When one drives on Highway 101 North through the rolling hills of Marin County and passes through Novato, one may not understand nor know that behind the hotels and dead trees, beyond the suburban crawl of look alike housing and day laborers waiting for work in parking lots, there is a seething, rumbling force that is fast being felt among the population of this hamlet.
This fiery force has a powerful hunger for loud amplifiers filled with grungy guitars and flaming vocals, an added throb of drums and bass fueling this fire. The force is a band called flanelhed and it slams itself out of Novato, California and blows the minds of suburbia in order to let loose the power of it’s searing, edgy and wickedly original hard rock & roll....
flanelhed’s history is
not unlike other bands. Guitarist John Murphy and vocalist Chris Matthews met well
over 25 years ago and established a strong musical connection within their
friendship. In 1994 both men created a band called flanelhed. The band gigged, put out albums and changed various
members throughout the years but persevered with a lot of hard work, a fine tuning
their sound and a refining their chops.
With the additions of bassist Terry
Bardoul in 2001 and drummer Evan Frank, who returned to the band in 2008 after originally
joining in 1998, flanelhed solidified
its lineup as well as the explosive sound they have become renowned for.
flanelhed is a band
committed to their music as much as they are committed to each other in
creating the music as a whole. All four members, singer/guitarist John Murphy
(AKA Murf), singer Chris Matthews, bassist Terry Bardoul and drummer Evan Frank
have entered into a brotherhood of a band, creating a cohesive dynamic that
combines the equal efforts of all players.
Explains singer and lyricist Chris
Matthews, “For a long time Murf and I wrote most of tunes. With
this band it is collaboration.
In any band most members do some sort of contribution. But in ours we have the
drummer writing bass and guitar riffs, guitarist & bassist suggesting
cymbal arrangements or all three suggesting vocal melodies. We all contribute
to the song arrangements. It’s really cool. It really feels like true
collaboration and that derives from respect. We respect each other as musicians
so our opinions and suggestions are real, precise and usually spot on.”
Drummer Evan Frank feels that his role in flanelhed is unlike other bands, “We truly write well together. We
communicate well and seem to have the same idea as to what the songs should sound
like. I like the fact that as a drummer they listen to and respect my ideas and
inputs. If I come up with a break or time change or think we should lengthen or
shorten a part, the other guys are all in for trying it.”
The
band’s 4th disk “Static” (2012) has been recently released on Global
Recording Artists, a small record label based in Petaluma, California. The
album, recorded at HitWall Studios in San Francisco, CA. took three years to make,
as it was completely financed by the band itself. Says Evan, “We would play gigs for a year, and record with
the money we made that year.”
Mat
Strickland, producer at HitWall, and the band chose to use analog equipment for
the recording of “Static”, adding depth and feeling that digital recording techniques
often lose.
“The recording process was great.
We had already worked with Mat Strickland on the previous 2008 release of
“Amnesia” and he’s very easy to work with. We recorded it in 3 sessions. The
final session consisting of not only recording the last 3 songs for the CD, but
also the editing & mixing.” Says Murf, “There’s no doubt that
analog has a warmer sound with a-lot more low end and that digital sounds
brighter and more sterile.”
Terry Bardoul, who has been
playing bass since he was 15, has strong opinions about the recording process, “A bass guitar should
only be recorded analog as far as I’m concerned, there is something about the
analog tape compression that just makes a bass guitar fat and juicy! As long as
Mat Strickland has Hitwall, I will insist on recording there.”
“We recorded on Chris Isaak's old board, which is a cool MoJo
thing”, says Evan Frank, whose drumming technique can only be called “BIG”. “I
think the recording speaks for itself, as far as fat sound. Murf's guitars are
huge. The whole digital thing is really killing music, in a way. People are
churning out records from their basement, recorded in their pajamas. It totally
lacks feeling and human emotion.”
With 4 other disks in the flanelhed back catalogue, the self-titled “flanelhed” (1996), the not-yet-released "Chameleon" (2001), the
acoustic album “Little Black Dog” (2003) and “Amnesia” (2008), Static itself is
pure flanelhed; crashing drums,
searing guitars, deep bass lines and soaring vocals all moshed into intelligent
and deep hard rock and roll. It proves that the sound of flanelhed
can still rearrange your brain's neural pathways.
“It’s
definitely a band collaboration. I come in with a large percentage of the
ideas. When I say ideas, I mean, I usually have the parts of
the song together, main riff, chorus, verse, bridge, etc…Sometimes the vocal
melody line, but not always. I don’t have it arranged though. I present
it to the band and
we arrange it together, make any necessary changes and then
refine it over the course of a few months. Says Murf, whose song
contributions make up a lot of flanelhed’s
body of work.
“Chris & I have always been a great writing team no matter what.
Being friends now for over 28 years and being in this band together for over 20
years helps. It always seems like things come together quickly and easily no matter
what era of flanelhed.” Says
Murf of the band connection “What it boils down to is not just the
friendships we’ve had for many years now, but the respect I have for everyone
as a musician."
Continues Murf, "I don’t get too involved in lyric writing, my focus is always on riff & music writing. I almost never write while playing guitar. I write while I’m hiking in the hills, then I come back & work it out on guitar. I guess my inspiration comes from all the music I’ve loved growing up & continue to be exposed to."
With over 20 years as a band,
creating a marriage of music and a deep friendship with all four players, flanelhed
keeps the music real and true. Making music is not necessarily about “making
it”, but about solid musical relationships and happiness with the creative
process. If a band does make it, it should be because they have dedicated
themselves to their art form, and the end result of that dedication should be a
great product that can be respected. Says Evan,
“I think we are all
proud of the fact that none of us sold out to play in a Cover or Tribute band.
That’s the easy way out. It's a shame that the biggest draws are these types of
bands, but that still doesn't stop us. If we get any sort of recognition, it
will be all the sweeter.”
“For me it is twice a week an escape,” says Terry
of his love of flanelhed. “I still look at our band as four 40+ guys that need
to unwind, lose the frustration of every day life. I think part of the energy
is from the fact that we all feel every member is an integral part of the
whole; no one is easily replaceable. As for Chris and Murf, what can I say it’s
an honor to play with them in the same band, they also like to write a song and
not a “look what I can do” piece. I think after playing our instruments, we
don’t have to show off our skills anymore, we just want to write a great song
that we all enjoy, and hopefully you too.”
John Murphy thinks the future plan
of flanelhed is to just keep playing
good music. “I’d like to see flanelhed go as far as possible. I think exposure
in Europe & Japan would be key. Those areas love our kind of music, a lot
more than in the US. Either way, we need to keep writing and continue moving
forward, always progressing and staying true to ourselves.”
All photos and text copyright 2012, Carolyn McCoy
Moonmama says, " Heavy metal soothes my inner savage beast."
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