anderswolleck

The Warlocks are one of the great modern psychedelic rock bands and thankfully they admit to drug use. After numerous lineup changes theyve settled into a group of five people including Jenny Fraser on bass. I recently got a chance to talk with Jenny about The Warlocks new album Surgery.

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Daniel Robert Epstein: Hi Jenny, hows it going?

Jenny Fraser: Its going okay. What are you doing?

DRE: I was actually just typing pee into Google and I found this thing called the Travel Mate. Have you heard about it?

JF: No.

DRE: Its something women can use to pee like men.

JF: Im not understanding.

DRE: Its kind of like a tube that you kind of put it around your pee hole and you can stand up to pee like a man.

JF: I think a lot of women would find that wonderful.

DRE: Do you ever come across suspicious looking toilets that you wouldnt want to use?

JF: Yeah, a lot.

DRE: Now you dont have to.

JF: Those kinds of toilets make your thighs strong. Its nice.

DRE: Its like a workout.

JF: Yeah. I travel around with a bunch of dirty boys so of course I squat over the toilet instead of sitting down.

DRE: So you dont mind squatting is what youre saying? Youve learned to live with it?

JF: Yeah, Ive learned to live with it. Its okay. There are a lot of germs out there when you travel. Youve got to be prepared. I also wash my hands a lot. I dont want to get sick.

DRE: You should think about getting this thing.

JF: Im not really interested in it, although I do think it would be kind of interesting to be able to stand up while you pee. There have been many parties where Ive had to go out into the backyard and squat and pee and Ive thought if I could stand up and pee itd be a lot easier. But if its artificial like that it just isnt the same.

DRE: You want to stand up and pee for real is what youre saying?

JF: Yeah.

DRE: So, what are you up to today?

JF: We have rehearsal and were just running around. We leave for a tour in a couple days so I have a lot of things to get done.

DRE: Where are you guys going on this tour?

JF: Were going all over the US and Canada with Sisters of Mercy.

DRE: Have you met Sisters of Mercy yet?

JF: No, we meet them in a couple days.

DRE: That must be pretty exciting.

JF: Yeah, I think its exciting for the entirety of the band since everybodys a Sisters of Mercy fan. I didnt really know them because Im younger than the rest of the band. All the boys are about 30 and Im 26 so theyre very excited. I just think its going to be wonderful because mostly they draw Goth kids and Goth kids dont really come to our shows.

DRE: Really?

JF: Ive never seen a Goth kid at one of our shows and weve played 100 shows. So maybe we can open up a new passage for the Goth kids and The Warlocks. Even though we the name Warlocks does indicate that maybe wed be a little gothy, gothadelic and we do like dope.

DRE: Do Goth kids like the noise music? I dont even know what they like anymore to tell you the truth.

JF: I dont know. Goth kids kind of frighten me, its like Halloween all the time so I dont know.

DRE: Halloweens fake too. Im not a Goth kid fan. I like the girls, thats about it.

JF: You like the Goth girls?

DRE: I do. Im not so into the whole scene itself though, it seems like too much work.

JF: Yeah, like I saw girls who paint their face for an hour, like what are you in the circus?

DRE: Well now Im going to get in trouble Im sure.

JF: I know, I dont want to bite the hands that feed so Im only joking. I had some Goth friends in high school and we would go to one of the girls apartment. She lived with her mother and they would do these weird sances and I was the only one who would wear any color. I was a little bit marginalized but I just thought they were weird and interesting but I wouldnt really want to hang out with them now or anything.

DRE: You joined the Warlocks about two years ago, right?

JF: Yeah, Im actually the longest bass player that theyve ever had.

DRE: Why do they go through so many band members?

JF: Truly it has something to do with the fact that there are so many musicians. So things expire, things renew and since the band has been together for so long that people just come and go. There have been the same three or four people through the whole thing but sometimes the band swells to ten people but now its minimized to five people.

DRE: How does everyone get along now?

JF: Now that were a five piece the vibe is so amazing. Its really cohesive and were really truly a family.

DRE: Is Los Angeles where you guys pretty much stay?

JF: Yeah, I grew up here and one of our drummers, Jason, grew up here. Bobbys from Florida and the other two boys are from the mid-west. Since a few of us have grown up here our lifestyles are really ordinary. But I dont really have a great affinity with LA. Id rather be in New York or San Francisco.

DRE: Off-stage the Warlocks have a reputation for being a little nuts, is that still the same?

JF: Yeah everything is basically high intensity with these characters. Our amps go to 11. We have dramatic issues but for the most part we get along really well. We have a reputation for trashing the backstage and being awful drug addicts and all this stuff. But mostly its just not true, I dont know where that came from. I think maybe its because its rock and roll and there are stigmas. But just like any other band we have fun and we socialize and we party.

DRE: Do you guys just smoke pot or share needles?

JF: There are absolutely no needles in this band at all. Thats horrifying. Theres hardly actually any drugs in the band now. We like to smoke cigarettes and drink diet coke.

DRE: Warlocks got a lot of press a while, did that put pressure on the band?

JF: No it didnt put any pressure on us except for the fact that people would ask the same questions and it gets a little redundant. The only pressure that was damaging was the focus on Bobbys mental state. It made our band seem completely ungrateful for our position and in a sense that isnt true. Were all just so in love with music and so in love with what were doing so we just want to be traveling and playing music. Its hard when theres this image that youre not perpetuating.

DRE: The press notes say that Surgery is more accessible than previous albums. Whats your opinion on that?

JF: Accessibility is so subjective. However there are a few songs on this record that we didnt want to put on this record because I think that the label viewed them as more accessible. But to me the record has a pop sensibility in a way that The Pixies have a pop sensibility but its also really dark. Our preference is to have a really dark album much like the previous albums but [producer] Tom Rothrock has a real pop edge that came through.

DRE: The concept of accessibility is not something I ever even imagined Mute Records caring about.

JF: Yes because Mutes notorious for being artist friendly, which means they let them do whatever that they want. The Liars last album was almost unlistenable, in a good way. Theres always going to be certain people who appreciate certain types of music and understand its complexity. There are other people ears arent trained or geared toward interesting music and they just want to hear something easy.

DRE: Whose idea was Tom Rothrock in the first place?

JF: I think Bobby chose Tom Rothrock. We were going to work with a couple other people and then we decided to work with Tom. I adore Tom Rothrock, I think hes amazing and so talented and Ive never called him anything but Mr. Rothrock.

DRE: Were the songs for Surgery already done by the time you joined the band?

JF: Most of them were already written, but there were a few songs such as Thursdays Radiation that we all wrote together.

DRE: Whats going on after the Sisters of Mercy tour?

JF: I think were going to play a festival in Spain. Were going to be touring all year and then were going to be recording a new album this year.

DRE: How much different is this next one going to be from Surgery?

JF: Its incredibly different. Its a little bit more stripped down because its five people and not seven in the writing process. Well just have to wait and see how it sounds.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck