“It’s amazing to feel the feedback from the fans and the exchange of energy” – interview with Frayle

At Summer Breeze Festival we had the pleasure of chatting with Cleveland, Ohio based doom purveyors Frayle about their shows, their future plans and hot chocolate.

Hello guys, how are you doing today? 

Gwyn Strang: Very, very warm.

With Frayle you have a very unique sound that blends various sub-genres of metal. How did you discover this sonic palette?

Gwyn Strang: I think it was very authentically. Sean comes from a place where he listened to a bunch of Crowbar and Sleep. And I came from a place where I listened to more gothic, like Bauhaus. But I also really like Portishead and Blonde Redhead and things like that. So, I think vocally, I approach it as Beth Gibbons where it’s very fragile, imperfect. And then Sean comes in with these very driving, heavy riffs.

Sean Bilovecky: I think our earlier records, you could hear more of where we came from. And now, it’s just like where we are. We just don’t really focus on what’s going on outside of just the two of us when we write. It’s just like, “Hey, what are you into? Are you into this? Do you like this?” It’s just really a conversation between the two of us, rather than like it used to be more of what’s going on out there. With this new record, we’re really starting to come into our own, I guess. It can be a little scary, because you always hear your hero artists say, “Don’t listen to anybody else but what’s in here“. And that’s very scary to take that jump, you know what I mean? But now that we’ve done it, we don’t know how to do anything else.

Sometimes you draw inspiration from occult or darker themes. What draws you to these subjects that are maybe not so common?

Gwyn Strang: I think it really is just an exploration of where, lyrically, of where I’m at at the moment. When I was a kid, I almost died a few times. Later, I heard it said that when a child almost passes, they’re trying to decide whether they want to stay or not. And to me, that kind of resonates, because who wants to stay? I mean, I don’t want to go, but I wouldn’t necessarily choose to come here again. Then later on, I saw God. And from that, I think I just naturally went to the more spiritual. I was brought up very Catholic, but that didn’t feel right to me. And so I just kind of found my own way. I don’t know, I have a hard time thinking about someone saying, if you believe this, then you also have to believe this, and you also have to believe this. So I think to me, what made sense was to come up with, do a bunch of reading, and then figure out what really makes sense and resonates with me.

Does the external validation, like from press or the fan, influence your creative process?

Gwyn Strang: No, no. I think we kind of work in a vacuum. And I don’t know about Sean, but me personally, I don’t like reading that stuff. I can’t watch a live show, like if there’s somebody who’s taped a live show, I’ll peek in, but I can’t listen to the whole thing. I would rather just do my own thing, and if people like it, amazing, the right people will find it though. So who I’m talking to, they’ll find us.

Sean Bilovecky: I think that, as I said, we’re kind of coming into our own, especially on this record, and I think we put effort into staying on that path. So if you start to listen to press, or what’s trending in music, it can kind of pull you off a little bit and distract you. While we love talking about it and feel honored that someone wants to ask us questions, like yourself, we try to not let that mess with the creative side. But it is definitely validating that someone cares about what we’re doing. The feedback from the fans and the exchange of energy is amazing to feel that. But I think that we do it just because we have to, and that conversation happens, like she said, in a vacuum. And then everything else, if it comes, that’s amazing, and we’re thankful for that. But if it doesn’t, we’re still going to keep doing it.

What do you hope to bring to the music industry, or to the music in general, with Frayle?

Sean Bilovecky: That’s a good one. It would be wonderful if years from now some band was inspired by us to do something similar, or maybe to take a chance on their own. We played at Bloodstock a few days ago, and the band right next to us in our dressing room, they said that they chose the label that they’re on now because that’s where we went. So they were sort of following in the path of what we did. Tthat kind of stuff is like crazy, because that’s where we were when we first started. We were like, if we could only get there. The van that we’re driving now from the rental company, we rented our first tour here, but we couldn’t afford the van, so we just could get a little bit of gear. And we saw these vans, and we were like, “Wouldn’t it be great someday?” And now we’re here. So that kind of stuff is validating and exciting. It would be nice to just be able to bring that to the music industry. It is possible if you put the work in. It’s very, very hard, and you really have to want to do it. But it’s very possible. And celebrate the small victories, for sure.

For the people that discover you through this performance at Summer Breeze, what is something that you want them to take away?

Gwyn Strang: I think what I want them to take away is acceptance. And my whole thing with what I want to do is to make a big, soft space to land. If you want to work through something, hopefully something I say in some of my lyrics can help you in a small way. If anything does, I am so thankful. So that’s what I want them to take away. What they can expect. We always say it’s like lullabies over chaos. So a very, I don’t know, wilting voice over heavy, heavy riffs.

Sean Bilovecky: I think also you can expect to maybe hear a mixture of genres that maybe you haven’t heard before. Maybe put down the genre barriers a little bit, just open yourself up to something that is just more felt here, rather than here in your head. So I think that would be great if they took that away.

Do you think it’s harder for women to be in music?

Gwyn Strang: Oh yes, by all means. One of the people we were talking to here earlier said that he’s heard of women being on stage and someone saying, telling one of the band members to get their girlfriend to stay. So I do think that there are, women can definitely experience sexism. “Walking Wounded” was written about how people try to make us be small. But I think, you know, I tend to live in my own lane. So I don’t experience it, probably because I am just purposely blind to it. And I’ll just move forward with, you know, I don’t know. Do what you’re going to do, I’m going to do what I’m going to do. But I have heard horror stories of women, especially in heavy music, where it hasn’t been very nice to them. But they persevere. And a lot of them have made incredible, incredible music and careers out of this. The road for equality is still very long. It is. I think we take two steps forward, one step back.

Sean Bilovecky: It doesn’t matter who they are, they can do whatever they want. We almost want to see how stupid they are. But you do have to go through a lot more, you know, to that, I think.

Gwyn Strang:  Again, that kind of stuff doesn’t, I don’t know, it never really bothered me. I guess I just ignore it. But I can see most sensitive people are.

What is your favorite pasta topping?

Sean Bilovecky: I can tell you my least favorite. My least favorite is sun-dried tomatoes.

Gwyn Strang: I love sun-dried tomatoes. I love pasta, but anything with like a bunch of vegetables and pesto.

Sean Bilovecky: I’d go with vodka sauce. Does that even count as Italian? A little bit with the cream. I like that.

I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s alright. Yes. So, it’s very hot here today. And I want to pretend that we have sort of like a hot chocolate stand in the middle of Summer Breeze Festival. How are we going to sell the chocolate? 

Gwyn Strang:  I’m going to send Sean out there with it. And I’m going to be sitting in the shade while you can go and peddle our hot chocolate.

Sean Bilovecky: That sounds about right. I’ll just come back sad, I don’t know. I’ll probably just dump it in the woods and say I sold it all. There’s no way to sell it. We have a thing in America called Christmas in July. Christmas in Summer Breeze. And I kind of look like Santa, so maybe I could be… Summertime Santa.

Guys, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?

Sean Bilovecky: Just that October 10th, “Heretics and Lullabies”, our first record with Napalm, and we’re super, super excited about it. And can’t wait to share it with everybody.

Gwyn Strang: Yes, thank you so much.