Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Dr. Frank

Dr. Frank is the lead singer and songwriter in pop punk trio The Mr. T Experience. They started in Berkley California in 1985 and have since put out 10 albums and a variety of singles and eps. Mr. T, or MTX has been a staple for my wife and I since we were in high school, and their satirical, awkwardly poetic lyrics still resonate with us today. 

Dr. Frank packs in a lot of words in his songs, and I remember Dr. Frank uttering the words "This song's about a girl" before almost every song when they'd play shows. As a long time fan, I was thrilled that he'd even give me the time of day let alone participate in this interview. In a nutshell, he sings about love and girls, in a cute, playful, sometimes sarcastic tone, and adds just enough musicality and surprise to his chord progressions to keep you on your toes. Sometimes, it's full on Ramones, sometimes, it's Ramones with a few 7ths and tasteful augmented or diminished chords, and some temporary tonicized modulations. 

What's funny, is he's self taught, and has no idea that he's demonstrated many of the same musical acrobatics as the great composers of our time. Here's the interview.

Do you have a background in music theory and composition or are you self taught?



"I'm definitely self-taught, in every way, and I wind up playing a lot of chords I wouldn't have a prayer of knowing the proper names of, or what's diminished or augmented and so forth.  On the other hand, I have made a deliberate study of the conventions of pop song structure and composition, with an eye to following them as well as subverting them from time to time,  so I guess my approach to the overall composition can be a bit analytical.  "


Listen to MTX's "I fell for you" and try to resist.

Does your brain jump to "Green Day?" MTX and Green Day had very similar beginnings, both signing to Lookout! Records and frequenting legendary punk venue 924 Gilman Street in the late 80's and 90's. 

When did you first realize you wanted to pursue music?


"My dad took me to see the Pirates of Penzance when I was a kid.  Probably the first brush with music I liked.  Then I heard Metallic K.O. and decided to try to combine the two as best I could."


When are you successful as a songwriter?

"My most successful songs are those that take conventional topics and approaches and warp them, only slightly, but enough that the punchlines are just a bit of a surprise in the midst of thoroughly familiar tropes that might otherwise seem a bit like clichés.  It can be a difficult balance to strike, and I haven't always done it perfectly, but when it works it really works.  The downside of this is, a whole lot of people aren't too interested in giving them the benefit of the doubt and dismiss it all as a big juvenile joke unworthy of being given much attention." 



In your musical career, what has been the single most significant, defining event and why?

"Reading the printed out lyrics of the album Milk Milk Lemonade and realizing that near-rhyme isn't good enough and that I should make the rhymes rhyme better, and from there realizing that I could do a whole lot better if I tried."  

What does the perfect song have to have?

"This is probably repeating myself, but the best songs are those that take familiar, genuine sentiments and twist them up just enough that you wind up feeling like you've seen it presented in a different way than you've heard before.  To me, that is way better than just doing something you expect really well.  The feeling is very important, but without getting the nuts and bolts right, it's unlikely to get across.  As for how you decide what sounds good, you just try and see what happens:  it's a bit mysterious, but when it's good you just sort of know."


What was one of your most memorable musical “Ah-ha” moments? 

"This one kind of stumps me.  I guess I could "go negative" a bit and point to the moment I realized that the things that matter most to me as to compositions are of almost zero concern to most listeners.  Further, that decades of anti-art experiments and sloppy writing have trained generations to regard real rhymes and well-composed melodies as "cheesy" or "lame."  And I guess that moment was a tipping-point conversation where I discovered that when a lot of my contemporaries say "melodic" they mean two or three descending notes sung over the progression C-G-Am-F, always ending on the root note;  and that anything that doesn't do that tends not to compute."

Can you read music?


"I can read music sort of, but it is of no use to me in writing songs.  The process is just, I have an idea and I fool around on the guitar till it starts to take shape as a song, and then just keep playing it thousands of times.  The structure just kind of emerges."


Describe your least favorite song, genre, or artist. Don’t hold back!

"I can find something to appreciate in pretty every sort of music I've ever heard, except for "rap rock" a la Limp Bizkit.  The appeal and value "thrash funk" similarly eludes me."


Thank you for taking the time to share your musical story. Anything else you’d like to add?

"Nope, I better send this in before I wind up sitting on it for another year."