Touring in support of a new album, Love Army, Dallas Frasca performs this Thursday, May 14, at Mojos; Friday, May 15, at the Indi Bar, and Saturday, May 16, at the Indi Bar. BOB GORDON has a chat.
What was your intent for your new album, Love Army, and what does it say of where you are at in 2015?
Our intent was to write the best songs with the knowledge we have. The album was written over 18 months – amongst three European tours – a lot of the material was written in an apartment in Paris as well as a grimy pub basement in South London. The band also faced some of its biggest challenges to date with this record. In hindsight, it’s our most confident album to date and everything surrounding us at the time fuelled the fire that made the songs.
We went into the studio in early 2014 and recorded about three-quarters of the album and felt like we just didn’t quite meet the mark of what we were aiming for – expensive mistake to make, yes – then we lost a member due to family commitments, so we decided to enlist Danny Leo (King Of The North) to go back in and start again from scratch. This time with our guru producer and beautiful friend, Mr Andy Baldwin in Woodstock Studios, Melbourne. I think partly because our supporters/fans raised $22,000 in crowd-funding there was something in their belief in the band that drove us to push ourselves further musically than we had before. To hit the Top 30 ARIA Charts in its first week of release caused a huge celebration for the band. This year we also signed with an Australia label, Social Family Records – and French label Verycords in 2013. So to get in the charts after nine years together proves that persistence always wins… oh and of course the songs!
Describe the chemistry between the three of you having been through so much together and so many shows by now?
(Laughs) Yes! We have over 700 shows as a band under our belts now, so lots of tour van and aeroplane time together, many shared rooms, creativity sessions and a lot of looking at the same person all the time, haha. Jeff (guitar) and I as co-founders pretty much know the ins and outs of each other personally. We know how recognise when the other needs encouraging and we also how to push each other’s buttons (laughs). We are like brother and sister. Josh Eales joined the band last August and it’s a pleasure to play with someone on the same page as Jeff and I.
It’s all about the band; we want to become better musicians, better songwriters and better live. I think once that feeling fades, it’s probably time to find something else to do. Until then we fucking love it!
Siren Tower are playing with you in Perth, tell us about that long and strong connection?
Yes, we have The Siren Tower and The Tommyhawks on board for Mojo’s Bar and the Indi Bar and Said The People for the Bunbury show. It’s gonna be ace! The Siren Tower frontman Grant (McCulloch) and I go waaaaaayy back! We were brought up in the same area in North East Victoria, I remember watching Grant’s early bands in high school and thought he was pretty rad. I also lived in Perth for a small time and used to go and watch him play with Heavy Weight Champ, I loved that band. We’ve watched each other grow as humans and as musicians over the years and I’ve loved every project Grant has been a part of. This weekend is going to be almighty!
What’s the plans for the rest of the year?
We have our sights set on Europe still – we just launched the new album to 0.25 million people on a French TV show, CANAL PLUS – Album De La Semaine, so we just gotta keep working at it. The album has only been out for four weeks so we haven’t even started yet! I know there is talk of a more extensive Australian tour towards the end of the year, plus festivals, plus we still have a few singles off the album up our sleeves. Pretty excited about returning to WA though, that way I can hang out with Grant. See you soon!
