Diandra Interviews Mikey Ferrari: Finding Your Space In Outer Space

Let’s be frank! The lo-fi/ hi-fi, DIY scene lives off of that “cosmic bedroom” feel; as if the stars and galaxies are where you go to Netflix and Chill. Yet, it seems so appropriate that for a generation of youth that has had to scrummage funds to go out, pre-pandemic, that we turned our tiny quarters or parents’ basements into the worlds we could not see yet. Minds imagine more when their hearts are told they can only have less, and Mikey Ferrari’s music symbolizes how worlds are born and dreams get bigger, oddly, out of feeling loss. In our interview, we discuss mental health and how music makes possibilities feel endless even if you are just stuck at home.

Diandra: So tell me about Spaceboy, and how it represents you?

Mikey: The coolest songs I have made have been from just wanting to feel. Spaceboy is the way I feel my music. I just wanted it to be chronological. So it is like high- school for me; when I was going through a lot of mental health struggles. It embraces individuality and isolation. The whole EP feels so current to me because it is all about feeling alone. I think before all this Covid thing happened, people already felt lonely. So, thematically, it is about how things take time and coming into your own.
lunar light – mikey ferrari (SPACEBOY Sessions)

Diandra: I felt, listening to the EP, like you were building your own world. Like you were playing pretend, like kids do, except it was to escape from adult burdens.

Mikey: You hit the nail on the head, and to expand on that. When I was a teenager, to be completely vulnerable, I was diagnosed with bipolar and I was very manic. I had terrible episodes.I wanted to create this entire universe to remind myself what that felt like and how it shaped me; so part of me was trying to put someone in that different reality. It was me trying to recall those struggles, and trying to help kids, who listen, to try and figure it out. If that makes sense>

Diandra: It does. It feels like a call for empathy, especially in using the symbol of space, which is this place that has so much it can almost feel like nothing. It bombards you with everything to the point where you don’t know where to look or what to do. Is there a track that really made you really feel something?

Mikey: The title track “Spaceboy.” I have such a deep connection to that song because that was the “confidence: track. It has this aggressive, exciting tone that I never allow myself to go to. I see music like a character; it is stepping outside of myself to allow myself to be someone greater. “Standoff” was another one where I lost a really good friend, from highschool, and it is about checking up on yourself and seeing how you feel. When I was younger, I would really disassociate, and it is about being honest with yourself.
moving slow – mikey ferrari (SPACEBOY live sessions)

Diandra: I don’t know if 2020 has made people more honest or more averting to to truth.

Mikey: People feel really alone with the divide that is going on in the country. People feel so misunderstood politically, and it is just a lonely feeling. How can there be any vulnerability because everything is getting so twisted? How is not wearing a mask even a thing? It’s like good for you guy that you are young and will survive, but do you really want to kill grandma?

Diandra: Well, that is kind of what your EP alludes to. How do I handle my inner chaos when I am surrounded by chaos?

Mikey: Thank you so much for saying that because that means a lot to me. For me, I worked with Adam Castilla, and I give him so much credit. Before I worked with him, I didn’t really know about production and I had a story but I didn’t know how to say it cohesively.

Diandra: One thing I have to say is that the EP felt really new, and it is hard to sound “good and new.”

Mikey: Thank you so much! No outside opinions were allowed. That was the first and biggest rule I made, even with Adam. I used to get my friend’s opinions, and it would change how I felt about the song, but it should be about what feels right to the song for you. It leads you to question, “What now? What next?” I give Adam so much credit because he allowed me to be different sonically, and kind of take my story to places where I didn’t expect to go. It was not forced or overly-crafted. It was just authentic. I like music that has weird guitar tones and bleeds a little; there is charm to that.
erase me – mikey ferrari (kid cudi)

Diandra: I was talking to an artist who predicted that songwriters are going to be massive post-pandemic. I am thinking of him as you speak because it feels like you are saying to just trust your writing genius.

Mikey: You know, when you craft a song to be a hit, it stops being fun. You ask yourself, “What is the point of this?” because you are not trying to just make a “song” and enjoy it. For me, my process with working with other artists is forming a friendship with them. You have to get to know someone before you create for them, and I have gotten really lucky in a few blind sessions. I see it like trying to help them carry their message rather than just crafting a message for them.

Diandra: What is a movie you think would transfer into an awesome concept album?

Mikey: Once Upon A Time In America. It is almost four hours long, and it is kind of like a gangster film. The progression of characters and relationships, and the development of them is really cool. How the movie ends is really cool, as well. The story-telling is so unbelievable. It is was directed by Sergio Leoni, and he did a lot of it out of his own pocket. When the movie came out, the studio made him cut it to 2 hours and 30 minutes, and, when he died, they released his 4 hour cut. It was a massive hit. That story speaks to something in music where it is like, “What does A&R know more than the artist?” It was his vision and he knew. I think music is people saying,”Oh, I wish I said that!” when they hear a song. I think people get what you are saying, and an artist breaks out because of how they say it.

For More Information On Mikey Ferrari Click Here.