Freezepop: Interview Part Deux

I thought that since Harmonix got so big that they “didn’t need Freezepop anymore”.

No, they’re very supportive of their employees’ bands.  Hopefully that will continue since the relationship with Kasson has officially ended.

Kasson’s not…

Did you not know that?  We made an announcement a couple of months ago.  He’s really busy and it’s gotten to the point that his involvement is only with the fun stuff while we (Sean and I) do our taxes and conference calls.  Now that we’re working on the new album we started talking about record deals, and he just saw it as his time to step out.

Are there going to be any legal or copyright issues resulting from this?

It’s going to be complicated because we still have a partnership together, but we’re going to have to figure out how to go on from here.  Kasson is playing tonight with us, but these are his last ones with us… it’s kind of his “send off”.

You released a track this year on the Internet called “Only You”.

Yeah, it’s by Yazoo… like 80s Classic!

Download the ‘Only You’ cover by Freezepop

Is that going to be released on an album?

It was released on a local compilation… I don’t even know if they’re for sale anywhere. (The crack research team at OCMS found it.  It’s on Buffetlibre Rewind 2)

Since it was a cover, how long did it take to write?

Sean and a friend of ours did a good deal of production on it, but my part was easy.  I just went in and sang the words, and that was it.  The boys worked on it for like a week or two I guess.

What equipment does Sean use to produce the music?

Oh, he’s got a ton of stuff.  He has a lot of keyboards, but I don’t know what kind.  He has like five million of them.

I know you write most of the lyrics, but how does that process work?

The way we used to do it is I would write lyrics and give them to Kasson and he would fit them into songs that he had written.  Things got more collaborative over the years where we were bouncing back and forth.  There’s kind of a shift now, but Kasson and I worked very slowly but Sean is just banging the songs out left and right.  It’s a very different way of working.   But Sean is writing a lot of lyrics now, too.

Some of the topics of the songs appear to be commentary of life… I assume “Shark Attack” came about after watching an episode of Wheel of Fortune, for example.

Kasson actually wrote that one.   I don’t know if that was an actual puzzle on the show, but that is a brilliant song.  I like that song because it’s really stupid but the joke doesn’t really get old.

Science Genius Girl

How do you decide what topics to write about?  Do you just observe the world and say “hey that’s a great idea”?

Yeah!  The inspiration just strikes.  I wish I knew a little better about how it happened so I would have an easier time writing.  I’ll write things down.  Generally our songs have a cute and fun, although some our songs have a little serious.  I guess the challenge is writing something that sounds Freezepop-y but is also not… it shouldn’t be too easy .

Now for the off-the-wall questions…