We caught up with The FO’s to chat about their eclectic influences, the healing power of music, and the journey that’s defined their sound
There’s nothing surface-level about The FO’s. Their latest single, Uncle John, tackles harrowing subjects – all while pairing delicate soft rock melodies with visceral, unflinching storytelling
It’s strikingly vulnerable yet universally resonant—the kind of track that makes you stop and listen.
Inspired by everything from Argentine rock and Brazilian rhythms to their frontman’s decade of rebirth in Qatar, the band blends grunge textures with introspection to create something uniquely their own.
From confronting life’s darkest moments to finding renewal, The FO’s turn life into music that’s as moving as it is unforgettable—and they’re just getting started.
HAPPY: What are you up to today?
THE FO’S: It depends on the day, sometimes I am flying and I see the sunrises through my window since I am a pilot as well.
Other days when I’m at home, I start my day playing songs that I already have or that I like until I fly somewhere else with my mind and connect or disconnect, it depends how you want to see it.
I constantly look inside for some inspiration and it comes when I am connected as if I were a kind of antenna.
I always leave time for soccer, which is another of my passions.
Later these months we have been filming new videos in different locations and recording songs in the studio as well; besides that I love to write, so new songs are constantly coming out.
HAPPY: Tell us a bit about where you’re living and what you love about it.
THE FO’S: I’m currently living in Qatar, I arrived 10 years ago completely broken and this place allowed me to reborn and create a new version of myself.
I appreciate all the opportunities it has given me, getting to know many cultures, traveling the world, and it is also a place that brings me a lot of peace, because it is a very serene and tranquil place.
HAPPY: The FO’s have developed such a distinct sound that blends different influences. Can you tell us about how your musical journey began and how you came to define your style?
THE FO’S: I started music lessons as a child when I was about 7 years old. Then a friend of mine gave me a cassette with Argentinian rock songs and when Soda Stereo started playing my mind blew up.
I studied classical music as a child but I loved listening to rock and tango at home, on top of that my mother grew up in Brazil so we used to listen lots of Brazilian music at home.
All of this influenced me musically, and that is why I tend to mix different styles and sounds in my music.
HAPPY: What influences—whether musical, cultural, or personal—do you draw from the most when creating your songs?
THE FO’S: I’ve been influenced by the experiences I lived or experiences lived by my closed ones.
What is happening to me at the moment, also influenced me, where I am and how I feel, everything depends on what I am experiencing and what is happening around me, sometimes in the physical plane of the now and other times when my mind travels to the past and re-experiences what happened to revive it internally.
HAPPY: The themes you explore in your music seem to tap into deeper emotions and universal struggles. How do you feel about the connection between music and the human experience?
THE FO’S: One cannot coexist without the other, there is a correlation. We heal through music, we synchronize our feelings with music, and many times when we listen to music we are looking for answers and to feel that we are not alone.
As Cerati said, we put on sad songs to feel better.
You’ve got a strong connection to storytelling in your songs.
HAPPY: How important is narrative to your songwriting, and where do you find inspiration for the characters and stories you tell?
THE FO’S: Many of the stories are life experiences or stories of people close to me.
But part of it also comes from that connection with the self, from those cosmic journeys that one makes. Everything is a feeling.
HAPPY: Your band has a very strong sonic identity. How do you see your sound evolving over the next few albums, or is there something new you’re hoping to explore musically?
THE FO’S: My music is influenced by many styles. The first album was more pop rock with just a touch of the deepest and darkest feelings of the being, in the second album we explored deeper feelings, which we want to show by going deeper into grunge, and the third one will be even darker so that later we can reborn and find the light again.
It will be like a life Journey, where we accompany each other through the falls, the anger, the frustration, the self-analysis, the growth and the rebirth together.
We will always find a mix of feelings in each of the albums, as I said before each one is an expression of life itself and the feelings we experience.
HAPPY: What’s been the most memorable moment for you as a band so far, whether it’s a live show, a songwriting breakthrough, or something else entirely?
THE FO’S: Each song has powerful emotions. They are a holocaust of feelings that emerge when I am writing or playing them.
La Despeinada, for example, is the story of some friends of mine, and we decided to record the video at the spot where the story took place, their home, with them as actors, as no one better than them could convey what they experienced.
It was like living again their love story, quite moving for everyone.
HAPPY: Looking ahead, what do you hope your music will achieve, both for yourselves as artists and for your audience?
THE FO’S: I want people to get their voice through my songs, to be able to resonate with the stories and I would also like to know if they identify with it, if my music helps them, and makes them feel better and that they are not alone.
This is why I read each of the messages that people leave me and I try to answer each one of them.
HAPPY: What makes you happy?
THE FO’S: Playing, singing, flying, playing soccer, spending quality time with those I love and nice music.
