The Boston-based synthpop trio Freezepop serve up a tasty
treat with their latest effort Freezepop Forever (Archenemy).
The Freezepop trio is fronted by stylish vocalist Liz Enthusiasm.
She is joined by The Duke of Candied Apples; master of the Yamaha
Q4-70 (a portable, battery-powered sequencer, for all you synthpop
novices) and "the other" Sean T. Drinkwater who makes sweet electronic
sounds on his synths and vocoder. Both The Duke and Sean provide
additional vocals as well. The band sites Duran Duran, Human League,
Depeche Mode and Japanese girlie-pop as its influences.
My trip to Freezepop Land didn't take very long. Just one stop on
the train and I had arrived. The clouds were starting to roll in,
but bolstered by the orange T-shirt and matching shoes of Liz Enthusiasm,
I hardly noticed. We met at a quaint little outdoor café located
in the heart of Harvard Square. There we sat under a big yellow
umbrella, sipping lemonade and chatting about the band.
Liz, who admits to being the quiet one of the group, filled me in
on Freezepop's beginnings. "It was the summer of '99, The Duke had
wanted to put together a synthpop group. He and Sean knew each other,
because they'd both been around the local scene for like a million
years. He knew he wanted a female lead singer, asked a mutual friend
who recommended me, and that's how Freezepop happened."
As for Freezepop's name, Liz's household was throwing a Fourth of
July celebration and decided it would be a great idea to buy a bunch
for freezepops for the occasion. What they didn't take into account
was that the frozen treats would not become frozen treats overnight
(it apparently takes much longer for the treats to actually become
frozen!). The result left Liz and her housemates with a summer's
worth of tasty frozen treats! The band thought "Freezepop" would
be a great name, since their music, much like the freezepop is "sweet,
cold, fruity and plastic-y" to quote the band. The band even distributes
freezepops to their audiences! "People like our music a lot more
when they're all hopped up on sugar!" joked Liz. "Last winter, we
learned you need to stock up before hand because you can always
find popsicles, but you can only find freezepops in the summer."
The sun poked through the clouds and began to warm Freezepop Land
as Liz and I pushed our chairs into the shade of the big yellow
umbrella and talked about Freezepop's place in the Boston music
scene.
One has to wonder how a synthpop band fits into Boston's rock oriented
music scene. "I don't really think we fit at all." said Liz. "When
we first started we were taking any shows we could get. So, we were
playing, like a Monday night at TT's where it would be us, a ska
band and some indie rock band. It's still pretty hard to find like-minded
bands to play with."
The band is building their fanbase nonetheless, using the internet
as a tool for reaching those synthpop lovers. I asked Liz about
their Yahoo! chatroom. "It's mostly the same people who post all
the time, but there are a lot of people that are members. It's cool,
there are a lot of people who are all over the place who can't come
to see us, so it's a good way to keep tabs on everybody."
This year Freezepop was invited to participate in the WBCN Rock
and Roll Rumble. The band made it to the semi-finals. "It was
sort of strange when they asked us to play." said Liz. "We were
like okay, sure, if you really want us to play. We sort of stuck
out like a sore thumb, but we had fun and we were kind of amazed
when we won that first night. We got to play to a bunch of people
who wouldn't normally hear us, so it was really cool. It wasn't
like we were expecting to win or anything, so we just had fun with
it."
In keeping with the band's penchant for gimmicky antics, their semi-finals
show was marked by an out-of-control bubble machine. "The thing
is, it was actually two bubble machines. I thought it would be a
subtle Lawrence Welky kind of thing, but there were just so many
bubbles. They were just shooting out and literally before the first
song ended The Duke was like, "Watch where you step in the back
of the stage." There was this huge soapy puddle. I can't believe
we didn't wipe out!" Since that episode the band sticks to just
one bubble machine.
Another honor the band received recently was winning Best New Artist
at the American Synthpop Awards. "It was really cool," said
Liz "just because it was people who obviously care about synthpop.
It was nice that all those people voted for us." The voting for
the awards took place online. "It was one of those things that I'm
sure 99.9% of the population could care less about, but for that
1% to like us, since they're our target audience, it was cool."
The band recently got the chance to play with Japanese synth-popsters,
Cibo Mato. "I liked them for so long and the chance to play in front
of so many people was a little scary, but really cool." said Liz.
I asked Liz if Freezepop gained any fans that night. "We sold a
lot of stuff that night. We got a lot of emails saying, I never
heard you guys before, but I thought you were really cool. So, that
was really great."
Freezepop hasn't had much opportunity to tour. "We've only played
in New York City once, and that's about it in terms of out of town
shows. We really want to start doing more." said Liz. "Hopefully,
next year, we'll get to do some stuff really far away, like Europe.
Our album's going to be coming out there really soon, on an indie
label called Elefant Records. Europe has been traditionally so much
more friendly than America (in terms of synthpop). I think it might
be more worthwhile. But, we'd like to tour here too!"
Although Liz is the main lyricist in the group, everyone is part
of the songwriting process. The songs on Freezepop Forever
are quirky and fun. The song "T DJ" is about an actual guy who rides
Boston's subway system (the "T") with a turntable under his arm.
As far as anyone knows he's not actually any sort of DJ. "I ran
into him on the subway" said Liz. "I introduced myself and told
him, my band has a song about you and he was totally amazed." He
asked Liz to send him several copies of the band's CD, to hand out
to all his friends. Liz obliged and still hasn't received any feedback
from him. "I hope he liked it." she added.
Liz has filled me in on some of the activity going on in Freezepop
Land since our conversation. Freezepop's song Science Genius
Girl from Freezepop Forever is going to be included in
the upcoming Playstation 2 game Frequency, which is due to
be out sometime before Christmas. A new Freezepop 5-6 song EP is
also scheduled to be out before Christmas, it will include additional
remixes of previously recorded material.
Don't miss your chance to see Freezepop coming to a town near you
this month! Here is their schedule:
Saturday, November 10th:
Location tba, in Buffalo, NY, with Lifestyle and Dr Sample.
Monday, November 12th:
At Kathedral in Toronto, 651 Queen St. West (416-504-6699), with
Lifestyle and Colecovision. All ages.
Wednesday, November 14th:
At the Lotus Eaters Gallery in Montreal, 372 St. Catherines Ouest,
#382, with Lifestyle, The Parka 3, and Daddy's Hands. All ages.
Freezepop Discography:
The Orange EP (Archenemy)
The Purple EP (Archenemy)
Freezepop Forever (Archenemy in U.S., licensed to Elefant Records
for Europe/Asia/South America release)
"Tennis Boyfriend" appears on Archenemy Records' Know
Your Enemy compilation
"Plastic Stars" appears on Ninthwave Records' Electricity
compilation
"7 Boom Medley" appears on Souvenir Records' Pop Music
compilation |
|
