Everyone knows The Fratellis.
Their hit “Chelsea Dagger” is one of the seminal songs of the ’00s (or The Aughts if your prefer). The raucous chorus rendered it readymade to be a staple sing-a-long at pubs and stadiums alike. This cut, along with their other smash hit, “Flathead” perfectly reflected the British alt garage rock band that dominated radio waves (and in my mind should still be dominating). The caffeinated vocals, and jangly guitars mixed a driving backbeat, and low end fuzz were just pure rock ‘n’ roll joy.
Flash forward 11 years since those songs appeared on their record Costello Music. The band is still out there, killing it and producing absolutely wonderful music. They’re blending that the sound that broke them over a decade ago with danceable pop sensibilities, introspective lyrics, and an air of experimentation. In short, The Fratellis, like the fans that fell in love with them in 2007, have gotten older, wiser, and in the band’s case — even better.
We caught up with John Fratelli to talk about the band’s new record In Your Own Sweet Time, using technology to pen tunes, and the film, Hot Fuzz.
It’s been about three years since your last record, Eyes Wide, Tongued Tied. How do you feel In Your Own Sweet Time stands out from that record both musically, and lyrically?
I think the new record is an extension of Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied in some ways but we’ve taken certain themes and colours a lot further with the new album.
Which song(s) do you think perfectly capture the theme (lyrically or sonically) of this record, and why?
Possibly “Starcrossed Losers” is the song that encapsulates everything that we’ve tried to do with this record, we only recorded eleven songs, only the songs which were the strongest so really there’s nothing on there which we didn’t feel strongly about.
The video for “Star Crossed Losers,” which is absolutely smashing song, is fantastic. Who came up with the concept of this video?
The concept for the video came from the director, we tend to just let film makers get on with their job as it’s really not our field. i quite like it too, it suits the song.
Tony Hoffer produced this record, and he’s been a producer ever since Costello Music. What is about him that you’ve kept him as your version of George Martin?
Tony can take our music further than we can on our own, he brings a magic and an inventiveness to the table that allows the songs to reach their full potential I think.
The songs on this record were all done on Logic Pro at first instead of a traditional piano or guitar. Why opt for technology over tradition? And what advantages/freedoms did using tech give you in writing this album?
I’ve been working that way for a while. I do sometimes write a song on a guitar or piano but mostly I prefer to play around with software. I like the infinite nature of the possibilities that come with having so many instrument and programming options, whatever works to get the song flowing is the right approach.
You guys have been in The Fratellis for 13 years — what do you think is the single most important thing you’ve learned as a band in all that time?
I’m not sure we have learned any lessons! Possibly we’ve learned just to do what comes naturally and not to overthink anything.
The band has a number of their songs used in commercials, film, TV, etc. What’s been your favorite use of one of your songs in the world of pop culture? Mine personally is your songs being included in one of my all-time favorite films, Hot Fuzz.
I thought [being in Hot Fuzz] was pretty cool too!
Outside of the album release, what’s one thing you’re most excited about for 2018?
I don’t really know… everything for me is geared towards being as spontaneous as possible, not making too many plans so i never pay much attention to the year but if 2018 is the year we began to be a little nicer to one another then that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
