BAND OVERVIEW: The Frights

   I had listened to the debut EP by The Frights a few days before The Dial’s Gallery Night on March 29 because I knew I’d probably see them that night and I was hella bored at lunch.  That’s when I usually listen to music released within the last 3 years, at work. When I’m at home, I have more than enough CD piles to get through to worry about today’s new cool stuff.  I’ll hear it eventually.  I did end up catching their set that night at the Gallery, however, and decided, shit,  I’ll just interview these dudes,  they’re right fucking there.  So that’s what I did.  EP review + live review + interview = band overview. Enjoy.
   My first impression of this band was at Kevin Crisis’s Birthday Show/”Burger Revolution”  a few weeks back.  They were listed first on the flyer but ended up playing last; by that time I had absolutely no energy left at all and passed out on one of the lobby couches (something I’ve been advised not to do….ewwwww).  Although I didn’t actually watch them, they sounded adept and nice-sounding enough for me to gently fade away to.

   Listening to the EP I could tell these guys play tight although they play a very recognizable breed of beach-indie that (like every genre if you were to ask me) is a bit overdone right now. Best Coast, Wavves, all that stuff, it’s cool but the formula’s wearing a bit thin.  Just to illustrate that point for me, The Frights called their EP “Dead Beach” and it has a song called “Beach Porn.”  Talk about remaining true to form.  Nevertheless, it’s not a shitty release for what it is, I enjoyed it,  I just wasn’t blown away (I never am).  They have a song called “Blister Pop” that’s a good indicator of the overall sound these dudes have; that might as well be the new name of this entire genre.
   Before they played at Gallery Night,  organizer girl Vania was doing a raffle for various Dial things like keychains & mugs & shirts and shit;  the band were sitting Indian-style next to their amps,  very patiently.  If it had been The Gravitys I would have been making funny faces behind her the whole time and not been nearly as respectful.  These kids have class, is what I’m trying to say.  Pretty much immediately as the raffle was over they stood up and started right up and sounded spot-on from the very first chord.  These dudes must practice A LOT; they sounded recorded.  Maximally Pocket.  The bassist has real cool groovy contortions going on while he plays that don’t seem forced.  All 3 of them were killing it, and it occurred to me, ‘these kids are…kids.”  Something about their sound when I listened to the EP, I thought they were college dudes or something; but I guess it makes sense that this is what the kids are making these days.
   After their set I went and just asked if they’d be down for an informal interview and they were all about it.  The singer guy said he had read one of my blogs and liked it; he was stoked I wasn’t gonna be talking shit.  (Sorry bro that’s all I really know how to do).
   I didn’t have my voice recorder with me so I just jotted their answers down haphazardly; I’m not even gonna try to re-enact their exact quotes, I’m just gonna put their various answers together the way I remember them. HERESY.
   The Frights are a garage-indie band from Poway, CA and they started playing in December 2012. They’re only 18-19 years old but have an ‘old band’ called Black Hootie from when they were in high school. At some point that band played at the Soma in San Diego and from there they got to know the management of the venue. Because of that connection they played back-to-back Fridays there a few weekends ago, one of those shows being an opening slot for Bad Religion.

   I want to emphasize again that these kids are 19 at the oldest and have only been a band for like 4 months. How Soma shows with Bad Religion materialized so quickly is fucking beyond me. Some people have all the luck.

   Due to the nature of their sound I asked them what their favorite SD area beach was, even though I already know the answer to that question. They threw out Mission Beach and Del Mar before settling on Belmont Park, which they describe as “San Diego’s Venice.”   Noticing that these kids have a full-blown tour van, I asked how that came to be.  Apparently it was on of their dads’ old plumbing van.  
   The stars just aligned for these fucking kids.

   The Frights: Richard plays bass and eats cereal for every meal. Mikey plays guitar and does vocals; his favorite breakfast consists of eggs, hash browns, and gravy. Adam plays drums and is “not a big breakfast guy.”  WHATEVER.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Frights/339371396082462
Bandcamp: http://dafrights.bandcamp.com/