Kyle Riabko Interview

Courtesy of Columbia Records

By: Sindy

Sindy: Hi Kyle! How are you?
Kyle Riabko: Hi! I'm great - how are you?

Sindy: I'm doing good. Congrats on the new album. You must be excited.
Kyle Riabko: Thanks so much. I am pumped, yeah.

Sindy: How was the recording process?
Kyle Riabko: It was great. It was easy... well it wasn't easy but it was fun. It took a while but we really perfected everything. It wasn't what I was used to. We recorded the EP, which was before this record, in like a week and a half. And this album, we made over the course of three months, so it was a lot different.

Sindy: What do you think your favorite song is?
Kyle Riabko: I don't think I have one. I think that would be like choosing your favorite daughter. If I had kids of course - which I don't. And so, I love them all equally.

Sindy: What do you prefer - touring or recording?
Kyle Riabko: I love them both. I mean they are both art forms that I love, but there is something special about performing live that really gives me a jolt of energy.

Sindy: And are you going to be touring soon?
Kyle Riabko: Yeah, we've been touring for the last year pretty much non-stop. We've taken a few days off and then we start up again at the Junos here in Canada, and then we go back down to the states and tour for a month, and then come back here and tour for about a month and then back and forth, back and forth. It's going to be crazy.

Sindy: Wow. Do you ever get homesick?
Kyle Riabko: All the time. There's a cycle on the road of homesickness and it starts off being very easy to be away, and it's fun and you love it and then about a week and a half in, you really miss everybody back home and you go through that phase for a few days and then it just happens again and again and again. It's just part of the job you know, it's just what we signed up to do.

Sindy: Who's your favorite artist you've toured with?
Kyle Riabko: Hmmm... well, The Wallflowers were really fun, we just finished up a stint with The Wallflowers. They were just amazing, musically and personality wise. They were great to hang out with every night and to pick their brains about what they've gone through over the last few years and they were great. Jason Mraz is one of my favorite guys to tour with who we're actually going to be touring with again in April. He's just a really good buddy and a fun guy to hang out with. I've been lucky, every person I've ever played with has been an amazing experience. Musically I think my favorite tour I've ever done is Buddy Guy - that was like a religious experience.

Sindy: Cool. Is there someone you haven't toured with, but would like to?
Kyle Riabko: Beck! Yeah. There's a one word answer.

Sindy: Nice. Who are your musical influences?
Kyle Riabko: Beck, ummm, Jimi Hendrix. The first record I ever bought was Jimi Hendrix Live at the BBC Sessions. And I turned it on and Foxy Lady was the first song and it was an experience I had never had before and I realized exactly what you could do with music. He was never playing his guitar, he was feeling it. And he was just putting his whole self out there. So that's when I really realized that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life and be like him in that way.

Sindy: What kind of music do you listen to now?
Kyle Riabko: Oh, everything. Everything from Miles Davis, jazz music, to funk to soul to hip-hop to rock n' roll. Yeah, I love it all.

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