Frenzal Rhomb: smashing out songs

"We're excellent at taking breaks, that's how we survived for so long," Jay Whalley told LIVE. "We've been together for 20 years so most of it's been a break so I reckon we've not been a band much longer than we've been a band."

The band formed in 1992, with lead vocalist and guitarist Whalley a firm member for the entire two decades. Other members have come and gone, with Triple J's favourite Lindsay McDougall (better known as The Doctor) joining in 1996.

The band has released eight albums over the years, most recently 2011's Smoko At The Pet Food Factory. They've never shied away from the provocative, the political and even the slightly crass. They've had posters banned, been labelled immature by Triple J (which now embraces and plays the band's music) and sparked a feud with commercial radio figure Kyle Sandilands over the lack of support for Aussie acts on mainstream radio.

Frenzal, as they're are known to their fans, have also played across the country supporting the likes of the Offspring, Bad Religion and Blink-182. They've also played to audiences across the US, UK, South Africa and more.

Reflecting, Whalley explains sometimes the two decades do catch up with the band.

"Some nights I feel like it's been going a long time but the audience always keeps us enthused and each other as well. We don't really see each other outside of the band situation so it's always nice to have a good hang out," he said.

So if the band aren't living in each other's pockets and making music along the way, why did they return to the studio to make Smoko At The Pet Food Factory? Whalley's answer is typically Frenzal - tongue in cheek.

"Money, just money and you know, it becomes a compulsion," he said. "After this long [away from recording and playing] you kind of miss it. I think most bands would tell you that, it's something which seems to have a life of its own, I guess. And people still seem to turn up which is constantly a surprising turn of events but it's very encouraging."

Despite the compulsion, the album didn't come together quickly. Fleeting weekend visits from other band members to Whalley's Sydney home studio meant progress was "very" slow.

"They'd come up for a weekend and we'd smash out as many songs as we could and then in the following weeks we'd listen to them and realise that eight of the nine songs were terrible and so we'd be left with one song," he said dryly. "Then we'd get together a few weekends after that and do it all again. Yeah, we have a very high cull rate."

But luckily for the band - and their loyal fans - the compulsion to write songs remains, Whalley explained.

"Unfortunately, yes, there is always fodder for angry songs and stupid songs. Stupid songs are often the easiest and most fun to write and sometimes we like to incorporate the anger and stupidity into the one song," he said.