These are busy times for Ghent-based pop crooner and allround stage animal Franki. Under the 'EmbracingFranki' moniker, his debut LP – appropriately titled 'The Album' – will hit stores in March, and on this record you'll find nine melancholic pop gems of the highest order. Furthermore, you'll be able to see him live on a stage near you some time soon, backed by a wonderful five-piece band. No better moment, we thought, for an in-depth interview!
- On 'The Album', you're accompanied by a lot of illustrious names from the Belgian music scene. How did these collaborations come to be?
Franki – 'Well, most of those cooperations actually grew spontaneously. Eleven, twelve years ago in Ghent, you could see a tremendous 'boom' in the local music scene: musicians from all over the place came to our town, and you can still feel the aftermath of that time up to this day. Bands like Soulwax, Das Pop and Vive La Fête were only just starting out, and I happened to meet those guys at the right time in the right place: the Stax, a now legendary bar on the Vlasmarkt. Back then, I already knew I wanted to get started in the music business, and – like everybody who's ever been in Ghent knows – it's really just a big village, so I didn't have to look too far.
'Of course, it's mainly a network which spreads via musicians, who in some way or another all know eachother. I also met Anton Janssens (Saint-Marteau) that way, who later became my first pianist. So, in fact, the whole thing got started while sitting at the bar (laughs).'
- For example: Danny Mommens wrote the Song 'Carmella' for you, which you also played at your concert at the Vooruit. Why didn't you ever release this Dutch-spoken track as a single? It was sure to blow acts like Luc De Vos right out of the water.
Franki: - 'Yeah, I also consider it to be one of my best songs. Furthermore, there's a nice story to go along with it: while I was just starting to sing, Danny offered this song to me - which means he already had a lot of confidence in me, even back then. But I can assure you that someday I will release it, in some way.'
- This album was recorded over a stretch of several years in a variety of studios – and yet, as a whole, it manages to sound coherent. So what do you prefer: working on songs in the studio, or singing them on stage?
Franki – 'Five of the nine 'backing tracks' – so the music itself – were indeed recorded at different places, because we never really had the distinctive plan of making a full-album. But as these recordings still sounded marvellous, like those of our sessions in the Motormusic and Jet Studios, we decided to keep them. The main reason that the album still sounds coherent, is that we re-recorded all the vocal tracks in '07-'08 in one studio, and mixed the backing tracks to correspond with those lines – well, all tracks except the ones for 'Could You Be My Darling', which we recorded at the Swedish Polar Studios. We thought it would be a bit of a shame to mess with those. Also, a singing voice changes, deepens over the years, so this way you can hear the voice of 'Franki, now'. Furthermore, the four other tracks on 'The Album' are completely brand new recordings.
'Regarding the difference between studio sessions and playing on stage: I have to say I still get a bit nervous for both. At the studio, you've got the stress of having to be ready with a song in a limited space of time, but you do have the advantage of being able to re-record things. Creatively speaking, I find this to be very interesting, but it can also turn out to be quite deceptive: often you'll leave the studio with a good feeling about what you've accomplished, and if you relisten those tapes two days later, that satisfaction has completely disappeared – and then you have to start over from scratch. With a concert, on the other hand, you get a different feel, as you can't re-do anything on stage. If something goes haywire, it's not easy to pull yourself together again. But the biggest advantage of playing live is the direct feedback you get from the audience – and that never ceases to give me a tremendous kick.'
- How did it feel to be the first Belgian ever to record at the Polar Studios in Stockholm, where your personal idols of Abba recorded all those hit albums?
Franki – 'Anyone who knows me, can tell you I've always been a gigantic Abba fan – and not just because of their looks or kitsch value, but truly for the music they made. It might sound strange considering I express myself in a completely different genre, but it were bands like Abba that motivated me into getting started with music myself. My infatuation with those Polar Studios is practically as old as the Studios themselves: I still remember when Abba released their legendary 'Voulez Vous' LP in 1979, barely a year after the studio opened. Of course, I already liked the stuff they released before that record, but this was from a different order altogether.
'Years afterwards, I started listening to those songs with a musician's ear, and that only deepened my respect for their recording process. That's why I went to Stockholm in '95 to visit the Studios, and that experience convinced me I really wanted to record there. Another five years later, I began writing my own songs, so I started to mail and write to Michael Tretow – who was the boss and sound technician of the studio back then – but to no avail. Finally I sent him one of my songs, 'Embrace', and I suppose that did the trick: in 2002 they let me fly over, as the first and only artist from the entire Benelux region – by the way (laughs). Well, Arno almost beat me to it: he's done a filming session there with TC Matic some time ago, but he hadn't actually recorded anything.
'Another factor that worked in my advantage, was that the studio moved to a different location shortly after (in 2004), so they probably wanted to get some more people to record there while they still could. But anyways: I'm very proud of it. The best way to look at it, is like a Beatles fan who's allowed to do his own thing at Abbey Road. Not to mention all the other artists who've produced some fantastic tunes at the Polar Studios: Led Zeppelin, Ramones, Burt Bacharach, all those solo records of the former Abba members...'
- In the past, you've mentioned that you've been influenced by artists like Jacques Brel, Gavin Friday and Marianne Faithfull. But with which modern, contemporary acts do you feel a connection – musically and/or emotionally?
Franki – 'That's a tough one. To me, Marianne Faithfull still sounds quite contemporary, as she recently proved again with 'Easy Come, Easy Go' (her latest record). But it's hard for me to really name a newer act. The Divine Comedy is certainly one of my favorite bands, but are they 'contemporary'? By now, they've been around for almost twenty years. Björk is another artist I deeply respect, but she also started to jump back to standards and more classical styles of music in the past years. Of the modern acts I personally prefer, most are essentially retro acts; Duffy, for instance, I find to have a very strong voice – but that's just Dusty Springfield all over again, isn't it? Still, I'm happy that it's a way for young people to re-discover those older, great tunes. A lot of people will probably expect me to mention Antony & the Johnsons here, but that only does the trick in small doses; it carries a bit to much sadness for me to listen to an entire album of theirs in one sitting.
'Most of my favorite bands at this moment originate from the seventies and eighties. The main reason for this is that, by being a musician myself, I started to give another chance to bands and artists I didn't particularly liked when I first heard them, but I now can see the true value of their songs – Roxy Music and Leonard Cohen, for example.
- With this album, you've returned to your first true love: pop crooner and chanson. Do you consider Frankilizer, your electro dance project, as a finished chapter, or can we expect some more output in that form?
Franki – 'For me, that period is over. I guess a lot of people misunderstood the concept of Frankilizer. They probably thought: 'Well, Franki can't quite cut it as a crooner, so now he jumps the dance-wagon just to appear more 'cool' and modern.' But that's not true. The band actually came to be in a very spontaneous way when I met Jacques Olivier, who was making techno and electro tunes at the time, and after a while we wanted to do a live thing together. So yes, I started out as a crooner, but I also grew up with danceable, electronic music. For instance, I'm a big fan of Yazoo, and they certainly were a role model for Frankilizer: I found it very interesting to hear Alison Moyet's heavy, sultry voice get braided with those electro-beats. But I also think we were a bit too early with the whole thing, because now you can see that this synergy can really work, like Antony has proved with Hercules & Love Affair. Well, it seems I have quite the knack for bad timing (laughs).
'Frankilizer certainly carried more potential: for example, we've made an EP and two music videos, and our songs got airplay on the Swedish radio stations and MTV-Outside. But after two years I decided to call it quits for various reasons: partly because not everyone in the band was equally motivated or had the same objective – for me, the song came first, and thén the beats – , and partly because I started to grew tiresome of it all. The return to the chanson was a very natural transition for me: in the last year with Frankilizer, I started to hear that music in my head again, with a real band, real drums, and so on.
'Maybe, after two albums or so, I'd reconsider doing something with electronics, but it wouldn't be under the Frankilizer moniker, and only as a side project. And they'll have to ask me (laughs).'
- The lyrics on 'The Album' are often emotionally heavy – you could even call them sad at times – and yet there's always a positive ring to them. How much of 'Franki, as a man' can be found in 'Franki, as an artist'?
Franki – 'A whole lot, I think. On this album, it's true that you can find many stories about broken hearts, but you can't deny the overall theme of redemption and recovery. In a song like 'Remembering', for instance, you clearly feel a sentiment, like: 'Can't we start over again?' And in that way, every track on 'The Album' has its own silver lining – except for 'What Now My Love', but that's not incidentally a cover track (of 'Et Maintenant' by Gilbert Bécaud). I don't think my music exudes a feeling of 'go kill yourself' – after all, we're not Radiohead (laughs).
'The songs I'm currently writing, and four new tracks we already play live, definitely have a more raw, less emotional feel to them. That's mostly because, as I wrote the songs on 'The Album', I had quite the passionate love life – and that's bound to evoke some heartburn – while as of now, I'm quite happy being single. But I guess that that melancholic side of me will always shimmer through in some way or another, both as a person and an artist. So in that respect, those two are exactly alike.'
- A couple of years ago, you founded your own record label: AreYouSure Records. Do you mean to use it strictly for your own releases, or are you also planning to release records by other bands and artists?
Franki – 'I principally founded AYS to release my own music, both as a record label and as a publishing firm. The main reason for this was that back in 2005, nobody was interested in releasing our 'Can't Help Loving That Man' EP, so we did it ourselves (laughs). It's been hard to keep the label up and running over the last few years – you can say the same about évery label these days – but if 'The Album' turns out to be successful and I happen to stumble upon an act I really, réally like, I guess I'd be willing to give them a shot. But for now, I want AreYouSure to mainly concentrate on this album's release – because if you truly want to sponsor a band, there's no middle way about it. And at this moment, we simply don't have the means yet – so for now, this label is mostly a gateway for my music.'
- In 2006, you recorded a song with Jef Mercelis ('Your Love Is Like A Crown') for 'Komma', a movie starring Arno, and on 'The Album' you cover a Gilbert Bécaud track. Is the conquest of the French-speaking market on your agenda?
Franki – 'Not really, because French is hardly a language I'm able to speak fluently (laughs). Of course, there's a different between speaking a language and singing some lyrics, but for now it's not one of my ambitions. Sure, I have absolutely no problem with playing concerts in France, but let's just see how that works out. Furthermore, there really aren't that many Belgian acts that truly made it over there: Arno, Axelle Red, Ghinzu – and that's about it I guess. The markets outside of Belgium which seem most interesting for me are Scandinavia – since I already have quite a fanbase there – , the former Eastern Bloc and Germany. And we're already developing steps toward releasing 'The Album' in those regions.'
'Wait and see!...
-Thank you for the interview!
-'Thank you my dear!'.
Our choice
It's hard to pick out just a couple of outstanding songs on 'The Album', because as a whole it's clearly a 'labor of love'. Nevertheless, we give you three tracks which each show another side of EmbracingFranki.
1. 'Darling'
Written by Das Pop, 'Darling' is the perfect fusion of charming pop and Franki's vocal acrobatics. Compelling, melodic and véry catchy.
2. 'Love Me or Leave Me'
Franki goes chanson, with a smudge of cabaret here and there. A passionate rhythm section which inadvertently pulls you in, topped off with some strategically placed piano and guitar solos. Certainly one to experience live, as we've witnessed at the Vooruit.
3. 'Embrace'
Our personal favorite, written by Armand Bourgoignie (ex-Mad Dog Loose, Milk The Bishop). Franki shows his complete crooning range, and as a result, goosebumps are inevitable.
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