Frenzal Rhomb: Interview on the Road to Newcastle
Sydney band Frenzal Rhomb are not without some notoriety eg the release of the 'Dick Sandwich' EP in Jan of 1994 and some discussion on lyrics in Caughing Up A Storm. However there is nothing like talking to Frenzal Rhomb on a mini bus, on the expressway to Newcastle, while they are being followed by the cops for speeding, to enable you to have a deep and meaningful conversation about the roots and origins of their music. First off was their very unusual name. Jay explained:
"It was in my friends physics textbook when he was at school. I don't know what it means, it just sounded good. It sort of rolls off the tongue. We formed after Ben and I met collecting for the quadraplegic association, getting money from them, er for them.
"Do you mean, we asked, that they felt so sorry for you, they made a donation?" Jay thought about that for a moment and said "No." Hmmm."We met up again at Uni and met Alex and we met Nat and it went from there." The guys were on their way to some "barrenland in Newcastle somewhere to jump around and stuff and film a videoclip."
Nat Nykyruj (drummer) and Jay Whalley, the Frenzal Rhomb vocalist, now recovering from a broken collarbone, spoke about the band and their forthcoming single Parasite soon to be released through Shock/Shagpile. Being the sympathetic type we asked about the broken collarbone situation. What nightmarish situation had caused this mishap? Yep, you're right the old 'stagediving and no-one caught me routine!'Nat explained "Jay is a real hard core punk and he was stagediving at a hardcore punkrock gig and broke his collarbone. He didn't even realise he'd broken it. Another voice quipped in Jase is just that Frenté sort of guy you know."
Band member Ben has just left the band last week. How did the band view his departure? "He's outta here, he's moving back home and living with his dad, he couldn't hack living outta home and he's going back to do his H.S.C. He is really only sixteen years old." Hmmm.
Frenzal Rhomb's last release "Coughing Up A Storm" sold out it's first local pressing within two months of its first release and has since been repressed. Nat reports the second run is selling "very well" but wait there's more! "We've got a new one coming out shortly and its going to be heaps better! There is going to be 17 songs and its going to be a lot better than the last record. It has better production than the last one as we spent more time and possibly it's the one that was never meant to happen as we had heaps of problems with producers."Tracks include: "Do Not Be Alarmed by the Enormous Amount of Human Excreta, I Couldn't Find My Pants Today I Think It's Only Better That Way, All We Need Is A Punch In The Face and more. Yeah and we've got a single coming out in the next two weeks."We asked about the single Parasite. "There's another song on it called 'Door" and another song on it called "The People Who Live At Number 60 Are a Pack of Cunts."We asked why these people had so inspired this song? They're neighbours who live on my street. They're kinda really, really loud. They're an older couple and they can't really talk. It gets kind of hard to take after a while. The woman waits for us to come home. When we pass she'll go back inside and yell for about four hours and throw things at her husband. It's a nasty scene. It's a B side thing, but it's kinda OK. Most of the tracks are written in incoherent rhyming couplets."
With the popularity of the band growing, the guys report they have just signed with Shock Records, who will be handling the Frenzal Rhomb team from now on. "It will be a hell shitfight if we don't sign with them, cause we will owe them lots of money.We asked the guys to describe their music. "It's like being in this van like we're in at the moment, cruising down the hill going into Woolongong going 120 and coming so close to the wall, basically if we had touched the wall, we all would have died. That's the way to describe our music." Frenzal Rhomb consist of Jason Whalley (voice), Alexis Feltham on bass and Nat Nykyruj on drums. Ben Costello (aged 16 not) was on guitar. We managed till the inevitable happened they had a terminal case of mobile drop out.