FrrT - Cowboys From Bled
When I first started playing in bands I, like most young people in my situation, was constantly looking for places that might be able to host a show. I couldn't drive by an abandoned storefront without thinking “that would be an awesome place to play! We could set up in the back, and have a merch table off to the side, and...”
A girl I used to know called it “the punk rock dream.” You would see some place and just have this little fantasy about how cool it would be if you were in charge of it. “We could sell records there, and maybe rent it out for art shows! We could have a concert every weekend! It would be great!”
Now on the most bizarre end of these little dreams were the outdoor show ideas. One time the band I was in in high school drove by what was, in effect, a big, abandoned shell of a building with no roof on the side of the road. Our thought? You guessed it. “That would be a sweet place for a show! We could bring a generator to power the amps! It would be easy!”
While in France last summer, I was walking down the Rue de St. Germaine, when what appeared to be a full on music festival pretty much sprung up fully formed all around the city. It was as if thousands of people suddenly descended on the street all at once and began playing and dancing to all conceivable kinds of bands. I heard a French band doing Lenny Kravitz covers, another band playing Metallica covers, and some playing jazz standards. Apparently, they do this in Paris every summer solstice, but I didn't know this. I had no idea what was going on.
Eventually, I heard the sweet sounds of a sludge riff coming from somewhere down the street. I ran over to see what was going on, and sure enough there was a crusty group of kids playing some of the best best sludge/grind that had ever assaulted my ears. I climbed up on a fence to get a better look, and as I surveyed the street, kids circle pitting on the sidewalk, a band on a street corner pummeling the audience with blast beats, it occurred to me that I was witnessing that little dream that we all had as high school punks come true. The kids had taken over the streets.
The band turned out to be FrrT. I have no idea how to pronounce that. I do know that I've spent months trying to track down a copy of their record Cowboys From Bled. I wasn't sure if I was just remembering them as being so mind-blowingly good because it was such a singular thing I was witnessing that I had gone ahead and remembered the band as better than they were. I've finally found a copy of the record, however, and I'm happy to say I remember things correctly. FrrT shred.
Based on some of the stuff on their website, I'm under the impression that FrrT think of themselves as a southern (as in southern America, not southern France) rock band. There's a little bit of that, but they definitely have a thrashier, grindier thing going on than most of those bands. In a lot of ways it reminds me of drowning-era Cavity crossed with Bucket Full of Teeth's grindy stuff, with a little bit of chug-riffage thrown in for good measure. FrrT do everything right. Every riff, every beat, every growl, is exactly how I would do it if I was in a band like this. Even when they do things I'm normally not that into bands doing, they still tend to make it work.
Sludge and grind are two genres that don't automatically sit well next to each other. Given that they tend to go at the exact opposite speeds it can be jarring to put them in such close proximity. One of my pet peeves is when bands drop gimmicky tempo changes next to each other. I can't help but picture a bunch of self-absorbed jackasses sitting around in their practice space saying “dude... if we play a really slow part and then go right into a total grind part it'll blow people's minds!” It doesn't blow my mind. It usually just, well, makes me think the band is trying hard to blow my mind rather than write a song that makes any sense.
Having said that, FrrT, as if by magic, are able to drop all different tempos of metal and hardcore next to each other without ever having it sound forced or gimmicky. They make every transition sound effortless. Normally, Eyehategod and Hellnation are not bands that I would suggest aping at the same time, but FrrT changed my mind.
It's easy to remember a band as being good when they act as the background soundtrack to a good memory. Any band I saw playing on the street, randomly, in front of a crowd of kids would probably occupy a privileged place in my head. FrrT managed to live up to my memory, however. This record isn't easy to track down, but if you can I can't recommend it enough if you like grind, sludge, or both.
FrrT, indoors.
