“We talked about it with Bill when we did the No Sleep Till… tour last year but nothing was locked in for a while. We didn’t really even have any songs, just bits and pieces all over the place – I was hoping Bill would just end up writing all the material for us. At one point we had a lot of songs but they were all like three seconds long, in the end we ended up with a good amount. I don’t know if anyone cares but I like the new songs, and yeah it’s very much to do with where they were recorded. It’s pretty unavoidable, the smell was pretty bad, the environment always creeps into what you put out. Especially this kind of environment, it’s a pretty disgusting thought. The studio is actually on the grounds of the factory but it might as well be in the factory. Somehow we survived the whole ordeal, but yeah, I’ll remember it for a while.”
The good news for die-hard Frenzal fans is that the formula is pretty much the same on the latest album, as Whalley is happy to report. Dirty punk and hilarious lyrics galore, Smoko At The Pet Food Factory covers such heavy topics as Mummy Doesn’t Know You’re A Nazi and Knuckleheads, not to mention the already-popular lead single Bird Attack.
“Yeah, it’s the usual stuff,” laughs Whalley. “It’s the stuff that plagues people minds the most, of course. There’s songs about football scandals, Nazis, goths and beetles, and you get 16 of them to choose your favourite one. For a while there we wondered if we’d ever get out of Bill’s studio alive. There were fun moments, but after a while you wonder whether you’ll ever make it home because the smell of that place still haunts me.”
It was all worth it, however, according to Whalley who – believe it or not – says he’d probably do it all over again. For now, writing and recording is nowhere near on the band’s mind as the touring cycle begins once again in support of the album, and Whalley, for one, is still very much excited about it all nearly 20 years since the band formed. If only he could remember the good times, though…
“Maybe we’ll do something for the 20th anniversary, I don’t know yet. It seems to be the thing to do; we probably should. I did the radio thing with triple j for a while, but I’ve realised that actually playing the music is where it’s at for me personally. I gave it a shot and tried it and now it’s done. The only thing that sucks is that every now and then you’ll get together with the guys or you’ll be sitting around discussing all the fun stuff that’s happened over the years. So many times now people will be talking about this and that time that we had an amazing time and I just feel like it’s someone else’s story because I just don’t remember it anymore. It totally makes you feel like you missed out. We had a lot of fun doing the [single] Bird Attack Tour this year so it’s not like it’s been that long since we’ve played live. You never know, though, maybe no-one shows up, I have no idea.”
As the album’s lead single, Bird Attack served as a reminder recently why Frenzal Rhomb are still sitting at the pinnacle of Australian punk two decades on, no matter how humble and modest Whalley’s demeanor about it all may be. He just hopes that this time around he may soak in the experience a little better.
“It was great, we still get a lot of the old faces coming to the shows but that makes me feel bad because I know that people who come to our gigs are coming because they’re looking for a sense of nostalgia. Most people want to hear us play our old stuff because it takes them back to their high school days or whatever. It just seems to be that way with our band it’s something I’ve noticed. I don’t care though, I totally relate, I would be the same. I hate going to see a band and not knowing any of their new songs. I’m hoping at least some people will pick up this album and know some of the new tracks. It’s not going to be a huge tour or anything, we’re pretty much getting it all done and dusted in like a week. Who knows what happens then. I’m definitely keen to have something fun to remember and talk about the next time we’re together and reminiscing.”
