Spotlight on our artist of the month: Gaëlle Buswel

Performing concerts with renowned artists and bands like Zucchero and ZZ Top, blues rock artist Gaëlle Buswel took the time to answer a few questions for us. Discover the full interview below!

Artwork: Guillaume Malheiro

Hi Gaëlle! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hello, my name is Gaëlle Buswel, I'm a singer-songwriter, composer, performer, and guitarist in the 70's blues folk rock genre, and my 4th album, "Your Journey", was released last year.

What are your main influences?

There are quite a few :) But mainly Jonny Lang, The Temperance Movement, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, the Beatles, the whole 70's period ;) And among more recent artists, I love Jack White's universe!

You recently opened for Zucchero during his 3 French dates (15/05, 18/05, and 21/05). Can you tell us about this experience? If I'm not mistaken, it was your first concert at the Accor Arena.

Ah, it was fabulous, Zucchero's team is wonderful, we were super well surrounded by his team, very well received, the audience was great. We were acoustic and experiencing your first Accor Arena is no small thing lol. The immensity of this place gives you chills (in a good way), I've seen so many concerts there!! But once launched into the arena with my musicians, it felt like we were at home. The sound was fabulous, the venue was beautiful, everything was perfect. It's always difficult to describe what you feel, I just loved it. I wish for all independent artists to experience such a thing :).

Video: Lisa & Alexandre (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1132084280690867)

Speaking of concerts. You've had the opportunity to play in many countries, such as France, England, Japan, the United States, and many others... Is there one that particularly stood out to you?

I loved each country, because the culture is different, each audience has its own energy. I admit in the United States, Tahiti, and Japan, it was quite incredible. The landscapes are just fantastic, the people so adorable, and the craziest thing is that we were solicited by major media, press, TV. We were invited on the 1 PM and 8 PM news in Phoenix and Tahiti, we were on the covers of daily newspapers in Arizona and Japan... It was insane, whereas in France we don't get on TV...

And what about the artists you've had the chance to play with?

I admit that this too was magical. Beautiful encounters with artists who inspired us and my team when we were teenagers. I had the chance to do Jonny Lang's entire French tour in 2018, to open for Ringo Starr at the Olympia, for Beth Hart, for ZZ TOP on several dates in France in 2019, it was really a waking dream. You don't imagine one day being able to meet the artists and musicians who inspired you, who created the music we make today, to be able to talk with them and know they are so humble, accessible, and human, it motivated us even more than ever.

It's our booking agent Gérard Drouot Production who supported us enormously during this period and with whom we officially work today.

Your fourth album was released in 2021. Can you introduce it to us in a few words?

This album is called "Your Journey", we released it during the second part of the pandemic, it was a risky bet, but we needed to give a boost and hope to our fans.

Our fans supported us throughout the first year of the pandemic, and in 2021, we took the all-or-nothing approach of releasing this album without a tour. It was extremely risky for us, because as an independent artist, if there are no concerts, we don't make a living. Our life is live performance.

We were fortunate to have the support of all the music press when this album was released. And this album is a bit of a positive boost, "Your Journey" talks about life, moments to seize, about telling yourself that everything starts today and that you shouldn't let anything stop you from moving forward or achieving your dreams. It was actually the best time for this song and album to exist, it gave people new hope. I wanted to continue making people dream through Art, after these 2 complicated years. 

We even released a live album in a circus 2 months later to support another performance industry and as an album release concert, because the actual album release concert couldn't take place until November, 8 months after its release. Everything was done backwards with this album, but it turned out to be very beneficial for us in the end. I'm really proud of this album.

How does your writing process usually unfold?

There's no particular process, it can start from a riff, a bit of melody, an evening with my guitar, an event that struck me, and I want to deliver that on paper. My team also composes a lot now, we collaborate quite a bit together today.

Let's talk about merchandising. Is there a merch item that you consider particularly important? If so, which one and why?

Haha, all merch is important, I love to pamper my fans. I admit, I'm very particular about the packaging of my CDs, I want people to be proud to have our items and to bring a little part of us home with them. There's something for everyone, women, men...

Recently, I created a backdrop with a drawing that reveals many positive messages in it, I'm really very happy about it!!! Hey, but it's you who made it too ;)

Photo: https://www.facebook.com/ajantiphoto

The final word is yours!

See you soon on stage!!!! This is where it all happens ;)