Interview with TTeo on his disco-soul homage, Loveexpress 77

TTeo is the pseudonym of Matteo Capreoli – singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer with a rich musical heritage. In 1970, his father, Fernando Antonio Capreoli, left Salento for Germany, before forming the disco-funk-rock outfit Lovexpress. They toured Norway, Sweden, and Denmark from 1974 to 1979. Now, in 2023, Matteo pays soulful homage to his father’s funk outfit, with the help of some old tapes – the bygone band’s only known recordings. Signed to Sonar Kollektiv in 2020, TTeo’s compositions are high energy and full of heart. Read our interview and listen to Loveexpress 77 below:

Walk through your creative process for us.

Something in my mind overcomes me. It’s difficult to explain. And it’s always different, never the same.

What has been the most defining moment of your musical career?

10 years ago I was the musical director for a festival in Hamburg called Soul im Park. Where I coordinated one band for a lot of artists and their songs for the whole day. It was a big success and extremely beautiful. After that night I realized that I love collaborating with other artists a lot. From then on I started to concentrate more and more on productions/composition for and with other artists.

What equipment or software did you enjoy writing with the most?

I use Logic. And mostly I love to have just a good upright piano.

What’s your performance setup looking like? Are there any differences between your live and studio kits?

Extremely different. My studio is full of instruments. Drums, percussions, pianos, synthesizers, guitars, mics and so on. My live setup is stripped down to a Maschine from drums and samples, a little Roland J6 synth, one mic, and a MIDI twister for effects. All runs through Ableton.

Give us a brief dive into the inspiration for the EP’s samples and themes.

My samples for the album LOVEXPRESS77 are recordings of my dad’s band Loveexpress from the 70s. They played dance music in clubs and recorded some of their live sets on tape. That’s where the samples and the inspiration for the album come from.

What is your favorite sample from your dad’s old Lovexpress tapes?

Two of them, are from the song ‘Follow Me’, and ‘Lovecircus’. Especially in ‘Lovecircus’, the sample was a song that came out through some jams during their concerts, my dad said. And the vocals are sung by the bass player Leo in that case, in an invented language. Culturally they were super mixed as a band.

How did you find the collaborators who appear on the LP?

Owen Ross is a good friend and an incredible musician. We just met for a hang out in the Studio and then it happened that we worked together on ‘Samba’

Same with Kristine Bogan. I met her through Concord Publishing. It was our 2nd time in the studio together and we put her love and lyrics into the ‘Follow Me’ chorus.

What’s your favorite way to pass the time when you aren’t playing, or listening to funky bops?

I love nature a lot. Living at the beach in Salento I spend a lot of time outside, doing sports, climbing, cooking, and gardening. But to be honest, most of the time I do music.

What’s next for TTeo? Any notable events or plans for collaborations coming up?

I did some beautiful remixes for some artists and stayed in the Lovexpress-Soundworld, so there might be something coming next. On the 1st of December, I am playing a show in Berlin at Stranger Funk before I leave for Costa Rica, for a live set in the jungle.

Watch the fresh new video for ‘Follow Me’: