INTERVIEW - We love writing about and discovering news artists. It's always a nice surprise when you discover an artist that is based out of your hometown area! Check out this great interview that we did the other day with Daniel, lead singer for San Francisco, CA based quartet The Frail .
1. For those reading at home, what is your name and position in the band?
My name is Daniel and I'm the lead-singer for the band.
2. How long has The Frail been making music? How did you all meet each other?
The Frail officially started in 2007 but didn't release a record until a bit later. I met Kevin on Craigslist when he had just moved to the Bay Area and we started off as a 2 piece. From there we put a band together with some friends but didn't come to the full line up until meeting Izzy and then the ball kept rollin Gomez joined soon after and now Aaron! Couldn't be happier working with my best friends.
3. What was the writing and recording process like for LoveDeathLegend? Around what point in time did you begin writing material specifically for the album?
There were a few songs like Back To Me & Daylight which had been written prior to the LoveDeathLegend but other than that our producer Patrick Brown just put us all in the studio with just drums, bass, and guitar and we would jam for hours. This went on for a few months until we had a few albums worth of rough demos. Once we got there we narrowed it down over and over until we ended up with the 9 songs that are on the record. We were lucky to get to record at amazing studios like Different Fur & Converse Rubber Tracks NYC and to also have collabed w/ Kylee Swenson (Loquat), DA (Shinobi Ninja), and my childhood friend and amazing rapper A1!
4. What does the title LoveDeathLegend mean?
The title comes from having lost a few friends in the past year, and specifically from one friend that used to play in the band but had a tragic accident and lived to tell the story. It really came from those experiences and dealing with the idea that if we had lost that friend in addition to the others we have lost recently how his story would move from Love to Death to Legend. So, LoveDeathLegend.
5. Huge congratulations on your video for “You Just Wanna Leave” premiering on MTV. What was the concept behind that video?
Thank you very very much! We'll we're all really proud of where we come from (San Francisco) and so we like to incorporate little things of our home town into our videos. We had a video called Frenemies produced by David Dutton where we went around to SF bars and showed everyone what our lives were like. But for You Just Wanna Leave we sat down w/ another amazing SF producer Frank Door and said we just wanna show what its like at the rare times that the weather is nice in the Bay Area. So we grabbed a bunch of friends, hit the road in some amazing muscle cars and just had fun. We're all about fun.
6. You guys have stated that you’ll be releasing the video for your song “Back To Me” next week, mentioning that you guys have a big surprise. As of right now, what can you tell me about the new video? (Concept, details, etc.)
Actually it just premiered on Fuse a couple weeks back and we were thrilled! The song was about a long distance relationship and not being able to be close to that person. Then when finally getting there not being sure or being nervous about what that could mean. The video took a big portion of it's theme from that and adapted it. So the video is about two kids trying to escape dysfunctional lives at home to run off an be with each other. It's a love story, love it?
Who would you state as some of your main musical influences when creating The Frail’s sound?
I personally grew around tons of different genres of music Punk, Rap, Metal, Pop.. But If I had to pick 3 artists it would be Michael Jackson, M83, The Postal Service if were talking about what I'm currently all about.. But really I like so many different artists its hard to nail it down.
I ask these next two questions to every artist I interview. First, what kind of message would you like fans to walk away with after listening to your music?
For me music is a great way to help your problems melt away or just let go of reality. I think a lot of people can relate to that deeper thought or escape that music creates. I'd love if people understood that every lyric I write has two meanings, the meaning I'm projecting to the listener and the meaning it has to me. I'd like people to walkaway feeling good, but also to be able to listen to the song and figure out how it applies to them, giving the song that much more reach.
9. What does music mean to you?
I guess I answered this one above, but to expand MUSIC IS MY SOUL. It's not so much what it means to me because I don't think I can accurately describe that in a way that would make sense to anyone else. But music for me is how I guide my life! Without it I would be a mess inside, it's a huge outlet for my emotions, and a voice that I get to use to the world.
10. Last question, what are the future plans for The Frail right now? Anything you’d like fans to know about new music, videos, tour dates, go for it!
Well we're doing a TV Performance for B-Sides on The CW pretty soon, playing Americas Cup Pavilion for #SoundsofSF in San Francisco 9/12, and a "This" festival in Sacramento along with Classixx & Midi Matilda. We're really looking to tour tour tour and have some plans in the works for a Michael Jackson inspired video for our song called "Automatic:! STAY TUNED!
11. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview!
No, THANK YOU! <3
You can keep up to date on all of the latest music and news from The Frail at www.facebook.com/thefrailsf.
This has been another shameless promotion.