Frenzal Rhomb
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Frenzal Rhomb

If you’re like me and my friends you probably grew up listening to Frenzal Rhomb, with Meet the Family (’97) and A Man’s Not a Camel (’99) burnt into your brain like soundtracks to high school – and having seen them live more times than you can count. “You seemed to have turned out OK!” frontman Jay Whalley laughed when I told him Frenzal Rhomb was my first ever gig/mosh pit (do the kids still say that?) experience at an ice skating rink back in the mid-nineties.
“But let me tell you, it’s not always a positive experience growing up with Frenzal Rhomb! I was driving through Taylor Square in Sydney and this window washer guy who looked in pretty bad shape – he looked kind of homeless, he had a few sores on his face. Anyway, he tried to wash my window, so I got out two dollars and wound the window down but he said ‘No mate, this one’s on the house, your band changed my life’!” At this point Jay started to laugh again but continued saying, “I thought, oh, this is terrible. What were you before? A lawyer? You see? It’s not always a good thing.”
Jokes aside, Jay and the guys are coming to the Barwon Club for one night only – and as Jay tells me, we may witness a boyhood dream of his become reality. “Frenzal Rhomb beer will be on tap, potentially at the Geelong show. It’s very exciting, like a childhood dream come true. We collaborated with a brewery called ‘Young Henrys’ in Newtown in Sydney. They make fantastic beer – a friend of mine calls it the happiest place on earth! I heard they were making a You Am I beer and a Front End Loader beer, so they had to make one for us and it’s going to be ready in about five days … We’re counting down the days!”
I could tell Jay was thirsty just thinking about it, so I change the subject and ask about their choice of support bands. He says their friends Front End Loader will be playing, along with a young hardcore band from Melbourne called Clowns. Jay smiled when he recounts the story of how they got the gig. “Well, we DO like them a lot, but I think they just harassed us until we said yes.” He continued, “They’re very nice fellows. My other band Chinese Burns Unit played with these guys in Melbourne not so long ago and they’re a terrific band. I am looking forward to seeing them.”
Jay has a lot to look forward to these days. “Since my last ridiculous brush with death is now somewhat behind me (on Valentine’s Day last year he underwent life-saving surgery to remove a cancerous tumour infecting his brain – the result of picking up a pig tapeworm on his travels of Central America) I feel like I’m slowly getting over the trauma of being faced with my own mortality, so things are pretty good!”
And a new Frenzal album is in the works. “We are currently demoing still. It’s a long process, but we’ll get there in the end. Recording is a bit of a holiday for us so we like to have all the work done before we go in and do it. This will be our ninth album and we’ve learnt from past mistakes. Other times we’ve gone in not prepared and it turned out really badly! So we need to make sure that all the songs are right before we record them – we want them to sound pretty.” I have no doubt they will.
When&Where: The Barwon Club, Geelong – May 24
Written by Natalie Rogers