Life in the St. Catharines-based Fraze Gang is all about the music. The band has nothing against making enough money to afford to quit their day jobs, mind you, but their focus is on having fun with their art rather than living the rock star delusion. Call them older and wiser, as guitarist/vocalist Greg Fraser and bassist Stevie Skreebs experienced the rock circus hoopla first hand with Brighton Rock in the ‘80s and into the ‘90s. They take nothing for granted, treating each step forward in Fraze Gang as a significant achievement. And they are indeed on the move, having secured a deal with Bongo Beat Records that will put their previously independent debut on the shelves in Canada, the US and the UK as of April. Newly packaged with a brand new song kicking off the album, what started as an experiment has now put Fraze Gang on the international stage. A small stage, to be sure, but it’s a proven fact the “baby steps” approach works if you’re willing to do the time.

“When I initially put the CD out on our website just to create a street buzz, I was trying to figure out a way to go about it because I knew no major company was going to touch us,” begins Fraser. “Brighton Rock was old news, so we were pretty much starting from scratch because Fraze Gang had no following whatsoever. Next thing you know, people are reviewing it and we’re doing interviews. Fast forward a year or two and we’ve got a bit of a groundswell, so the label can take it from here. It’s nice. It feels a lot better, and since Day 1 this is we wanted; to get a deal and have a record company behind us. The days of big companies behind a band like us, they’re gone, so it’s refreshing to realize there’s somebody out there who gives a shit and say ‘I think this is good and people should hear it.’”
“Somebody” is Bongo Beat Records president Ralph Alfonso, a veteran of the music business and an old friend from the Brighton Rock days. His label, however, boasts a roster that looks like it was swiped from the café latte-loving college radio underground. In fact, Fraze Gang are the only heavy band in the Bongo Beat ranks. For now.

“Ralph was with the record company (WEA) when Brighton Rock was signed, and he was almost like an assistant manager in a lot of ways because he’d set up a lot of the press and interviews for us,” Fraser reveals. “He’d bombard us with stuff, and he’s great for that sort of thing. Ralph had a real street sense and he’s still got it. We’ve known him for years and he’s one of the most trustworthy guys in the business. A lot of companies aren’t like the old days; Warner would have Van Halen, The Doobie Brothers, a wide assortment of artists and not just one genre of music. Ralph would go to MIDEM and be selling Bongo Beat product, and people would say to him ‘I like this, I like that, but do you have anything heavier?’ We had kept in touch, and he told me about this and said he figured he’d be able to move some of our stuff. He’d always liked it, and he found he was in a position to actually help us.”

Fraser admits to being surprised by how word of Fraze Gang’s existence has spread since the independent release of the debut. The internet is great for advertisement, but getting attention and having people stick around are two different things.

“It’s exciting, because we’re starting to see a payoff. We started from nothing sitting in Skreebs’ basement drinking beer and jamming, and now there are people around the world that know who we are. It’s better than I expected in a lot of ways because we had nobody promoting us. Fraze Gang literally was a word-of-mouth type of thing. That aspect of it blows me away. We’re getting emails from Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, and I’m wondering how the hell these countries know about us (laughs). It’s crazy. The sales aren’t Brighton Rock numbers, but then again this has been totally on our own. Now it’s just strictly wait-and-see. Realistically we don’t expect to sell millions or hundreds of thousands because those days are gone. I mean, Herbie Hancock won a Grammy Award for selling 25,000 records. These days selling a million records is the equivalent of what 10 million used to be. We’ve been in this business long enough, so the way we look at it is if you’re in it to make money you might as well forget it. You’re going to be so disappointed because there are just so many ways that the money get taken away from you. It’s ridiculous. But, if you love music that’s what it should be all about, and that’s what we’re all about.”

The new version of the debut features the new song ‘Jackhammer’ kicking off the proceedings. Definitely the heaviest song in the band’s repetoire thus far, and a taste of what’s to come.

“When we first started writing for this CD I was still kind of stuck in the old mentality, thinking that no matter what you’ve got to have a lead-off single,” Fraser admits. “That’s what it was like in the Brighton Rock days; we were told ‘Give us 10 songs, we want two solid singles.’ The idea was the label wanted something to run with. I was out of touch with the way the industry is now. We’d write a song and then say ‘That’s not a strong enough single, let’s write another.’ Then we decided, screw it, let’s throw some harder-edged stuff in there too. When we put the original pressing out, without ‘Jackhammer’, the reviews focused on the heavier stuff. I realized then that we should write more heavy songs, and we were lucky enough to be able to put ‘Jackhammer’ on the official version. When we do another record we’re going to go more in that direction because the truth is that’s what we love.”
“Songs like ‘Jackhammer’ and ‘Sugar Daddy’, they were in a lot of ways less structured than some of the other songs,” he adds. “Sometimes I have a definite idea about how a song should sound; I tell Phil (Epp/drums) what I hear in my head and ask him if he can play something a certain way. With ‘Jackhammer’ I wasn’t sure what I wanted drum-wise, so he just went with it and I told him not to change a thing. It just kind of fell into place, and thank God it did. I’m always writing, so I’ve got a million riffs for the next album. There are some songs we’ve been working on; one is called ‘Rampage’ and it’s a rocker, maybe a bit faster paced, but not a departure for us at all. It’s more in that ‘Jackhammer’ vein, and you’re going to hear a lot more of that on the next CD.”

Good news for people expecting Fraze Gang to be a Brighton Rock Mark II. The debut is neither as heavy nor as fluffy as Fraser’s and Skreebs’ former band, but he makes it clear that Fraze Gang’s songs aren’t written with the intention of steering clear of the Brighton Rock sound.

“I’ve had people ask me if we’re still writing like we did in the ‘80s, if we’re still thinking that way, but the truth is when we write it’s all about ‘Hey man, do you like this ? I like this…’ and that’s it. We don’t think, ‘God, I love this song but it sounds too much like Brighton Rock, maybe we shouldn’t do it.’ At the end of the day we’re liking it and we’re having a blast playing it. If it sounds like Brighton Rock or someone else, so be it. That’s our attitude, because if you try to sound a certain way by the time your CD gets released a year or two later it’s old news. We just say screw it, we’re not going to try and fit into a format. Hopefully there are people out there with the same taste as us that’ll come along for the ride.”

Having Fraser fronting the band also takes away from the illusion of a Brighton Rock sequel, as his voice is a far cry from Gerry McGhee’s trademark delivery. Not that Fraser had an overpowering desire to add singing to his duties…

“I like it a lot, but at the same time it’s frustrating because I’m stuck in front of my mic stand and I’m used to being able to run around,” Fraser says of playing vocalist. “It’s a mixed blessing. When I first started singing I was wondering what I’d gotten myself into, because I was so used to having a frontman. From the very beginning I wanted to be Jimmy Page and I wanted to have a Robert Plant beside me. When Brighton Rock broke up and I started to do things with Fraze Gang we had other singers come in who could blow me away, but the chemistry wasn’t right. I was so used to having McGhee singing beside me, so my attitude if it wasn’t as good or better than him why do it? I decided to sing in the meantime until a new singer turned up, and here I am (laughs).”

And the payoff comes when Fraze Gang hits the stage.

“It’s amazing,” says Fraser. “People that come out realize that we’re having a good time being up there and appreciate the fact we’re not standing there looking at our shoes. We put a sweatfest on, we have the time of our life. It’s the same attitude we had with Brighton Rock. It hasn’t changed because that’s our blood, that’s our roots. That’s what we miss when we go and watch other bands play. It’s like, ‘Get out of first gear, man!’ (laughs). And, the fact we don’t get to play that much means that when we do get on stage we’re making up for lost time.”

In closing, Fraser addresses the rumours that Brighton Rock’s original five man line-up will be getting back together in 2008 for some reunion shows. Turns out it's not just talk.

“Andy Curran from Coney Hatch is a good friend of ours – we play hockey with him a lot – and he’s itching to get out there,” says Fraser. “He’s good buddies with Kim Mitchell, and every summer Kim does little tours and some festival dates. He wants to do a kind of rock package and we’re on board if it happens. At this point he’s looking at Southern Ontario, but it’s just a feeling out process and nothing has been booked. It would be us, Kim Mitchell, Andy Curran and the Killer Dwarfs. It wouldn’t necessarily be all four bands on the bill at the same time, but everybody’s into it. All the guys in Brighton Rock said yes, same with the Dwarfs, so we’re just waiting now to see what happens.”

www.frazegang.com

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