Freedom Fry – New Life

By starrymag | March 27, 2019

By:  Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

Bruce: It’s like if comfort food were music. Every song is its own world and we try to add all the sonic elements that we loved in the music we listened to when we were growing up – 60s pop, folk, French pop, disco, indie music of the 80s and early 2000s. It’s all in there if you look for it.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

Bruce: Every song I’ve ever heard influences me – the good and the bad. Every genre. Novelty one-hit-wonders have always really appealed to me. I never usually mention them when people ask, but I really love Pet Shop Boys. They’re underrated as songwriters. We don’t sound like them though. I’ve been listening to The Kinks a lot lately. So many good songs.

 

Marie: I really love Sia’s early work. The chord changes are beautiful and her voice is so brilliant. I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock because of my dad; bands like CCR, The Eagles and Dire Straits. French music also is a huge influence as I grew up in Paris. A lot of Serge Gainsbourg’s music is otherworldly. It ages remarkably well.

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “Inseparable.”

 

Marie: We’re married and we just had our first child. The bond you feel with a person you’ve created is like no other. Your souls feel permanently attached and inseparable. You suddenly obtain a selfless willingness to give your life for the other. That is what inspired us.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

 

Bruce: I hope that people feel that the emotions and feeling we put into its creation are genuine. If that comes across, then that may be what they’re connecting with.

 

Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

 

Marie: The video that exists now is a lyric video. We make those for all our new songs so people can vibe out and get lost in the music and lyrics. Someday we may make a “real” video for it.

 

Q) You recently covered the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette. How do you come up with the arrangement for it?

 

Bruce: We were taking our dog, Bonnie, for a walk in LA one night and I started imagining the song in my head with those pulsing electronic piano chords. I sang it for Marie and she liked the idea. We brainstormed if it could work or not and then we just went for it and recorded it. It’s so drastically different, yet recognizable, it almost feels like a version of the song that would exist in a parallel universe.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics? 

 

Bruce: Melodies just present themselves to us. They appear in our heads. Then, we try to find lyrics that fit the mood of the notes. Music always comes before the lyrics. We always try to find some subject matter that feels new to us. We’ve written songs about a lot of holidays – Christmas and Valentine’s Day. We even wrote a song about zombies. If we write a love song, we try to not be too cliché.

 

Marie: It feels like everyone has sung about everything, so sometimes it’s best to venture into very new territory.

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music? 

 

Bruce: We do 100% of it in our home studio. It’s called The Cactus Garden.

 

Q) What can fans expect from a live Freedom Fry performance?

 

Marie: They can expect to hear our songs sung from the heart. We don’t have the crew yet for a crazy light show, but when we do, we’ll go for it.

 

Q) What songs off your New Life EP are you looking forward to performing live?

 

Bruce: “New Life” is one of my favorite songs we’ve ever written. I can’t wait to play it live. It’s got psychedelic instrumentation and the groove is hypnotic for me.

 

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to your new EP as a whole?

 

Marie: I hope they find a new song, or three, that they love and it makes them want to listen to more of our songs. We’ve got a massive amount of songs we released since we started. Some of our personal favorites got less attention than others, so we hope that it inspires people to explore the other music we’ve released.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you? 

 

Bruce: The Fox Theater in Oakland, CA is probably our favorite venue so far. We played two sold out shows there with Stromae in 2015. We keep great memories of that place, because it was such a beautiful room and our first tour.

 

Marie: In LA we love the Echo. It’s been a while since we played there though. We did a residency there. We had some friends join us for songs – James Iha, Mayer Hawthorne and Monogem. It was a blast.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

Bruce: If they can resurrect John Lennon, that would be ideal.

 

Marie: I think we’d vibe with Beck. We love his versatility and melodic sensibility.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

 

Marie: It’s been a minute since we fell in love with an album. The last one we really fell for was Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Rest. There’s a lot we’ve been meaning to listen to though. We make a Spotify playlist of what we’re currently listening to. It’s pretty eclectic.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

Bruce: It’s important because if you’re an independent band and there’s not a big label machine behind you to fund tours and PR it cuts out the middle man and allows you to talk directly to the people who find your music and like what you do. They get to know what you’re working on and choose to follow you. And you get to know them as well, which can be very cool.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

Marie: You mean the world to us. You keep us going. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to anyone who ever came to a show, streamed or downloaded a song, bought an album, wore a t-shirt or sent a positive comment. We don’t intend to stop putting music out anytime soon and we can’t wait to hear what you think of our new songs.