A Chat with Frankmusik
Interview with Jay Lowe (Guest contributor)
Frankmusik is a British singer and producer. His debut album Complete Me reached the UK Top 20 in 2009. At his commercial peak, he had both Ed Sheeran & Charli XCX open for his shows. After the release of his debut album, he moved to the US. Frankmusik has continued to make albums, but on his own terms. We spoke to him about the pressure he’s felt as an artist, learning to accept AI and how he can’t wait to make more music.
Your debut, Complete Me, achieved decent success with fantastic singles like ‘3 Little Words’, ‘Better Off As Two’ and ‘Confusion Girl’. What are your feelings towards this album and how it was received?
Frankmusik: Thanks for your kind words. It was an incredible opportunity and an insanely steep learning curve for me. I learned a lot from the experience, and I am very thankful to have had such an experience at that point in my life. I got to work with some amazing people and see some parts of the world I probably wouldn’t have seen if it wasn’t for signing to Island. I wish the record did better for everyone who was involved, as there were some very passionate people who worked on it. But I’m just glad it happened at all. As a new artist, things can get shelved pretty easily. But I got a couple of albums out of it, and it was a very interesting start to my 20’s.
You supported Pet Shop Boys shortly after on their tour promoting their Yes album. How did you come to their attention?
Frankmusik: I wish I had a solid answer. But generally, when you’re signed to a major, you are much more likely to get opportunities come your way. I only met them briefly backstage once or twice. They were very friendly, and it was amazing to see the mechanics of such a production executed flawlessly from one city to the next.
You moved to the US in 2010. What were your feelings about leaving the UK in your mid-20s? In hindsight, are you happy you made that decision?
Frankmusik: I have to be honest, I always saw myself living in America from the age of about 6. I consumed a lot of American culture from movies to TV shows, and it was always a form of escapism from my otherwise very normal life in Croydon in the 80’s and 90’s. I split my time between Utah and Los Angeles, and find bouncing between such different American locales keeps me grounded. I also have four boys, and I like the space. I doubt I would have had any children or even married if I stayed in the UK, and I would have just carried on hanging out in London, partying and networking. But I met an American lass who changed my perspective somewhat, and 12 years later, we’re still going strong with our hands full doing life.
Erasure selected you to produce their entire 2011 album Tomorrow’s World. You can definitely hear your involvement on tracks like ‘What Will I Say When You’re Gone’, for example. How are they to work with? I think Erasure and PSB have had very similar careers.
Frankmusik: According to the tour manager of Erasure, I was a second choice. I am not entirely sure why he felt the need to tell me that, but there we are. Apparently, the first producer fell through, and I accepted the offer. It was an incredible opportunity. The process was pretty simple. I went to Vince’s studio in Maine to get a feel for the demos he had already made, and I started work on fleshing them out further with my own gear. I then recorded Andy separately. The album’s top line was all Andy, I think, and the backing track outlines were all Vince. We were never all in the same room at once working on the record. Sad, but it just wasn’t needed to get the job done.
They were absolutely lovely to work with, and although very different personalities, you could see how they balanced each other. Andy was going through some serious emotional events when the album was being written, and that came through on the lyrical side. I tried to keep things upbeat despite the very heavy content Andy was working through. I felt I needed to keep the uptempo Erasure vibes as much as possible, rather than lean too heavily into the clear emotion Andy was laying down lyrically and melodically. In hindsight, I wish I were more brave and took a more sensitive approach to the record, but I wanted their tour to get people moving rather than introspective.
You seemed to embrace a more American pop sound with your second album, Do It In The AM, with guest appearances from Colette Carr & Far East Movement. Were you drawn to what was going on musically in the States at that time?
Frankmusik: It was a very weird time leaving the UK and moving to the US, as there were a few moving parts that I wasn’t really privy to about my own record deal situation. After the first album underperformed, I was basically as good as dropped. So moving to the US to some degree was a wise choice because I got a meeting with the US label and an A&R there took a punt on a second album with me, and instead of dropping me. Island just gave a bunch of cash to Interscope for one final punt on my music career. Never having had strong management, I was kind of a lamb to the slaughter at both Island and Interscope. There was no one batting for me, so when the label said jump, I would say how high.
The point I’m trying to make is that when I moved to the US, I was alone. So if I felt out of my depth in the UK, that was nothing compared to what I was about to open myself up to in the US. Long story short, the A&R guy I was dealing with at Interscope was not someone I particularly got along with. I do believe he had good intentions, but we clashed heavily. There were a lot of ideas he threw my way, and I just kind of tried to embrace them while ignoring my own tastes and instincts. I sadly didn’t have enough success under my belt before moving to the US to do things my own way. It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse, too. I learned a ton from my time with the US label, and I’m glad I got out when I did.
You had just released your second album, but then parted ways with Island. What transpired to lead you to depart from one of the world’s best-known labels?
Frankmusik: Very simple, I was one of the many signings that are made by labels every year, and it just didn’t work out. Major labels have a lot of infrastructure to break an artist, but back then, if you didn’t get Radio 1, you were as good as dead. Every album release the advance went up a certain amount and I had signed for 5 albums. I think they probably looked at the numbers and didn’t see a bright future. They desperately needed big playlists from major radio markets, and I never got it. There is only so much a label can do, and they did a lot, but they were at the mercy of radio, too.
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that I will never fully know. But missing key meetings with the head of UK Universal because I had a hangover doesn’t really help matters. I also don’t believe I had a strong identity at that point, as I was just starting out. At 40, I am still figuring out my sound and image, and maybe I never really will. But Island took a gamble on me, and it didn’t work out. But that’s how it is for many artists. I honestly never thought I’d ever get a deal growing up. And I suppose because I never thought I would get a record deal, I never really thought beyond that point of getting one. I often wonder what I would have done differently in those days, and I think just being more responsible and taking things a bit more seriously would have helped to some degree. But you just never really know with these things.
How has it been releasing every album since independently? Do you find it hard to manage the production and other creative bits you do?
Frankmusik: It’s a breeze now. It was before I was signed, too. The process I go through now has barely changed since making music and releasing it on MySpace. I am basically doing it how 99% of music producers do it these days. The biggest challenge is how to present myself on social media and how to get good artwork.
I’ve been listening to a lot of your albums, such as For You, Carissimi & Nobody. It’s clear that you’re still making electronic music of a high quality. Does commercial success still matter to you?
Frankmusik: Success is a funny word that I have had to contend with for years. When I was signed, I was an alcoholic, chain-smoking musician who dreaded the weekends because I had no friends. But this was at my peak ‘success’. Now being 40 and not having been signed or having a manager since 2011 has given me plenty of time to find different forms of ‘success’. I no longer smoke, I care about my health and future. There is a family that loves me and that I love that didn’t exist until 2020. Look, I get it. I’m not Ed Sheeran successful; I’ve had years and years of watching many artists fly past me. At one point, Charli XCX and Ed Sheeran were openers for my shows and look how the cookie crumbled. They made it, and I didn’t in the pop star context. But Charli writes songs about not being a mother yet and seems to have genuine concern about that. Well, I became a father. Does that make Charli a failure and me a success in the context of becoming a parent?
There are many forms of success, and the obvious surface levels of success only seem to be dolled out to artists and entertainers. No one would say to a plumber ‘but do you own a national plumbing company’? Or say to a lawyer, ‘what cases have you worked on that I would have heard of’? Shai LaBeouf was massively successful externally but utterly defeated internally. So yes, I am a commercial failure. But that was going to happen sooner or later. I just fast-tracked the process of falling off, but I am free to walk into a Walmart and have no one recognise me. I can express my opinions without offending a bunch of people. The only thing I would have missed from the classical idea of success is the money and comfort that it brings. But honestly, I would have ruined my life if I had a bunch of money and fame. I needed to get real, and thankfully, I am here rather than ending up like Amy Winehouse, who passed away while I was still signed to Island, the label that she was also signed to. You can appear successful to the world, but be dead inside. Even the little glimpse of ‘success’ I got scared the shit out of me, honestly.
I read a Facebook post you made from August last year saying how disillusioned you were with the industry, especially things like Spotify and AI. And that you don’t want the everyday stress of being a musician to affect your kids. How much of a battle is it to keep motivated?
Frankmusik: Great question, and one I contend with every day. I realised I needed to love the process of music making again, and once learning about AI in music, I just basically gave up. I am now very thankful AI is here because it’s forced me to thoroughly look at music making and my place within the system very differently. That Facebook post (the last time I posted on there) was an admission of defeat and a closing of a chapter. But in the months since that post, I have been learning more and more about why I am making music in the face of something that can make infinitely more music than I could ever dream of making. AI has allowed me to stop caring about numbers and fans because AI just obliterated all of that. I am now left with nothing. And having nothing is such a wonderful place to be again.
Before AI, I would stress about releases and metrics, but none of that matters anymore. I nearly gave up this time, but after a lot of thinking I care more about the music I make than ever. That is why I have not released anything, as I need it to be special. Very special. Everything I make needs to be like nothing I have made before. AI has taken away so much of what I thought made me an artist, and with those parts of me taken away, I can get back to the roots of why I made music to begin with. That is to make shit I’ve never heard before. To release music that excites me and the listener.
I believe I have not even got close to the sounds I want to hear come out of my studio. I feel I’ve barely got started. I have never used AI in my music, and I never will. I am thankful for AI showing me how easy it is to make music that means nothing. I will now go away and make music that means everything to me. I do not hate AI. It is irrelevant to my workflow. I didn’t need it before, and I don’t need it now. It’s not out of principle that I don’t use it. I just don’t feel the need to. I have no judgment for anyone who does use it. Just don’t pretend you didn’t is all I ask.
Since that defeated Facebook post, I have redone my studio and doubled down on making music. I have yet to announce anything until now. The music will be like nothing I have released before, and I can’t wait to make it.
Do you still follow the UK music scene? Would you ever consider moving back at some point?
Frankmusik: I’ve been catching up on old UK labels and artists such as WARP, Skint and learning about artists’ backstories such as David Bowie. But I am completely out of the loop on up-to-date British music. If I were just a single man, I would happily go back to the UK for stretches of time. But I now have kids in school, and they’re settled here, so that makes things much more complex.
Learn more about Frankmusik on Instagram, Facebook and Spotify.
