Feeding the Frenzy...

Words by Nikki May

In 1992 Australian punk rock band Frenzal Rhomb threw themselves into the Australian music scene and over the last 20 years have certainly made a name for themselves both on the ARIA charts and for their controversy.

After seven albums and countless hits, their newest CD ‘Smoko at the Pet Food Factory’ was released in 2011 peaking into the top 20 of the ARIA charts.

Frenzal Rhomb members Jay Whalley, Lindsay McDougall, Tom Cease and Gordy Forman have made household names for themselves with controversy over their lyrics, cover art and on stage antics.

In 2003 McDougall organized a compilation album with various artists as a protest against [then current] Prime Minister John Howard.

In 2004 Frenzal Rhomb sparked further controversy at the Bass in the Grass festival after they started playing AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ over Jackie O, who was the festival MC and had arrived late, cutting their set short.

Frenzal Rhomb have toured multiple countries with big-name punk acts such as The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX and most recently The Descendants.

On the lead up to their Smoko at the Pet Food Factory tour SMAC got a chance to catch up with front man Jay Whalley and talked about recording with Bill Stevenson, his possible early onset alzheimers, Frenzal Rhomb's craziest fans and parenting tips.

SMAC - What was it like recording Smoko at the Pet Food Factory with Bill Stevenson?

Jay - It was very entertaining. It was good to work with people so committed to making that sort of music sound good and Bill didn’t smell very good but he was definitely a lovely fellow and all the guys who worked there were very helpful.

We actually rocked up there, a lot of the time we're pretty hands on with the production stuff we like to be involved, or I do anyway, and it was nice to be somewhere we don’t really have to think about it because everything that comes out of there sounds good so we just kinda called it, I don’t think we took anything. I think we took pics, I think there’s a pic but everything else we just used their stuff and expertise.

SMAC - I’ve read that the recording studio was actually a pet food factory?

Jay - We’ve been spreading all sorts of lies about that. Well my friend works at some shit job that he calls the pet food factory because you know you’re pretty much going in there and putting shit in cans and chucking it out the other end. I think a lot of jobs feel like that most of the time, I think everyone’s had a job like that where you go in there sort of not producing anything just working for a big organization where what they produce isn’t really helping anything and I like the idea of taking a break from that which is what Frenzal Rhomb is.

SMAC - You’ve opened up for some pretty big bands, which band was the best to tour with?

Jay - There has been so many bands, [sneezes] sorry that was a sneeze, you may publish that. What bands? I don’t know, name some bands we’ve played with and I'll tell you if they’re nice.

SMAC - You got to tour with Bill Stevenson of The Descendants so that would have been pretty cool.

Jay - Yeah they’re very good guys. NOFX, they’re about 70% good guys. Bad Religion, about 40% good guys. Pennywise, about 5% good guys. Yeah I don’t know, we’ve played with allot of really good bands that have supported us recently. We played with a band the other day at The Entrance called ‘Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt’ they were really great. You know those Mystic Wolf t-shirts? It’s a great image, a fat guy wearing those mystic wolf shirt. They’re a great band, they’re kind of a grind-core band with no bass player. We did pick them solely on the name if I can be honest.

SMAC - You played Moosick in Townsville in 2001, what was that gig like?

Jay - Someone said we played in 2009 in Townsville and I don’t remember that. 2001 you say? You can probably tell by the nature of my answer so far I can’t remember. I’m terrible with my memory and I wasn’t even drinking then I just have a shit memory. My dads the same actually, if my dad comes to one of parties or anything or have friends over he will stand next to me and whisper “Oh who’s that? What’s their name?” and I’ll tell him “That’s Robbo, you’ve met him like a thousand times.”

I don’t think its alzheimer’s maybe its early onset alzheimer’s for me, but I have real trouble remembering great slabs of my history. I should of researched but I do know we haven’t been to Townsville in a long time and we haven’t been to Cairns in a long time so I’m very much looking forward to going there. I feel like Townsville’s really Frenzal Rhombs spiritual home. Lindsay has a lot of family there, there’s lots of McDougalls living in Townsville so its always good to catch up with the clan and the good people of Townsville who come along to gigs are a bit notorious for getting loose. I like that in a community, I think its going to be a good show.

SMAC - In 2004 Frenzal Rhomb along with other bands released the ‘Rock Against Howard’ compilation album. Do you think you’ll be releasing any songs or albums about Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott any time soon?Jay - You’ll have to ask Lindsay about that but from memory John Howard is no longer our Prime Minister so put two and two together that could have worked even it was the election that he won he’s not there now so I think the forty copies that we sold had a big impact.

SMAC -Do you have any disgusting tour stories?

Jay - Most disgusting? You need special clearance for that sort of classified information and your clearance level is too low, I’m afraid, for access. My problem is I can only really remember the last two shows, which were quite disgusting I guess but still fun. I can’t really remember those little incidences its all twenty years of one kind of messy sort of night.

SMAC - What’s the weirdest type of fan you’ve ever encountered?

Jay - Yes, yes! All of the time. I feel like it’s always just this one guy who keeps coming back and he doesn’t have any teeth and his eyes are kind of looking in different directions. There’s one of them at every gig and he kind of spits in your ear and can be asking you questions about the lyrics but he can turn as well. He can absolutely love you, be your best friend and buy you gifts but then if you turn your back on him for more than a few seconds he can just snap and turn into a raging animal of hatred. You know that guy, you’ve met him as well, and he’s my favourite.

SMAC - I’m guessing you get people touching your dreads allot, does that piss you off?

Jay - It's pretty fucking annoying actually because I don’t do it to anyone else so people should just leave me the fuck alone, but people are people.

SMAC - And do fans try to touch you in other weird places?

Jay - Yes, someone tried to touch me on the penis the other night at the Coffs Harbor show from the front barrier and they kept trying to do it. It’s always a mess of people there so you never see who’s doing it. It’s just a mess of arms, hands, hair, faces and stuff. It’s inappropriate, I’m in the work place, if I went to their work place and did that I’d be arrested.

SMAC - How old is your little one now? Do you have any parenting tips you can share?

Jay - He’s 2.5 [years]. I’m probably not the best person to ask about parenting tips.
I hang out with him a lot, we spend our days together. I’m just trying to think of words of wisdom, probably none really. Its good fun, it’s very tiring. He’s going through this stage at the moment where he can be extremely violent with other children, but only other children who are heaps younger and weaker than him and the worst outcome of this is I then have to get in conversations with parents I would have otherwise chosen not to talk to. So any tip I can give is encourage your children not to be violent otherwise you end up having to talk to dickheads.

SMAC - Do you have any pre-tour rituals to help you prepare?

Jay - I do enjoy kicking a sheep to death just before I get on the bus.
No, not really. I try to do a little bit of walking to try and get a bit fit. Its always the same, I try and get a bit fit before the tour but then when I start the tour the first two shows I feel like I’m going to stroke in the first two song but then tend to get fitter after that. The preparation for a tour is rather negligible, we don’t practice actually.

SMAC -What can we expect from your upcoming Pet Food tour?

Jay - Big laughs, big stage show, lots of pyrotechnics, lots of fire, big inflatable bears, a lot of shenanigans... we’ve got the traveling casino with us if you want to have a bet you can come up, we’ve got pony rides those are always fun for the lighter people the horses don’t like it when you’re too heavy. It’s going to be good.

Fan question:

SMAC - If you could choose any musician (dead or alive) to join Frenzal, who would it be?

Jay - That would be Ben [Costello] our old guitarist, we’d convince him to come back and have a hand twin fisted attack because neither Lindsay nor Ben can play very well but I think the two of them together would be unstoppable... I just saw a fish jump out of the water, I'm sitting next to the water in the Harbor.

We asked Jay the random 5:
- Xbox or Play Station? What? Yeah no that was my answer, what?
- Beer, spirits or wine? Wine.
- Batman & Robin - gay or not? If they are gay I hope the same sex union will be recognized by the state.

- Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Wars.
- X-Ray vision or invisibility? Invisibility, without a doubt, much more opportunity for theft.

Frenzal Rhomb will be playing in Townsville at The Venue on Saturday 26^th May with special guests: Jobstopper (Cairns), Meanwhile, In Hell (Townsville) and Heathen Dogs (Townsville).

Tickets are available from OzTix here.