fREEX Interview

From the San Francisco California area in the great US of A… At first listen, fREEX may seem like a straight up rock or punk band, but after a few songs, you realize there are so many influences trying to escape through their music. In one song you might associate them with Social D, then 2 seconds later, same song, it’s like they are channeling The B52’s and your favorite Beach Boys song. Then before you can even comprehend what happened, it’s back to hard hitting and driving distorted guitars.
Seriously…. take a listen to a few songs. You’ll find something you like.

I caught up with California Love to ask some questions about the band and what’s coming up.

Tony Coke: You guys have a great online image.. I’m speaking of your website and graphics and photos on social media.

 Is that something you do on your own, do you  outsource it, or does the record company handle it?




California Love: We’ve worked with a lot of really cool local artists and photographers such as Suzi Roks, Pete Tews, and Kirk Shelton. They’re all really awesome and we love them a lot.



 

Tony Coke: You’re releasing a new album soon, what did you do different with this album to improve upon the last?


 

California Love: The last two albums was mainly me writing all of the songs with a lot of help and influence from my bandmates, especially my childhood best friend, the King.  This album, Jeff and Ivan, the bassist and drummer that I was working with really contributed a lot.  Because the album has more input from new writers, it will have a little different of a sound but it will still definitely be a fREEX record.  I guard the fREEX sound pretty closely although Jeff & Ivan come up with “Ahhh,” a song I really love on their own and I just added guitar parts.




 

Tony Coke: How long have you been working as fREEX and how has the music industry changed since you started?




California Love: I’ve been working as fREEX since I was a young kid and wanted to do something just a little different musically, so I’d be ahead of the curve, maybe just in time for the next step.  As it turns out, fREEX music is still far ahead of the mainstream, LOL!  When I first started fREEX, record companies fostered bands and created a market and a market place for them and bands sat around and complained about it.  A record company sold CD’s and made money and so did bands — after 2-3 albums if they could stick it out that long. Now, CD’s are just basically cards that you give away and the focus is interacting with fans and putting on great live shows that mean something.  I love that money has been taken out of the equation for 99% of all bands; you don’t walk around hoping for a big record company contract, they don’t exist.  This puts the focus back on music as art. I’m not ashamed to say that I have a day job. That’s how I live and how I eat and how I make
 money to spend on recording music and putting it out into the world.





Tony Coke: What is the goal of releasing the new album and the goal for the band in the next 12 months?




California Love: The goal of releasing the new album is to share our music with the world and with the Universe.  We’re putting something out that means something to us, that isn’t mainstream and isn’t trying to be mainstream.  If you like fREEX, you’re definitely in the subterranean levels of the underground.  I’d like to start playing live more and start writing for the 4th album, which I’ve already started doing.  Like Prince, who’s one of my idols, I’ll probably round up some new musicians and start playing more live shows. I’d love to tour someday.





Tony Coke: What’s the best way people can check you out and maybe catch a peek at what’s coming up on the new release?



California Love:
https://www.facebook.com/FREEXband
@freexband
https://twitter.com/freexband
Freex
http://www.reverbnation.com/freex/

http://www.freexband.com



 

Tony Coke: Give us a crazy ass story from a fREEX show.



California Love: Nakedness, destruction of property, free-form funk jams, spontaneous and unrehearsed cover songs, sets cut short down to minutes and sets extended by hours — both to the great delight of the crowd, self-mutilation, and dangerous acrobatics are among the craziest acts occurring at a fREEX show. Each fREEX show is unique and not to be missed! What other band can say that their live show is “literally” a freak show?

Tony Coke: Great man, I seriously hope to see you guys play live sometime soon and look forward to the new stuff coming out!