“We had a tom drum with a hole in the top and we would put the names of three bands in and get someone out of the crowd to come up on stage and draw a name and pick it out” explains Frankenbok vocalist Dan McDougall. “We would delegate each night who played first so no band got the bad luck of playing first every night – I heard it’s statistically possible – and then halfway through that set we would pick out the names and the rest of the night would be set.”
The idea of not having an official headliner harks back to the motivation behind the tour. “The reason behind Regional Roulette was that we wanted to take a killer lineup out on the road, all the bands are equal quality, on how good they are so we didn’t want anyone to headline,” explains McDougall. “It was also a way to try and get people in early as well! Especially in country areas people just come out for the shows because they don’t get that much entertainment and it also a good chance for us to get a good following in the area.
“We subbed King Parrot out because of their incredibly busy schedule. They agreed to come on board initially but then with all their other tour requests they couldn’t commit to the rest. So we thought, ‘my brother Andy is in Dreadnaught and we’re keen to get them out there again, sort of been off the boards for a while with drummer problems but they’ve sorted that out. They are the best metal band in Australia so it is pleasure to play with them again.’” McDougal doesn’t need justify why he put his brothers band on the lineup because Dreadnaught are probably the only ones ahead Frankenbok is Australia’s most loved metal band stakes!”
McDougall then swerved conversation toward Frankenbok’s album that was released earlier this year Cheers, Beers and Beards. “The stuff on that record is stuff that didn’t quite fit in with the ferocity of The End Of All You Know. Obviously, we think they’re still great songs but it just didn’t fit in with the ethos and idea behind that record. So yeah, we’re really proud of Cheers, Beers and Beards with these songs being a bit more light-hearted and more in the direction that Frankenbok is heading and to be honest, where the band came from. I mean, you look at before I joined and there was a lot of really light-hearted and funny stuff.” The most well-known example of Frankenbok’s light-hearted past was its breakthrough single, a cover of Madison Avenue’s Don’t Call Me Baby that was on Frankenbok’s 2001 release Loopholes & Excuses.
BY DENVER MAXX
