Melbourne grunk collective John Smith Quintet have already turned quite a few heads this year.
With a somewhat misleading name and an interesting line up of band members, Melbourne grunk collective John Smith Quintet have already turned quite a few heads this year. Preferring to be called JSQ of late, the ‘quintet’ is actually a quartet. The band members consist of a father, son and the son’s former teacher, and no, there is no-one called ‘John Smith’. Talk about tongue-in-cheek.
“For a while we tried to hide the fact that Chris [Frangou, bass] and I are father and son,” admits guitarist Andrew Frangou. “But after a while we realised that it’s actually one of the things that makes us unique, so we stopped trying to hide it. We also often get called a ‘quartet’ because we’re not a ‘quintet’ like our band name. John Smith doesn’t exist either! Basically, Chris and I were throwing around some names one day because we noticed how death metal bands always have a particular type of name that reflects their genre. So we thought it would be funny to do the same thing with John Smith Quintet because what we do gets quite funky at times. It was just to have a bit of a poke at the whole music industry, but at this stage we’re just using JSQ rather than our full name.”
According to Frangou, immediately after seeing JSQ in a live setting, two things often spring to mind – Chris’ slick bass skills and singer Clare Assetta’s amazing vocals.
“Chris is really unique on the bass – anyone who’s seen him has commented on how active he is on stage and how accomplished he is as a bass player. He’s studying music at uni as well. Growing up, Chris was really influenced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus, all those bands where the bass players are very flamboyant and really in-your-face. I personally love really imaginative guitarists where it’s not just about the massive solos. I love stuff like Audioslave and Rage Against The Machine, not just because of the chunky sound but the guitarists actually add some delicate parts into the songs, they’re not just strumming chords from start to finish.”
Some 12 months after initially forming the band, and having their original frontman depart, the father-son team began to search for a new vocalist. By incredible coincidence, according to Frangou, Assetta came to the audition completely oblivious to the fact Frangou junior was actually her student. Although at first a little awkward, the chemistry between the band members was undeniable.
“When Clare came to the audition Chris just looked at me and said, ‘that’s my teacher, is this a joke?’,” laughs Frangou. “But her voice was too good and we had to give her a go. And it’s different now too, because we take our music very seriously and Chris is old enough, he’s nearly 20, and me being his dad is not necessarily that overpowering anymore. We’ve just finished recording an A-side single called Sandstorm after releasing our self-titled EP a year and a half ago. There is an album in discussion but it’s too early to say anything more about it. Whatever ends up happening, we just want to take it in the direction of dance-y funk-rock.”
Because as long as they make ‘em dance, JSQ have done their job right, according to Frangou. And if you’re wondering what the hell ‘grunk’ is anyway, the guitarist explains:
“We’re not heavy rock, we do a mix of funk bass with grunge guitar, really. We throw in some ‘70s and ‘80s guitar work in there and some female vocals over the top, so it’s quite unique-sounding. The good thing about this band is that we can turn it up but we can also mellow it down a bit, we’re really flexible.”
THE JOHN SMITH QUINTET will be appearing at this year’s SCoRCHeR FeST, which will be landing in Melbourne at the Cornish Arms Hotel on Sunday April 3. Check scorcherfest.com.au for ticketing details.
