s lucky in that he can bring music with him. During his typical days he performs and entertains kids with songs and dance. The kids also help him hone his craft. “They’re kids, no attention span, if I start losing them then I know I have to move the chorus up to bring back the energy” he gives as an example of trying to please his harshest critics.
I discovered Francis Aud in a way that can only be achieved in a purely social media, digitally driven way.
Friend of a friend who was in a play of a friend posted a live performance of Francis playing the song “Say It Loud” on her Instagram stories.
That blip of sound, those few seconds of video, I was hooked.
I got about halfway through the chorus before I downloaded the song.
And then everything else he’s put out.
“Say It Loud,” the song that brought me to him, is a monster of a self-love anthem. Lyrically, it’s stunning…just the rhyme of the pre-chorus. I mean, licorice, syphilis, Christmas, and Icarus? Come on.
It’s a bit of a sidestep from his other music. Lyrically, at least. It’s happy. It sounds happy with that funky bassline and James-Brown-Horns telling you to “say it with your chest…I love myself!”
If you dig deeper, you uncover a sensitive soul. Even with his new single, “Without You” you still get the funk, the groove, the feelings of summer…but the lyrics take a turn for, what he calls “sad boi music.”
To really get the full understanding of his sad boi music, give a listen to his side project Stella. With Stella. he has stepped away from his band, The Professionals, and gone back to his singer-songwriter roots. His background in poetry really shines through alongside his subtle guitar playing.
Though the sounds with The Professionals and Stella. are vastly different, the connecting thread is they are completely, genuinely Francis Aud.
He’s delicate, he’s precise, he’s funky, he wants you to love him and yourself and, really, life in general.
I asked how he performs, since I get the feeling that he’s actually pretty introverted and he simply responded with: “I close my eyes and just play.”
And that says it all really. Despite the fears, the criticisms from children, the learning curve of writing music for instruments he doesn’t play, managing himself and booking dates and performances…he’ll do it. For the love of music.
What’s something, that no matter how uncomfortable or out of your own safe zone, you’ll do because you love it?
Say it with your chest.
And get fonky.
Francis is in the middle of creating more and more music for your listening pleasure, but in the meantime his songs are available on iTunes, Spotify and at his website https://www.francisaud.com/