Hanging With Katy Perry

It’s no secret the team at Frenzal Rhomb Incorporated have always been about quantity over quality.

But for album number eight, the boys saw fit to treat themselves to some shoe scrub. They shipped overseas to record ‘Smoko At The Pet Food Factory’ with one of the best punk rock record producers around, the infamous Descendents and Black Flag stickman, Bill Stevenson. â€œIf you need a bone marrow transplant, go to the bone marrow guy”, vocalist Jason ‘Jay’ Whalley says. “If you want a punk rock record made, go to Bill Stevenson. All the people who work over there with him at the Blasting Room, they’re very much the specialists in this type of music.”

With killer tracks about keyboard fascists, clergy, celebrities, junkies, pollies, crap friends and… birds attacking, the album wrangled a number 14 debut on the ARIA charts. “Who’d of thunk [sic] it? We’re up there with Katy Perry and Pitbull and other people I don’t really know about. The fact that people went out there and bought it when you can, you know, essentially get it for free on the internet, is really nice.”

It’s been a long 18 years for the band who formed in Sydney in 1993, with moments of controversy, radicalism and nudity bookmarking the way. Although they’ve released over 100 songs, Jay says he’d  be guessing if asked how many Frenzal Rhomb songs actually exist, recorded and otherwise. â€œThat would be in the thousands. We have a very high cull rate when it comes to tracking records. For every one song that you hear there’s usually another seven or eight that exist.”

It’s been five years in between albums, but Frenzal Rhomb are back on the road, touring up a storm as usual. They’ll be playing their fifth Big Day Out early next year, and Jay’s looking forward to fun party times with his pals. â€œThere’s always been laughs and jokes surrounding the group. We don’t really get to see each other that often ‘cause outside of the band we all live in different states: Gordy lives in Melbourne, Tom’s in Adelaide, and Lindsay lives in space. So when we do get to see each other it’s fun!”

FRENZAL RHOMB PLAY BIG DAY OUT, AT GOLD COAST PARKLANDS, JANUARY 22. BIGDAYOUT.COM