INTERVIEW: The Missing Frets

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Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?

Pretty good thanks for asking, managing to keep safe and healthy. A little frustrated about the inability to perform as a full band and missing playing live. However, doing our best to see the positive like opportunities to refine and jump into more music creation.

Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Cartel Sage”?

It was a one of those really effortless bursts of creative flow that put this song together. I had been chipping away at a different song for some time when I decided to listen back to the rough draft. Completely dissatisfied and frustrated with the result I decided to can it and started to experiment with a story based approach. I remember Bindu taking the dogs out for a walk and I wanted something before she returned and boom I had 2 verses and a hook in 15 minutes. It was the first track we put together for the demo. It came out great, we had our buddy Jeremy who was playing with us at the time add his cool lead flair and basically we always felt it would be a solid single.

Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?

Not really an event but more a series of life experiences where I find similarities between the character referred to in the song. Living a life of never knowing my biological father was one of them and meeting a master spiritual teacher who helped over come my anger and self destructive tendency was another. We all face struggles but when we can see them as reflections we can learn to move through them. This song is about our ability to move through the struggles.

How was the filming process and experience behind the video?

An absolute blast!! Working with our buddy Wizz, WizFx, who we’ve worked with before is always a productive creative process. Not only is he a brilliantly skilled videographer but has an inherent ability to see your vision and capitalize on it. We wanted to recreate a live experience for the audience and let the song speak for itself. With great on the spot team input we were stoked with the result and still managed to put a subtle conceptual spin on it.

The single comes off your new album Pipe Dreams – what’s the story behind the title?

It comes from the lyrics in the second track of the album “Nothing in Between” about an un-establish-able relationship. We extracted it because it’s also an antonyms way of joking about the term “Living the Dream” we all so often use in our pursuits.

How was the recording and writing process?

We always wanted a five track so we picked the most fitting made a demo at our home studio and sent them over to Mike and Steve at Cardinal Recordings where they studied the songs for a month. The recording of the album went pretty effortlessly, between us we came out with some killer stuff. We kind of went into the studio knowing we had some room to enhance somethings and trusted their input to apply their brilliant engineering and production skills, with a lot of hard work and dedication the result was phenomenal. The writing process always includes some form of experimentation with arrangement or phrasing as a way to ensure pushing beyond the comfort zone to avoid redundancy. I usually write the song to a guitar riff of particular rhythmic orientation, then bring it to the band where Johnny and Bindu work their magic to form the rhythmic bed. We jam the song to interpret its energetic direction, then work together to solidify the arrangement. At this stage we know if its a keeper then make a demo out of it. Some like “Cartel Sage” rolled out pretty quick but “Run” literally took us three years.

What role does South Africa play in your music?

Being my homeland, with its diverse cultural backgrounds the influence is deeply subliminal. As a child growing up there we’re exposed to music from gum boot dance ensembles to mainstream pop and many fused varieties in between. The natural vibration of South Africa kind of pulsates thru the people, the continent and just moves you a certain way.

How do you go on balancing all the different influences in your music? Would you focus on a particular genre depending on the lyrics’ theme?

We don’t create music to fit any particular genre style. We create music we would like to listen to and if it fits a genre than great. I wouldn’t say balance is something I try to do. It just becomes what is inspired in the moment.

How has The Stone Foxes and Midnight Oil has influenced your writing?

Midnight Oil with their political and social stand points are relatable with growing up in a country that was and is in an internal turmoil, the music speaks loud. So I would say they are an inspiration with their ability to produce songs with a message. The Stone Foxes have that killer bluesy sound that I have been toying around with. I guess you could say that gritty sound is kind of what we are bringing more into our own songs. Where did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics? For the most part all the songwriting comes from a personal life experience and observing the flow of life around me. And some are messages derived from observations like “Unstuck” being about ego driven power and that it usually results in failure.

Any plans to hit the road?

Plans for the road for sure, we had our sights for the fall but think we want to see how this pandemic plays out and is some what behind us.

What else is happening next in The Missing Frets’ world?

We’re going to be making live streaming performances part of our schedule as we think it is a great way to reach more fans and since its evolution during this pandemic its here to stay. Also aiming to apply more of a frequent single based release strategy which we are quite excited about, keeps things fresh and relevant. There are a few other things lined up pending the circumstances, with a highlight being our release party that was rescheduled for Saturday, July 18th at the Grape Room in Philly. Biggest thing looking forward to creating more music.

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