It took three years for Melbourne based act Frankenbok
to follow up their debut album 'Greetings & Salutations' (released
in 2000 through Faultine Records) with their second full-length album
'Blood Oath' (released in 2003 through Roadrunner Records), and with
the three-year mark finally upon the band, it's not surprising to find
that the band (who are vocalist Adam B. Metal, guitarist Aaron Butler,
bassist/keyboardist Tim Miedecke and drummer Mick Morley) are currently
in the studio working on their new and third album.
But apart from finding out how progress was coming along
with the new album, bassist/keyboardist Tim Miedecke also filled me
in on details behind the band's upcoming touring plans, guitarist Scott
Lang's decision behind leaving the band and their current independent
status following their parting of ways with Roadrunner Records.
"It's been the usual mix of work, band stuff and
everything else that's been keeping us occupied, and it's sometimes
hard to keep a healthy balance of the three, but we just keep rolling
forward! (Laughs) But what's been keeping us busy recently is the recording
of our new album. So far it's been going really well, and we're about
halfway done. We started out at Scream Louder Studios in Warrandyte
with Reggie Bowman (who's previous credits include Another Race, hinge
and Pre-Shrunk). We did the drums there and then we took the rest of
it back to Adam's garage and we've been doing the rest of the recording
there ourselves. So far, that's been going smoothly, bar a few technical
problems and hiccups here and there (with the equipment itself). Then
again, that's to be expected when you're flying by the seat of your
pants and doing it yourself. That's the kind of operation Frankenbok's
always been. We're just trying to keep it fun, and the whole idea of
doing it ourselves rather than doing it in a Backbeach type of studio
(the studio used exclusively by renowned producer D.W. Norton) with
record company money. The idea is to keep it fun, and ensure there's
less pressure, although I don't know if it's working out that way because
we feel a lot of responsibility to make it good ourselves. But at the
very least we're trying to make it fun."
Taking a couple of steps back in Frankenbok's recent past,
one of the major changes for the band was the departure of long time
guitarist Scott Lang. But as Miedecke explains, the split was amicable,
and more important necessary for Lang and his plans for the future.
"God damned it. That was a crying shame. He's been
living in Hong Kong for the last six to seven months working as a landscape
architect, and because he's a good one, they snatched him up. He's been
making a real go of it with his wife, and they have a lot of new friends,
and it's a different life for them now. Adding to that is the fact that
his wife is soon going to have a child. So he had to make a tough decision,
and in the end, he decided to leave Frankenbok. He wanted to still do
the band, but we (both Lang and the band) figured flying from Hong Kong
to Melbourne every week would be a bit trying on all of us. That's one
of the hardest things the band has ever gone through. We're still very
fond of each other. I've known Lang all my life, and even though he's
not in the band, he's been offering some advice and words of wisdom
from afar, which has been really cool. He's one of the most ocker guys
you could ever feast your eyes on, but a top guy to boot. What I really
miss is the behind the scenes stuff with him, like the hanging out at
2am carrying on like dickheads. That's what I miss. The band is the
one thing we had in common for years and years, so it kept us in each
other's lives. So for me, that's tough on a daily basis. He's always
been a lit bit older and wiser than all of us too, so he always had
his feet firmly on the ground, where as the rest of us are fly by the
skin of our teeth constantly. But he's only ever a phone call away,
and he's more than happy to invite us to go over there and hang out
with him and his family. So the split was entirely amicable. He was
actually back last weekend, and we all played together at The Tote here
in Melbourne. He took to the stage Phil Tufnell (Spinal Tap) style for
a couple of songs. That was really cool."
If losing a member wasn't a big enough change, Frankenbok
have also parted ways with Roadrunner Records in recent times, which
means that the band are free agents, which seems to be fine with the
band.
"I think it was about a year a ago when we started
becoming unhappy about a number of things, and Roadrunner Records too
were unhappy about a bunch of things, so we decided to split. A lot
of it came down to direction and sales really. Roadrunner Records weren't
particularly happy about Frankenbok not setting the world on fire, but
then that's no surprise! (Laughs) Well before we gave them the final
version of 'Blood Path', we gave them a round of demos that they weren't
happy with in regards to what they were looking for. So in the spirit
of playing ball, we relented and gave them their three and a half minute
song with a catchy chorus, which ended up being 'Victims' (the single
and promotional video clip from the album). But it was a song we f**king
loved too. There's been nothing that we've recorded where we go, 'Gee,
I wish we hadn't done that!' But in the team spirit, and in order to
pay the bills, we tried it and gave it a go. I think 'Blood Oath' turned
out really well. Roadrunner Records seemed to be surprised that the
album didn't do as well as they were anticipating, which I think by
Australian metal band standards, did about the average, which was fine
by us. I think being an Australian metal band means that you have a
few things stacked against you. People would much rather spend their
money on something that comes from Europe or America. It's a hard fact
of life, but maybe that will change one day. But at the end of the day,
Roadrunner Records are running a business. Having said that, since we've
been off the label, they're always there for us with business advice
and been generally very helpful and supportive of us, especially Jon
Satterley in particular. Maybe that's because he knows we're idiots,
and we do this because we love it."
Another issue that Frankenbok and Roadrunner Records couldn't
see eye to eye on was international distribution.
"We told Roadrunner Records that we could tour Australia
until we were blue in the face, but what we really wanted to do was
to tour Europe or the U.S., where metal is embraced more and not such
a niche market. They agreed, and soon enough we actually had a licensing
deal teamed up with a label in Holland. Lang was over there doing a
bunch of promotion and interviews, but then for some reason the rug
got pulled out from under the deal. Lang came back to us saying that
it was the most disappointing thing that he had ever had to do. We thought
we had it in the bag. I mean give us a release anywhere outside of Australia,
and we'll go over there and play a few shows to see what we can make
of it. We're not too concerned about losing money or putting our asses
on the line. That's nothing new, because that's what you do when you
play in a band that does heavy, un-user friendly kind of music. So that's
when we started stamping our foot and asked what was going on with Roadrunner
Records. That's when they said that maybe this deal we had wasn't going
to work out. They actually suggested to us to do the next album independently.
So that's what we're doing now. It works out better for us. We're a
band that loves to get in the van and do whatever we can. You just reap
more benefits by doing things independently. I think the turn around
in regards to album sales is a whole lot quicker, and there's not as
much outlay, because obviously you're trying to do things as economically
as possible. Obviously record companies think of that too, but there's
that mentality where they assume that if they put a pile of money into
advertising, and another pile of money into a wicked video clip, then
it stands to reason that the product should be a hit. But the simple
fact is that's really not the case."
When I mentioned that it seemed to be a growing trend
where artists seemed to be taking control of their art, and moving more
towards distribution rather than purely being signed to one label, Miedecke
not only agreed, but also saw that as the future of Frankenbok, if just
for the near future.
"It's the difference between a band and a record
company. It's the classic chasm between art and a label, whose prime
objective is to make money out of the artist. It just can't last forever
when bands don't go through the roof. I think that's what it boils down
to. There are a lot of hard working bands that are doing it independently
because they love it and they scrape by in any way they can. You don't
need the big record company dollars or the big studios to make it happen
if you have a bit of talent and you're wise in the ways of using that
kind of technology. I think it's a good direction musicians seem to
be heading in. Look at The Waifs and the John Butler Trio. There are
just a couple of Australian independent acts that have taken the world
by storm! At this point, I would think we'll finish the album, then
shop it around to various labels and see what will happens. To be honest,
we don't know who will be releasing it yet because our heads are in
the process of making this album our way, and leaving the business side
of things somewhere after the hard work is done. Roadrunner Records
were good to us, but just being signed to a label means that there's
going to be a certain amount of molestation that's going to happen.
You're going to get manipulated in the kindest possible way sometimes,
because they're in the business of selling albums and trying to make
their money back."
But even without a record label, Miedecke is adamant that
Frankenbok will carry on just like they have always done.
"We're not exactly once bitten/twice shy by the label
situation, because the industry has always operated like that. You weigh
up the pros and cons, and the cons are just par for the course. But
there are some pros, like when you do an excellent show, record an album
that you're really happy with or simply jamming with the band and keeping
it going. There's a lot to be said for that. It's great being in a band
with your friends, because we can have a laugh about anything. We might
be an unsuccessful poor band, but we've seen it all before. It's cool.
We've been playing in this band since what has been for us like the
dawn of time. And all this stuff is exactly the sort of stuff that bands
go through. Where there's an up, there's also some downs. I don't think
that I ever thought at one point that there would be a day where we
would be walking down the red carpet with Britney Spears and pull in
a Grammy award for this shit. I mean listen to it. It's loud, dirty
and full of profanity. It just stands to reason that we shouldn't be
popular. But we can still play to rooms of people that really enjoy
what we do, and get a kick out of it. So that's where it's at for me."
Although Frankenbok lost a guitarist in Lang, they haven't
entirely lost their twin guitar attack, with vocalist Adam B. Metal
taking up the vacant spot, while retaining the position of front man.
"That's right. Adam is a talented musician. He was
a guitar player and a songwriter for years before we met him. Lang was
away most of last year, before he announced that he was going to be
away permanently, and throughout that time, we were writing all these
new songs with Adam playing guitar with us. Initially, when Lang said
that he couldn't see himself coming back, we spent about a day thinking
about whom we would get into the group as a replacement. Butler and
I spoke to each other on the phone and we agreed that Adam is doing
a top job filling in, so we thought we might as well leave it at that.
Adam was a bit apprehensive at first, but he took it like he does with
everything, and that's by the horns. We've had to be selective about
playing some of the old songs, but a lot of the new stuff has definitely
catered around his guitar playing. So that's been pretty exciting."
Obviously with a new guitarist filling in for Lang, Frankenbok's
sound has changed, but not so much that they're an entirely different
band.
"It's really shifted the dynamics of the band having
Adam on guitar. The new songs, for all intents and purposes, were already
mapped out and written since we've had Adam on guitar. So the only real
change is that we've kind of beefed them up a bit, with only a few alterations
here and there. I think what his guitar playing has done is add a little
more texture between both himself and what Butler is doing. In the past,
Lang and Butler would play the same thing because it was heavy and it
sounded wicked. What's happening now is that while Adam is trying to
sing certain parts, he's been able to come up with different lines to
accommodate his melodies. I think it's made the music more textured
and heavy as hell. It's like a nice mix of thrash and melancholy rock.
It will speak for itself. It's just pretty straight up and heavy. It's
heavy metal music with dudes screaming over the top, with some guitar
solos."
Even though Frankenbok are only half way through recording,
the new album does have a name, a track listing and a sequel already
being planned as a follow up.
"We're calling it 'A Murder Of Songs'. Butler actually
thought of that one. The original artwork had a crow - Lang's wife had
taken a photo. It was a crow in flight, with a burnt out landscape of
Wilson's Promontory in the background. We're not using that photo anymore
because we have something else in mind, but the whole thing about a
murder of crows, murdering songs, something heavy sounding but with
an Australian theme just sort of rolled off the tongue. The album will
contain ten songs. We do have more songs written, but we don't want
to have to put the listener through more than forty to fifty-minutes
worth of music. We may use the extra songs as a follow up recording
while we're on the road touring in aid of the album. We might release
it as a tour EP. That's something we've been talking about. Song writing
has been a lot of fun, but we've been doing so much of it, and a lot
of recording as well, so we're really keen to get the album and have
some fun and not think too much about it."
Prior to finishing off the album, the band will playing
a few select shows around Melbourne, along with another visit to New
Zealand as a part of 'Welcome In The Beast: 666 - Metal Day Out Festival'
(which is being headlined by Denmark's Illdisposed).
"We have a bit of an audience in New Zealand these
days, so we're heading back there in a couple of weeks just for the
hell of it. It will push the recording back another few weeks, but that's
cool. We're just taking our laughs and kicks where we can get them.
To conquer the world for us is something like a thirty-five year plan,
so we figure we have a bit of time up our sleeves."
I would like to personally thank Tim Miedecke for his
generous time.
For more information on the Frankenbok, check out - http://www.frankenbok.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
