Frank The Baptist
Citizen Of The World

03.10.2007

The best way to describe this band is “weird but captivating”. Frank Vollmann (aka Frank The Baptist) is a native of the U.S. who lives in Berlin, his music is half American and half European, and stylistically it’s gothic rock mixed with death rock and a bit of folk and punk thrown in between. Moreover, he has a unique voice that doesn’t really has much in common with gothic traditions, but still fits nicely to the music. The band’s early albums may be quite hard to find over here, but after the domestic Russian release of “The New Colossus”, their third album (and an extremely good one), it became obvious to us that Frank The Baptist cannot be ignored any longer. Hence, here’s what Frank had to say via e-mail about his background, his touring life and various aspects of his creativity…

Your band was founded in San Diego, but now you live in Berlin. Do you consider Frank The Baptist a German or an American band?

I still consider Frank The Baptist an American band because 3 of the members are still U.S. citizens from Southern California. Although we may consider ourselves citizens of the world we don’t have German citizenship.

What scene had a bigger impact on your music - the European or the American one?

They both had an equal impact on the music. The impacts were coming from different places and created different effects but were equally important. All of our experiences influence our creative output no matter how strange, bizarre, or seemingly mundane.

What made you leave the U.S. and move to Germany in 2006?

I needed to shake things up a little and I was reminded that tomorrow isn’t promised. I want to live until I die and gain a different perspective while doing it. Berlin seemed like a great place to start the next leg of the adventure. It’s also a great place to have as a home base while traveling to parts of the world I haven’t seen yet. Also, Pink Turns Blue bought me an airline ticket to Berlin to sing guest vocals with them at the Jubilee Ball at Wave Gothik Treffen. I sang one of ours (“Silver is Her Color”) and the Bauhaus favorite “The Passion of Lovers”. I also had living opportunities and friends here as well as musicians lined up to make sure the road was paved before I arrived. Once Pink Turns Blue offered the travel expenses I decided that I would stay once I got here.

Do you ever miss California, or are you happy living where you are?

Sometimes I miss So Cal but there is still so much to do and see in other parts of the world. Who knows maybe I’ll return someday. Or maybe I’ll return to my hometown in New Jersey someday. Who knows, maybe I’ll move in with you over there. (laughs)

Where and when did you write the material for “The New Colossus”?

I wrote quite a bit of it in Berlin but also wrote quite a bit of it over the years, the songs may not have been ready for consumption until now. Some were written in San Diego, some in Berlin, some in New Jersey.

How much do your surroundings influence your music and lyrics?

As I mentioned, all of our experiences influence us in some way, shape, or form and what makes certain experiences are the surroundings. Yes, surroundings are as influential as the haunted ideas still in my head from long ago.

Sea navigation is something you refer to quite a lot in your lyrics and in the booklet artwork. What attracts you so much to the sea?

I have always lived near the ocean (except for now of course, Berlin is landlocked). The ocean breathes new life into many things. The sea has always been a breeder of creativity, love, life, mythology, passion, tragedy, art, commerce, etc. etc. The coastal towns and cities are where art, fashion, literature, poetry, trade, etc. starts. I can write for hours about the mojo and energy of the ocean and the stormy story it brings but I think I’ll have another drink instead.

Have your or your relatives even been sailors?

Yes, I have spent quite a bit of time on the sea since I was a child. In small boats as well as tall ships like the “The Rose” while working on “Master and Commander: The Far Side of The World”. Supposedly some of my ancestors may have been pirates but there is really no way for me to trace or prove that.

You and your guitar player Fez maintain a club in Berlin called “The Speakeasy”. Can you say a few words about it? What kind of place is that? What artists do you have here? Is it difficult to combine such time-consuming occupations as owning a club and making music?

Yes it can be very difficult to mix the two at times. “The SpeakEasy” is a bar that Fez and I opened in Berlin. It is part of the Frank The Baptist story and an extension of the band. It is modeled after the Old Speakeasy's (elicit drinking/gambling halls) of the prohibition period in the U.S., old Asian Opium Dens and old fashioned Brothels (Please note: It is decorated as such but doesn’t function as any of these models). This is now our favorite hangout and the official headquarters of Frank The Baptist. We play our favorite music, show our favorite movies and drink our favorite drinks. We invite everyone from the scene to come and visit “The SpeakEasy” when in Berlin. My side project with Lucas Lanthier of Cinema Strange called The Dirty Weather Project just had a performance there.

How did you get Bela Pistoljet of the Bolshoi Bandits to play on the album?

Through certain somewhat dubious connections, we arranged a meeting for the proposal.
After killing two and a half bottles of Russkie Standard Vodka, he didn't need a lot of convincing. Except that extra 10 euros and the transvestite.

Are you a fan of the band, and are they fans of Frank The Baptist?

Absolutely.  We first encountered them in a gangfight at the CCCP Club, but afterwards we had some good laughs. We run in some of the same circles, and know some of the same girls (we love Russian women).

By the way, what kind of Russian roots does Frank The Baptist have?

Well Fez is a second cousin of Fyodor Opasnost, the bassist of the Bolshoi Bandits. Their grandfathers were brothers and klezmer musicians who were separated during the war, and Fez' grandfather ended up on a banana boat to the Dominican Republic, and eventually landed in New Orleans. I got this information from Fez, I don’t know this first hand.

Can you explain the connection between the album title “The New Colossus” and the cover artwork? The man on the cover doesn't look like a colossus at all…

I generally dislike spoonfeeding art to the audience and I usually hope they will use their imaginations when it comes to viewing the visual artwork and listening to the music. I usually would rather let everyone interpret these things for themselves but since you happen to be the nice person who wants to help spread Frank The Baptist over there I will give you some insight into why I chose the name and then a hint about the image.
 
"The New Colossus" was a poem written about the Statue of Liberty (a project funded by donations from French and American common people) and alludes to the original "The Colossus of Rhodos" that guarded the Greek harbor Rhodos. The woman who wrote it died before the project was finished and had no idea it would be used to symbolize the statue and that both the poem and the statue would become a symbol of immigration and the masses of immigrants who passed through that harbor to make a better life for themselves or to seek new adventure.

I named this album appropriately because this album is our New Colossus, our new statue that protects our harbor, our new work of art. Also, three members of Frank The Baptist are immigrants who moved to another continent and country to make a better life for themselves as well as see things from a new perspective. Also, at the time we were getting the songs rehearsed and ready for the recording studio, the current U.S. administration passed a bill for spending large amounts of money to build a large "wall" to cover the entire U.S./Mexican border. This is bad international relations and goes against the original idea behind the original poem and the lines "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free"...

The image on the cover design was done by me but the image was Drawn by Ina Kottek based on an image by Goya. Look into the Goya image, the title and story behind it, and the re-interpretation of the image we used and you may get an idea. The rest is about a personal conversation with Ina Kottek (Hence the re-working of the image).

You worked as a graphic artist for a record label yourself, and you later said this job made you very cautious about choosing a record label. What kind of bad experience did you have there? And can you name a few bands that you did graphics for?

It was an indie label and I did graphics for many bands including Deadbolt (The list is way too long). I watched art being turned into a crop and artists change their art to make things more marketable. I hated this idea and wanted to stay away from this sort of thing at all costs.

How did you get a deal with Strobelight Records? Is it true that the label was especially founded to release your first album?

Yes, they were musicians and DJs from around Europe who had ideas of starting a new label releasing music from bands that they liked regardless of potential market success and pulled it together to release our first album “Different Degrees of Empty”. I first came in contact with them when they ordered some of our merchandise. I ran out of shirts to sell them so I gave them one of my own. A few weeks later they contacted me about a Frank The Baptist release on Strobelight. A good bunch of fellows at Strobelight Records.

Do you consider Frank The Baptist absolutely free from music business pressure, or are there still some things you have to sacrifice/compromise to keep the band going?

Yes, I sacrifice/compromise my sanity, time, sleep, relationships, heart, body, mind etc etc. Never the art, we have always stuck to our guns. We will only do what we want to do regardless of what’s considered cool within a scene or marketable to the masses. Otherwise I would have ended it a long time ago.

You have tried yourself in music and graphics, but have you ever considered going into other fields of art, such as writing a book or acting in a movie?

Yes, I have thought about writing a book of poetry that might include some of my lyrics. I have also had ideas for a book of short stories that would include poetry and just overall ramblings. I also have done some featured extra work for larger productions and would love to act in film. The Dirty Weather Project that Lucas and I are doing is sort of a theatrical/acoustic performance where the theatrics mingle in with the songs that we trade off or sometimes play together.

You said in an interview that you come from a punk rock/hardcore background. How did you get involved in the gothic rock scene? What were the bands that stirred your passion for this kind of music?

When I was younger growing up in New Jersey/York everyone was around each other at the all ages shows (Punks, Goths, Skins, Hardcore kids, mods, etc etc.) so it was easy to get exposed to different types of music especially if they all came from the underground. Some friends introduced me to the Misfits and Samhain and that started it, I wanted any kind of horror punk or death rock I could get my hands on. Then I got exposed to Christian Death and loved the idea and atmosphere. It was the lovely young goth ladies I dated who turned me on to the traditional goth stuff that I still love so very much.

Who influenced you as a lyric writer?

I would have to say William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Beudelaire, and the whole gamut of classic poets as well as contemporary lyricists like Bowie, Nick Cave, Ian Astbury, Iggy Pop, etc. I would have to say early American low rent poetry from the earlier years in American history the most though. You know, traditional poems with no authors.

By the way, the track “Call The Tune” is sometimes compared to the works of gothic folk artist Voltaire - what do you think of such a comparison?

I’ve only heard one song of his on a compilation (long after I wrote “Call The Tune”) so I really can’t say. I don’t see a connection but that is ok. I’ve heard comparisons for that song with Irish folk or sea shanties but never Voltaire.

What are your impressions from playing in Vilnius in December last year? Lithuania is not a leading gothic rock country, so how did you manage to get there and how did you like the city and the gig?

We loved Lithuania and Vilnius and all the history behind it. The women were beautiful and the people were very nice and super supportive of Frank The Baptist. A promoter named Tadas from there contacted our booking agent at that time and we jumped on the chance to play, it was the farthest east we had ever played. I don’t think they liked my Russian hat though. (laughs)

And are there any chances of seeing you live in Russia one day?

We would love to play in Russia, set it up Roman! We have talked about wanting to play Russia for a long time so hopefully that will happen soon.

Finally a trivial question - is there any story behind the band name? Why Frank The Baptist, not Frank the Methodist or the Jehova's Witness?

There was an old Biblical figure named John The Baptist. No, he wasn’t a Baptist and neither am I. That’s all you¹re getting on that one Roman, maybe I’ll tell you the rest over a drink when we play Russia.

Frank The Baptist on the Internet: http://www.frankthebaptist.com

Special thanks to Maxim “MadMax2” Mikhalev (Gravitator Records) for arranging this interview

Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
September 21, 2007
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