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Were going through a mental health crisis right now, says Andy Frasco.
Loneliness, depression, suicide, its all on the rise. When youre
struggling in the moment, it can feel like youre the only one, but
thats just not the truth. I wanted to make a record to remind you that
youre not alone.
It makes sense, then, that Frascos rousing new LP, Keep On Keepin On,
lands somewhere between an emotionally raw therapy session and a rowdy
house party. Produced in part by Widespread Panics Dave Schools and in
part by former Awolnation keyboardist Kenny Carkeet, the collection
finds Frasco digging deeper than hes ever dug before, fusing ecstatic
rock and soul with infectious pop and funk as he grapples with the
kind of demons hes spent the better part of his adult life running
from. The songs here are blunt in their honesty and unsparing in their
self-examination, but they remain, at their core, works of great hope
and promise. Theyre the work of a man whos been through the darkest
part of the night and, now that dawn is finally breaking, is ready to
share his story.
Making this record helped me accept that I needed therapy in my life,
Frasco explains. I always used to think I was too proud or too strong
to have a therapist, but I realized that was all bullshit. Im not
always the fun, wild guy people see onstage, and it felt like time to
talk about who I really am.
Born and raised in California, Frascos first exposure to the music
industry came not onstage, but rather in an office. As a young
teenager, he worked with legendary indie label Drive-Thru Records and
helped book bands like Hellogoodbye, and by the time he turned 18, hed
already moved to New York City for a gig with Atlantic Records. When
the job fell through, though, Frasco made a leap of faith and decided
to launch his own career as an artist, taking everything hed learned
working with other bands and applying it to himself.
I figured I could teach myself an instrument, book my own tours, and
try to write some songs thatd help make the world go round, he says. I
bought a van with my bar mitzvah money, called about 3,000 venues, and
managed to book myself 200 shows in that first year alone.
Initially, Frasco hired local pickup musicians off of Craigslist to
back him for gigs, but soon he put together a steady(ish) lineup, and
Andy Frasco & The U.N. began taking the world by storm. Since its
inception, the group would release a series of acclaimed records,
share bills with the likes of Leon Russell, Galactic, Gary Clark, Jr.,
The Revivalists, and Marcus King among others, and slay festival
stages everywhere from Mountain Jam in the U.S. to Rock am Ring in
Germany and COTAI Jazz & Blues in China (this summer, Frasco will
appear at both Bonnaroo and FloydFest). NME hailed the constantly
evolving group as party-starting touring stalwarts, while Relix
praised their raucous energy, and Clash lauded their live show as a
nightly high-octane experience that doubles as a celebration of life
and musicenergized by a powerfully entertaining multi-cultural
soundtrack that will shake the foundations of all nearby structures.
Every party has to end sometime, though, and while it seemed Frasco
was living out his rock and roll dreams on tour, he was facing an
internal darkness few knew about.
I hit a breaking point, he explains. Last year, I was sitting alone in
my van, and I realized that I didnt know who my friends were. Worse, I
didnt know who I was. I was drinking too much, I was addicted to
cocaine, and I was dealing with really heavy depression. I even
contemplated suicide, but I decided that if Im fortunate enough to
leave behind a legacy, I didnt want to be remembered just as some
good-time party guy. I wanted to show people that Im more than the
crowd-surfing, Jameson-drinking maniac they see onstage.
So, for the first time in his life, Frasco began writing poetry. The
idea was that the poems would eventually become songs, but Frasco
decided to start just the words to ensure that his message of survival
and resilience remained at the heart of everything he did. He wrote
about despair and anxiety, about friendship and growth, about
accountability and potential. Whenever he could scrape together a few
days off from tour, hed fly home to LA to work with Carkeet or head to
Richmond to collaborate with Schools on transforming the poems into
defiant rock and roll anthems. Over the course of a single 100-night
stretch, Andy Frasco & the U.N. played 81 shows and managed to record
the entire album with the remaining 19 days.
What can I say? Frasco laughs. I like to work.
The joy Frasco takes in his work is obvious from the very start of
Keep On Keepin On, which roars out of the gate with the thrilling
title track. Inspired in part by the story of comedian Gary Gulman
(Frasco recently scored The Great Depresh, an HBO documentary
exploring the comics struggles with depression that was produced by
Judd Apatow and directed by Mike Bonfiglio), the song is equal parts
self-help and sing-along, and like much of the record to come, it
celebrates perseverance in the face of pain. The soulful Ive Got A
Long Way To Go reflects on the strength it takes to acknowledge your
problems, while the driving Good Man examines how hard (and how
rewarding) it is to become a better version of yourself, and the
soaring Animals reaches out in solidarity to anyone who needs an a
hand in the depths of their depression.
I host a podcast where I talk to musicians and comedians and actors
about life on the road, says Frasco, whos interviewed everyone from
Portugal. The Man to Todd Barry on his show. Those conversations have
been so eye opening, and they helped me realize that I wasnt alone in
what I was dealing with. I wanted to find a way to offer that same
comfort to people with my music.
While there are no shortcuts on the road to fulfillment, Frasco did
find some pearls of wisdom on his journey that he was eager to share.
Happiness is living in the moment, he proclaims on the epic Shine,
introducing a mantra that could easily double as a thesis statement
for the record as a whole. The funky None Of Those Things affirms that
material wealth can never compare to the riches that come from being
present in the moment, while the slinky Getaway declares that the only
thing standing between us and our potential is ourselves, and the
tender Feel It In Our Bones promises that, at the end of the day, you
are never alone.
I wanted to approach suffering with optimism."
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20/09/2021 Last update