1. Do you remember how the idea of forming the band first came up?
The idea of forming fREEX came up when my friend, the King, and I had graduated from college and we couldn’t find jobs. We both lived with our parents and despite working hard to get through college, our lives felt the same as being back in high school. We felt useless; we felt like teenage losers. We would just jam making noise in his parents’ basement, watching old reruns like “Married with Children.” We just deconstructed music and created a new form of writing that became the fREEX style. That is the basis for the band. A lot of all that is captured on our album, “Simple Good” which came out last year and was nominated for three Los Angeles Music Awards.
2.How long after you formed was it until you played your first live show?
Well, fREEX started from that deconstructionist ethic and sludged along in the under, underground scene for awhile with an ever-changing lineup. fREEX as it is known today came about sometime last year after Ivan joined Jeff and me to tour to support “Simple Good.”
3.What are your memories of the performance?
Hmmm, the first time Jeff, Ivan, and I played together? I remember it being very electric. There’s probably a video of at least a song or two someplace on youtube. I think the show was at the Red Hat. I remember it because Jeff is such an awesome bass player and Ivan is such a fierce drummer. The rhythm section in fREEX came alive that night in the way that I had always dreamed; fierce, dynamic, and funky. We had a keyboard player back then, an Irish lass by the name o’ Alice. In addition to being extremely cool and talented, she was utterly gorgeous. I remember being really embarrassed watching the video later because it showed how Ivan and I kept staring at her! Jeff, of course, was Mr. Cool.
4.Tell us about the band’s name?
The band’s name is fREEX. It combines “Free” and “X.” ”X” has always stood for the mysterious or the unknown. ”fREEX” puts both of those concepts together, “free” the ‘mysterious unknown’ “X”-factor!
5.What is your latest album and why should people buy it?
The latest full album is “Simple Good” and is was released in 2010. People should buy it because it’s a great album, has the production of a major label, and it has classic, icon songs on it. The fact that it got nominated for so many awards and added to so many radio stations across the U.S., despite us not being a signed act, really speaks well for the album. ”Simple Good” is available on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/simple-good/id392987854
But, the latest EP is “Sneak Peeks.” I just love how the full name is “fREEX Sneak Peeks.” It only has two songs on it; “Is There Something Wrong?” and “The Dark Night Rises (Ursa Atrox).” We wanted to give people a preview of what the next record will be like. ”Is There Something Wrong?” leaked and it instantly got picked up by over 10 radio stations in the first week! It’s a great song and we hope to build some anticipation for this next album which will be released most likely this summer. ”Sneak Peeks” is available on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sneak-peeks- single/id486643673
6.How would you categorize the style of the band? And did you ever consider or try playing other styles of music than the one you are playing now?
Since we didn’t play music in any recognizable genre, after a while a label of “Free Expression” stuck. ”Free Expression” is really appropriate because we play with such wild abandon as to how our music will be perceived let alone categorized. We’re not out there trying to be “punk” or “nu metal” or anything else. We’re out there to purely and freely express ourselves and our songs and stage show are better for it. We don’t need play ‘outside our style’ since our style allows us to play anything and anyway we want.
7.Can you share with us one or two of your favorite moments with the band?
The last show we played was great. It was a big club in San Francisco and there were a lot of other bands booked that night. We’ve played so many shows to 6 people and when you show up nobody knows who you are, you get stuck with the worst time slot, your name isn’t on the flyer, etc. Before we drove to the club, we looked online to see what the stage looked like and “fREEX” was all over the venue’s website. We showed up and our name was on the marquee. The booking agent treated us really nicely and really respectfully. The sound guy came up and complimented us and said how he was at the last showed we played and how much he liked it. They had us down as the “headliner” so “fREEX” was everywhere in bold on flyers and banners in the venue. When we took the stage, there was a packed house, great sound, and the show was magical…
8. Does the entire band contribute to the writing process?
“Simple Good” was more stuff I had written on my own or with the King. ”Sneak Peeks” and the next album is written by Jeff, Ivan, and me.
9.How important do you rate the lyrical side of your albums?
Lyrics are super important! I will spend months, if not years, on lyrics. I will usually go into a hyper meditative state to focus on using the perfect word at the perfect time. Even on songs where it seems the lyrics are just willy-nilly, every lyric in fREEX is painstakingly and methodically thought out. With “Simple Good,” I was more obscure and ambiguous. With the next album, the lyrics, in addition to being much more political, are at a whole new level. ”Is There Something Wrong?” is really multi-layered and interwoven into a grand pattern. ”The Dark Night Rises (Ursa Atrox)” makes very deep references to pain and suffering not only in literature but I use certain psychological deliveries as well.
10.What are your current tour plans or upcoming shows, if any?
We play very regularly and will play as often as possible. At the time of this interview, we’re playing a holiday party for a radio station in San Francisco this Saturday, a telephone interview with a Canadian radio station right afterwards, then we have a show in Vallejo the week after. In the new year, we’re headlining a show at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco on January 12 that will be the first “12″ of 2012 so that show will be off the hook! Then on January 27, we’re playing Red Hat, basically where we got our start and we haven’t played there for awhile so that show will be special too. In March, we head to Texas for SXSW for the second straight year.
11.Describe your live performance?
Our live performances are becoming legendary. Come to a fREEX show and see for yourself. No one ever knows what’s going to happen, including us. Our sets run the gambit of loud-fast-crazy to mellow & smooth to funky, funky funk. We go wild. The crowd goes wild. Everyone gets insane and lets loose. It’s a show that you would expect from a band called “fREEX” that plays “Free Expression” music. You have to be there to feel it for yourself. You will leave a changed person.
12.What one Album should everyone have in their collection?
If this questions refers to one of our albums, right now it’s Simple Good because that’s our best full-length album. But our third album will be out soon and that album is going to be very, very … special. That’s all I can say right now.
If this questions refers to other bands, I’d have to say Bob Marley’s “Legend,” Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” and anything by the Clash or Prince.
13.Tell us about your local music scene?
The music scene out here is just starting to crack. We’re starting to play with lots of other bands that play a “Free Expression” style of music and everyone is really cool with lots of loves and no egos. We’re all out there creating music that is bold in its originality and putting on shows that are based on artistic expression and unconditional love instead of trying to be “metal” or “punk” or the oh-so-cool “rap.”
14.Why do you think people are into your music?
For the longest time, no one knew what to think of us. We would play and people wouldn’t react in any way because they had no way of processing what just happened. Even our family and friends didn’t know what to think of us. But gradually, people just started allowing themselves to understand our music. Kids 1-9 have always dug our music because it’s so primitively innate and simple, honest and pure, just like a child. Brothers and sisters who didn’t normally listen rock music always responded well to us because we always have a good beat and they just figured it was regular music. The people who have the hardest time with our music are producers who want and only understand something that’s cookie cutter, which we are not, and some radio DJ’s that have listened to the same formulas in songs so many times that they are literally programmed to only accept that formula. People that want to be and appreciate being free are the people who love fREEX music.
15.If we were to look at your IPod, what would we find in your music collection?
You would find everything in each one of our music collections. You would find lots and lots of everything. Each one of us is into every kind of music you can imagine.
16.Would there be any one band or musician that would surprise us that you are listening to them?
No, not with fREEX. C’mon we’re all about openly appreciating the free expression of emotion and ideas so that all of humanity can be connected.
17.Where can our readers find your band on the internet?
We’re on all the online music sites. Our iTunes page is:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/freex/ id159205108
We’re most active on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/FREEX/ 51058997334
Our Reverbnation site is cool too: http://www.reverbnation.com/freex
Our website is coming along: http://freexband.com/
18.How has Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) impacted your band?
It’s probably allowed us to reach more fans than we normally would be able to. But those same technologies just saturate the market so that every band is also reaching everybody so everybody ends up really paying attention to nobody. So, it’s good and bad, positive and negative just like anything I suppose.
19.Thanks for answering these questions. Do you have any last comments or words of advice for the readers of Project Backstage?
Connection is primary, separation is an illusion. Everything is one. Beyond Love, there is Joy and practice them both.
Pingback: stop spam plugin