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How did you hook-up with the band you're playing with?
Well, Scott and Dave are New Englanders that I've known for a long time. You know, we've shared the same stage together more them once. And they've been playing with me for almost four years now. And Lyle Workman, the guitarist on the record, is someone I've played with for even a little longer, since Teenager Of The Year. He's gone now actually, and his replacement is a local guitarist here from Cambridge, Rich Gilbert.
How important is chemistry to you with your bandmates? Because it's no secret that things weren't too good when you left the Pixies, but you were still writing great songs.
Well that's because I'm a songwriter, I write songs, whether I'm playing with a group of people I get along with or not. I don't know that I prescribe to the theory of "the magical line-up". Basically, you've got some good songs or you don't have some good songs. Or you've got some musicians that are making an effort to play it, and I don't know that... It sounds like I'm dissing my old band, I'm not. I just don't really think about it in the kind of overly-nostalgic or romantic terms that other people do.
So do these guys that you're playing with influence you much? Do they have much input?
Well, they have a big input on the recording, yeah. It sounds the way it would sound with these four guys. But I mean, it isn't discussed.
They don't ever say, "Hey Frank, why don't you try this?"
No, I mean, it's almost like...we've all been doing it for awhile now so a lot of that kind of talk is unnecessary. You just go play and it happens. You know, there night be a comment here or there, but it's usually an after the fact kind of comment like, "Hey, I like what you're playing." "Oh yeah, I decided to change it a couple days ago." You know what I mean? It's not like [puts on sort of a kindergarten teacher's voice] "O.K., let's have suggestion time." It's not like that, it's a lot more natural.
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How does the songwriting process work for you? Do you just sit down, play your guitar, and let the tape roll — like a trial and error type of thing? Or do you have a line stuck in your head when you're walking down the street, or...
No, neither one of those, I just pick up my guitar and play. I don't write anything down, I don't record anything, I just play my guitar and hopefully I'll remember most of the good stuff I came up with until the next day when I pick it up again, or if it happens to be two weeks from now, whatever. It's not real organized or anything, it's just strummin' the guitar.
You make it sound like it's a piece of cake.
Well, part of it is a piece of cake. Picking up my guitar, trying to come up with a chord progression, to me that's a piece of cake. And that's sort of half the battle. The other half the battle isn't quite so easy, finishing off the lyrics and all that. But at least initially it's easy.
Is there anything that's better than playing music to you? Is playing music the utmost experience?
Well, I mean it's hard to compare experiences that are so different.
Could you rank it up there with anything else?
No, it's in it's own category, just like drinking some wine or something, it's in it's own category. You can't compare playing music with seeing a good movie or something, they're just so different.
What do you think your music does for people?
Entertains.
Just entertains?
Well, I wouldn't know, I just make the music. It is entertainment by definition.
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It must feel good to know that you're entertaining, but wouldn't you like to think that people get inspired by your music?
Well, I know they do, entertainment is inspiring.
Not all entertainment.
No, not all entertainment, but some of it is, because it's art or whatever. But I don't really think about it or anything.
Who was your first favorite band?
The Beatles.
What was it that you liked about them?
Don't know, I just knew that that was a good starting place for listening to records and rock music. Those were the first records I purchased when I was young.
Were you tuned onto the guitar right away, or did you not really know why you liked it, did it just sound good to you?
Yeah, it probably had something to do with the television broadcast of "Yellow Submarine" or something. I don't know how my 8 year old mind decided to seek it out, I don't remember now. But I liked music, I knew that, and that was the first band that I kind of focused in on.
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