Album teaser @YouTube
l ate s t re l ea s e
L I S TE N n o w
Cheers, Beers and Beards by
Frankenbok
Independent
review Rob Brens Frankenbok’s Cheers, Beers and Beards is split in two – the first half is new material and the second half is live tracks. The beauty of the live tracks is that we get to hear older Frankenbok songs as interpreted by the current lineup. Instrumental, Black Satriani, is a stand out and sees Frankenbok explore new territory. No doubt this gives the band a chance to display their prowess on their respective instruments, but this is no ostentatious parade of musical wankery. The mature songwriting skills are still employed, which means that at a show you won’t be heading to the bar while the musicians in the crowd get their fix. As far as the new material goes, the sound is definitely metal, but the energy is very much punk and rock. You can be assured that there’ll be sing-a-longs, head-banging a plenty and nothing but good times had.
“If you go to a place like Mildura, those people are hardcore metalheads,” McDougall says, “They’re fans of metal who don’t have much else. They go ballistic – we’ve experienced a lot of it. Take Wollongong, there’s about 300,000 people there, it’s huge.” After putting out their 2011 LP, The End of All You Know, the band went gung ho and relentlessly toured around Australia. They’ve just recently completed the tour cycle and have hit the ground running, already poised to release another album. McDougall explains why the new record, Cheers, Beers and Beards, has come about so quickly after the last. “The new record is six tracks that didn’t really fit the last album but that we always intended to put out,” he says. The album also includes four live tracks of the band’s older favourites. “We were going to release a tour EP, so we said ‘why not put out live versions of songs
that were done with the old lineup?’ There are a lot of new Frankenbok fans coming out of the woodwork who aren’t so familiar with the back catalogue. So it’s six studio tracks and four live tracks,” McDougall says. The band have been at it a long time and feel it’s time to thank those who have supported them along the way. McDougall says Cheers, Beers and Beards is a positive release to celebrate their journey and the people who have cheered them on. “It’s got a totally different vibe to The End of All You Know. It’s much more positive and not as aggressive or brutal,” he says, “We wanted it to be a thank you to everyone who has come out to see us. We’re not talking about death, destruction and chaos on the new record. I was in a real dark, pissed off place last time and I wanted to create a nasty ferocious record [The End of All You Know], but our strength is entertainment.” H
“In my opinion there are too few bands that sound like Australian bands.”
COVER UP
words Rob Brens You may laugh, but Frankenbok’s cover of Madison Avenue’s Don’t Call Me Baby earned the band a significant amount of publicity at the time, including airplay on triple j. Whether the motivation is publicity, artistic license or just having some fun, other metal bands have taken a similar approach and covered pop tunes. Most notably, in recent memory, is Aussie power metal legends Lord covering Kylie Minogue’s On a Night Like This. The cover itself is quite tasteful as far as being faithful to the original goes, however I’m not sure the same could be said for the film clip. To this date, the hilarious video has accumulated well over 200,000 views. A similar venture could help you garnering just as much exposure, and if you feel like wearing women’s underwear to do so, go right ahead.
Thrashin’ IT AT THE TOP words Fabio Marracini
In 2010, Frankenbok scored a local opening slot for the legendary Exodus. Guitarist Nathan ‘Yeti’ Amatnieks says the experience was unforgettable. “We were greeted during sound check by the godfather of thrash himself, Gary Holt. He was wearing our t-shirt, smiling and giving us two thumbs up,” Amatnieks says with stars in his eyes, “Given his reputation, I thought he was just being funny and mocking us. But no, he had listened to our albums and loved them. He was really interested in checking us out.”
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