In my write-up of Universal Hurt, I reveled in how Frankie & His Fingers frolicked and cavorted with nostalgia without it overwhelming them. The quartet’s deft dance skills made me wonder about their process, their ideas, and how exactly they managed to fuse together their various sonic impulses and not sound like a cover band.
So, in the same spirit as the review, I present my chat with the band in the style of a “Subject Matter Expert” interview.
Adam P. Newton: My review talks about “honoring the classics,” but I’m interested in how your band convinces people to look past the touchstones and hear your music.
Frank: We’re crazy about your review. When someone just gets it, there are fewer greater feelings as a band or artist. You clearly get it. Life is a bunch of stuff that’s already happened so far, ain’t it? We all take that with us, do what we do with it, and it affects what we do next.
That goes for music as well. Rather than try to reinvent the guitar based pop-rock song, I think we just gleefully parade our influences and let their strange brew lead us wherever it leads us.
APN: The band crafts hooks for days. The album veritably overflows with them. How do you know when, where, and how to assemble those musical thoughts in ways that engage listeners on a deeper level?
Frank: Hmmm… This is something that isn’t super conscious. I definitely love hooks. They’ve always been a thing for me. I obsess over good ones in other songs and deconstruct them in other songs all the time. They’re not just in a chorus or a vocal line.
I am crazy about micro hooks in guitar parts, bass lines, drum beats, keyboard layers, you name it. It’s definitely an instinct thing.
Ryan: Every song is different. Some melodies just pop out, and for others, it might take some tweaking or even a happy accident. The cool thing about being in a band is I think everyone listening to an initial demo or song for the first time will hear different melodies within each part. Then as a group, you kind of just decide what sounds best. It also helps that I believe all of us have a good sense of melody, at least for the songs we are putting together.
Adam: I really like to understand the basic changes first, so usually the first couple of passes I’m just following along. Then I’ll start to just try things out in spots that feel like they have room for some bass fills. I don’t overthink it. These songs in particular were done pretty off-the-cuff with minimal takes on my end.
APN: Who is the audience for your band? Who connects with your music? Do you care about that? Should you care about that? What even IS an audience in our Spotify-and-pandemic world?
Frank: In our early days, I was always blown away by the variance in demographic. We’d get teens who said their other favorite band was My Chemical Romance, but we’d also get middle-aged folks who swore we sounded like Costello and Cheap Trick. I’d like to hope that’s still the case, but I’ve been told this record speaks deeply to young adults between 25 and 40 who relate to the tongue-in-cheek content that pokes fun at our own struggles with getting older and being a human in this weird world.
Ryan: Hopefully everyone! Haha. Honestly though, I think this album speaks to a lot of different people, especially with the struggles of getting older. Kids struggle with that, too. I remember being around 7 realizing I will die one day! Not a good night. Haha.
But really, I think the album has enough hooks to get anyone to sing along and enough depth to interest some older listeners as well.
APN: How does the band write songs? Is there a process? Do words come first? Does a hook come first? Is it a groove from the rhythm section? We don’t need the secret sauce, but your ability to rise above your immediate influences and make your own stamp is impressive.
Ryan: It all starts with Frank. He will have an idea, record it, and send it to us to check out. I mean, we do that as friends, anyway, regardless of band stuff or not – we show each other what we are working on. There is not one specific way we construct a song, though. Each one can be built different.
Sammi: I think, since the very beginning of the band, the base of every song starts with Frank’s idea and then goes to seeing what feels right on the drums. We usually know the kind of direction it’s gonna go after that.
But there are definitely songs where Adam and I are just noodling with bass and drums and something comes outta that.
Adam: Echoing what everyone else has said, I do greatly prefer to have the drums in place before I make too many bass decisions. Frank’s style of songwriting in particular can be difficult to figure out rhythmically, so you don’t really know what the groove is going to be like without the drums.
APN: What are the band’s respective musical backgrounds? You don’t just create noodling alt-country guitar licks, warm organ swells, delicious synth melodies, and a taut rhythm section by magic.
Frank: I’ve been writing songs since I was literally single digits. Older influences are The Beatles and David Bowie. I grew up eagerly taping songs off the alternative rock radio station, so rock with hooks is in my DNA. In my early teen years, I discovered indie rock by way of emo. I gravitated towards the likes of The Get Up Kids, Mineral, The Promise Ring, Jimmy Eat World, and The Weakerthans. In my twenties, I discovered a latent love for Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen. Those were game-changers.
Ryan: I started playing guitar and attempting to write songs around 15, no lessons or anything like that – just figuring out how to make sounds along the way. The Beatles were always being played in my house along with some Queen and The Beach Boys. When the whole emo scene took off, I grabbed on to artists like Elliott Smith. When I got a little older, I got heavy into Radiohead. Honestly though, there are a ton of artists that have had some kind of influence.
Sammi: I think I am probably the odd one out of the bunch who didn’t grow up with emo or really much current popular music as an influence. I mostly listened to music from the 1950s-1980s until almost high school.
So I’ve been playing drums since I was 6 or 7, but I’ve always come at it from a pretty “classic rock” angle.
Adam: I also grew up on the Beatles, The Moody Blues, The Beach Boys, etc. Paul McCartney is a huge influence on me in particular. When I got to high school, I got into punk rock, hardcore, and emo. I like to think of myself as a melodic punk rocker, but I’m probably just a big nerd.
APN: What makes a successful song in your mind? Both yours and from other artists you like? What is it about a good song that reaches out and grabs people viscerally? How does that happen? How do the band give itself space to make that happen?
Frank: Big question! I think once again it comes down to instincts. The more time you’ve spent in your life as a songwriter dipping your toe in as many pools as you can, but still trusting your gut, the more diverse your instincts will get. As wishy-washy as it sounds, I think you develop a stronger sense of how close to your intended mark you are with a song.
Ryan: Might be cliché, but beyond just having some natural ability to write a song and learning as you go, I think strong emotions play a large part for me. Knowing or hearing the right phrase at the right time or a certain topic that is relatable.
If someone is really pouring their heart out, it goes a long way to me.
Sammi: Not sure I could really describe it. For me, when writing, it’s about something just clicking and feeling right as you try out different ideas and different ways to play it.
Adam: I think, if there were an easy answer to this question, there would be a lot more people with hit songs under their belts! I think the best approach is to not overthink things and just do what you think sounds good. Hopefully someone else will think it sounds good too.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Band photo courtesy of Roberto Hull / Carry-On Photo.