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'The Frugals last ever update!' continued...
By Shane Shepard/The Frugals.
Well, as promised I hope to give you all an explanation regarding the
demise of The Frugals.
I wanted to start with a story done on the band by a very cool guy named
Martin Fawkes (ACAN, Forest Edge, 777 FM Radio). To me, he really captures
our beginnings perfectly and I hope whether you're a new or loyal
old-school fan you can get something out of it.
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The Frugals Find Success
I saw a film once, and the first line in it was "a beginning is a very
dangerous time." I don't know why really, because the film was obviously
coming in well into the actual story. But this segues nicely into my
interview with Bec Shepherd from post-ska brassy pop-rock band The Frugals,
as she tells me about THEIR beginnings.
It all began about four and a half years ago, at a youth camp on the
northern beaches of NSW, Bec had wanted to be in a band since her early
teenage years, and so had a guy she met at camp called Lachlan. Another
guy, Shane, WAS in a band or two already, but the trio joined forces and
set off in search of a drummer. They found someone called 'Morgsy',
recruited some brass players and the rest is history in the making.
The Frugals stepped into a bright and buzzing northern NSW music scene,
with 8 or 9 Christian bands in the area, and events like the Upsurge
Festival and plenty of '6 band for 5 dollars' type events. Bec explains:
"At that stage things were really happening, and as a new band we were able
to get gigs constantly. The North Coast is a fairly large area with lots of
small towns, so there were lots of different shows in different places, as
well as gigs in Brisbane like Gospel Music Festival, Groundswell, Manifesto
and shows like that." As you could imagine, a bill with six bands could
probably draw quite a few people, but when split six ways the money would
not necessarily go far - but The Frugals was just a hobby, so that was ok.
It was early days they had a strange furry character onstage called Monkey
Boy, who, combined with the zany, manic songs, made this one of the
funniest bands you could see. " We were introducing a new style of music
into the scene, and we wanted to make things really alive," Bec tells me, "
so we thought we would get a mascot, good old Monkey Boy. He added a lot to
the live show, but as the music matured, we started to get more serious
about that side of things and Monkey Boy was left behind."
The next time The Frugals played at Blackstump they used the event to
launch their first CD, called 'Just What You Need For Christmas'. I had a
bizarre conversation with Morgan at the time. " We sold 450," he told me. I
asked if that was 450 since it was released, assuming the launch had taken
place awhile previously. "No, since we were here. This morning - we sold
them in two hours." He appeared more bothered that there was nothing left
for the people who wanted to buy something than excited that the band had
probably set a record for CD sales at a such an event.
Bec points out that this may have been the first time the band realised
they were having an impact beyond their home area. "We were all pretty
amazed when we sat down and thought about it. We had just paid off our
recording in two hours!! It was a very exciting time."
Many more gigs followed, but the big turning point came with the
preparation and recording for the latest CD 'A Formula for Success'. For
six months the band played virtually no gigs at all focussing on the album.
It was an expensive process, and one that led to the decision to take the
band full time. " We realised that if we wanted to make this happen we'd
have to do more shows further afield, to get out and really broaden our
market. We'd played a lot between Brisbane and Sydney by that stage, but
not Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and elsewhere.
So here they are, mere months later, travelling the country and bringing
their bright, positive, ska influenced rock/pop to the masses. It has taken
a bit of adjusting. "We have been sorting out how we work together: outside
circumstances come and go, but it's how we get things done onstage and off,
how we relate that will make things last. For most of the band this has
been their first extended period away from family and home, so it has taken
some adjusting, but we have been really loving it..It's great talking to
kids after a show, whether it's about the band or deeper issues. We have
been working very hard at bringing it all to it's basic elements: 'this is
my relationship with Christ.' Your whole life is a ministry, and it doesn't
revolve around the few words you might say on stage and that's it, we've
done our bit. I mean, the onstage stuff can be helpful but how we live our
lives and being real is what makes the difference. At home, going to the
shops, playing a show, no matter what it is, our whole life should be an
experience with God!" (Martin Fawkes)
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SO WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE THEN?
I think if The Frugals were meant to stay together, we wouldn't tour for
long periods of time again. A lot of people noticed that we had changed,
sure we got better but we also got serious, (which you need to I might add
if you want music to be your full-time job for 12 months). The problem was,
we weren't a very SERIOUS band. The one thing that the band did better than
anyone else was to capture that intense passion to have FUN live. We
couldn't wait to play live, by the time the first chord/note/beat came in
everybody in the audience knew it was time to party..
After touring none stop for 12 months things had changed.
Musically/Stylistically, the vision had shifted - half the band wanted to
go one way and the other half another. Mentally and Physically we'd had
enough and Spiritually we were drained.. As a result we lost focus. We were
committed at trying to overcome all these things because we knew that most
of it was the pressures of heavy touring, but we also came to realise that
working as hard as we were was 'killing the vibe' that crazy energy thingy,
which in essence was what The Frugals were all about.
I could go on for ages about all that stuff, but looking back now I'm
stoked that I followed God with what he wanted to do with the band, I still
believe that going full time was the right thing to do. I would have missed
out on some amazing times if I didn't:
We got car sick, had stupid fights, got yelled at by old biker dudes at
pubs, rode shopping trolleys down hills, almost got arrested by customs in
NZ for looking way too weird with 10 big brown boxes, Ate 'fush n chups' in
New Zealand, bought a van named Sheldon, had over 60 people skank on stage,
got Monkey Boy to ride in on a Harley at Blackstump, Discovered Cold Rock
Ice Cream, watched Austin powers 1 & 2 over 50 times, kicked a football
into Paul Colman's Groin, kicked over drum kits, fell off drum kits, waited
to play the next song while Richard signed autographs to a bunch of school
girls, shaved a guy's five year old dreads off on stage, had the dudes from
7/10 split wander onto stage wearing a horse suit and then trying to ride
the nice horsy, ate McDonalds more times than we'd like to admit - then
switched to Hungry Jacks thinking that it was better for us, had our van in
break down 'Henty - sheep capital of Australia', Bec fell off the toilet at
Life FM in Adelaide, were proud of the fact that Anna Larsen broke her leg
while in the pit at one of our shows, met some of the most amazing people
one could ever meet in a lifetime and meet them all in a space of a few
years...we love you all!
We believe that God has a perfect plan for every person on this planet and
being in the band for almost five years we have become a lot better at
hearing His voice in different ways.
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We knew that God was telling us it was finished and that He had different
plans for everybody in the band.
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>>From experience, it's always better to follow God's Will even if it really
hurts, because he sees the big picture. Everything has a beginning and an
end, everything has its season... even The Frugals.
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SO WHAT ARE THE FRUGAL MEMBERS UP TO NOW?
Rebecca Shepherd/Gigantor (Bass guitar)
Living in Adelaide, continuing her studies - Degree Visual Arts at Uni,
playing bass for Anna Larsen's backing band, looking for interested musos
for new band.
Michelle Jones/Bruiser (Saxophone)
Living in Brisbane, joined Ska/Rock band Half Way Out.
Morgan Douglas/Sergeant Mullet (Drums/Cymbals)
Living in Ballina, Northern NSW, Studying H.S.C. and Business at TAFE.
Lachlan Johnston/Lump Bandit (Vocals/Trumpet)
Living in Adelaide, studying Clothes Production at TAFE, joined Ska band
7/10 Split.
Richard Dymock (Guitar)
Living in Melbourne, studying Graphic Design at TAFE, looking for
interested musos for new band, looking for work, looking real good.
Shane Shepherd/Disco Dog (Vocals/Guitar)
Living in Adelaide, joined emo pop/rock band Thinktank, looking for work,
trying to look tuff.
Check out http://www.thinktankhq.net
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Well that's it really. If you've read this far you obviously love the band
or maybe just like reading. Thanks to everyone who has ever come to one of
our shows, bought one of our CDs or tapes, danced the whole way through a
full set or ever wanted to marry Morgan.
THANKYOU!!!
Shane Shepherd, On behalf of The Frugals. |
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