Cardiff Trio are busy making their name known after releasing their debut EP ‘Another Happy Accident’. We caught up with the band to find out a little bit about them and how they came about.
Give us a potted history of the band
James: 2017 Ben & Ben started things off with the old drummer, so they’d be able to fill in the blanks, but since late 2021 when I came tumbling along it’s felt like all hands-on deck, with COVID out the way we’ve been trying to grab every show we can get hold of to really make a name for ourselves. Some big highlights for me was my trial by fire debut gig when we supported Himalayas at The Globe, Cardiff, supporting the Legendary Mclusky at a sold out Le Pub and recording with Romesh.
Ben J: Me and Ben have always been musical compadres – sharing a love of things from De La Soul to Deftones and everything in between. We’ve always wanted to create music on the darker side of the spectrum and use Frakard as an outlet for that.
Ben S: Me and Ben have been musical outlets for each other since our early teens. Never any genre in particular just good music. So being in a band always made sense for us. Finding James to play drums was a welcomed miracle and gave us the edge we always wanted. Supporting Mclusky was a big deal for me!
Who inspired you to start making music
Ben S: My old man used to own Soundspace studios in Cardiff in the late 80’s early 90’s and used to tell tales of recording and rehearsing with the Manic Street Preachers. He always taught me the importance of listening to everything that’s going on not just the obvious. My Mum has always sung, played Sax and been involved with the church choir so I’d get roped into that more often than I liked.
James: Probably my family, my Dad always had the likes of Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and Kiss playing, my Mum it was The Who, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and then my Cousin was also a drummer, I always remember having a go on his kit when I was about 8 years old and I think something always felt right about it (I also failed with guitar… just like all great drummers! Haha), but then outside of the Family tree along came this magical music channel called Kerrang and that was it, it introduced me to so many different artists that my Parents couldn’t, Rock/Metal became my present and future from there on in.
Ben J: My Dad has always been in bands, I remember helping him load his gear into the car years ago and that was the start for me. Then Slash and Jimmy Page made appearances into my life, I was hooked.
And the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
Ben J: Kids in Glass Houses – Smart Casual; really made me realise that a bunch of kids from Wales could actually make music that achieves success and that people want to hear it.
Ben S: I feel like I’ve had a lot of stand out music epiphanies in my life. Kayne West’s first 3 albums were game changers. But the first time I heard Chris Cornell sing changed my life.
James: Enter Shikari – Take to the Skies; always has and always will be one of my favourite bands/albums, I love their genre bending approach to music as well as their values as people and I used to try and play along to the album as practice.
If you’re trying to explain whom you sound like to someone that’s never heard you, what do you say
We’re like a reverse Royal Blood summoning the spirit of Black Sabbath, but using Rage Against the Machine, Queens of the Stone Age and Jane’s Addiction as the sacrifice.
Tell us about your new release
It actually started off life as a drum beat for the verse and we built from there. Ben J sent us all a riff to go with it and despite Ben S’ scepticism at first when we got into a room together it became one of those “ooooooh that’s good” moments, so I think once we saw the potential in the song we knew we wanted to do it justice and who better than Grammy Nominated Producer Romesh Dodangoda (Bring me The Horizon, Motorhead, Kids in Glass House, Nova Twins), it was also our first time in a professional studio too so I think we were all blown away by the experience a bit but we certainly want more!
Where can we get hold of it
On all great streaming sites, there will also be a pretty music video to go with it on YouTube, it’ll also be accessible on our Website frakard.com.
Tell us how you write
We’d like to think in equal thirds, we’re a trio and each third brings their own special sauce to the table. Majority of the time things will start off with Ben J pulling a riff down from the Gods themselves, Ben S will then craft his melodies around that with his never-ending supply of lyrics that are either living on his phone, random scraps of paper or scribbled over a book he didn’t like very much, and then James brings it all together with a beefy drum beat. However, as we’ve already said Slate flipped the script a bit on that which circles us back round to the equal thirds, anything and everything each of us think of is worth serious consideration.
Tell us about your live show and how much have you been missing it recently
Think we’re all in agreeance that it is the best way to experience us, we all loved the proper studio experience but it doesn’t mean much if you can’t then go on to perform it in front of your Family, Friends and even the few diehard Fans we currently have haha! Despite only having 2 instruments on stage we really try to put 110% into our live performance, so much so that Ben S was violently ill on the way back from Milton Keynes the other week, and that’s without a drop of Alcohol in his system!
What can we expect from you in the near future
We’ve banked up a handful of songs which we obviously want to get recorded, I think next stage is to release a feature length album as we’ve only done a couple of EPs to date, but at the moment it’s all about shows, getting our name out there and even generate some funds so we can get back in the studio to record said songs. So, if you are reading this help a brother out and buy a T-Shirt or a Ticket
Tell us your favourite records that’s rocking your headphones/tour bus/stereo
Ben S: I’m really enjoying a local band to us called Mawpit who have just released their debut EP, they’re also supporting us at our single release show on the 11th of November. I think Smashing Pumpkins new single is a good spin too. But if you’ve never sat down and listened to Steely Dan’s Aja Album start to finish, I suggest you do that.
Ben J: I’m obsessed with The Murder Capital and they’ve just released 2 new songs. I adored their first album and this new material seems to be from an entirely different mindset. I really admire the courage to do that, and the talent to be able to do so effectively.
James: Stray from the Path – Euthanasia; 10/10 album for me, if you haven’t heard of them picture a Hardcore/Metal Rage Against the Machine. I can happily listen to every single song on the album, to the point I was conflicted within myself as to which ones make the cut to my personal Spotify playlist, I just don’t think you get albums like that very often any more.
Check out the band’s track Dogs Diner, below:
Find out more via the band’s Website or Facebook
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