Frankie and the Witch Fingers is a psych-punk band originally formed in Bloomington, Indiana in 2013, currently based out of Los Angeles. The band is made up of Dylan Sizemore on guitar and vocals, Josh Menashe on vocals and lead guitar, Nikki ‘Pickle’ Smith on bass, and Nick Aguilar on drums. The band released their latest record, Data Doom at the beginning of September, and are currently on tour in celebration of its release. Dylan, Josh, Pickle, and Nick sat down with me before their show at Bottom Lounge earlier this month to discuss the record, AI in the music industry, and experiences in college radio.

After the interview, I had an excellent time at the show. The band had two supporting acts, Chicago-based psych-blues band Daisychain, and garage-psych band Wine Lips from Toronto. Daisychain completely electrified the audience with their performance. Playing groovy songs like On Your Own Two Feet and Natalie, which showcased the vocals of the two singers, Nickole Regala and Sophia Williams, who also play bass and guitar respectively. Accompanied on stage by lead guitarist Frankie Sripada and drummer Frank Kurtz, the band got the crowd amped and ready for the rest of the night.

After Daisychain, Wine Lips was up, consisting of Cam Hilborn on guitar, Aurora Evans on drums, Wes Martin on bass, and Andrew Donofrio on guitar. The set was amazing, and full of energy. The crowd became even more alive than before, with the mosh pit really beginning to open up. The highlight of the set was their garage-punk song Shark Eyes, which had the whole crowd moving to the music.

Between sets, I was able to move up closer to the front, but kept close to the center so I could get in the pit when I wanted. This worked out in the long run, as I was able to hop in and out of the pit as I wished. The band came out on stage, and opened the set with the intro on their new album, a song called Empire. The song opens with soaring guitar riffs, which eventually break into a rhythmic and groovy section also featuring vocals from Dylan.

The band played a few more songs from the new album, like Futurephobic and Electricide. They also included some older favorites like Dracula Drug, and Cocaine Dream. The energy at Bottom Lounge was amazing, and the mosh pit was super fun. Everyone was having a great time and making sure their show neighbors were too. The band closed their main set with their song Tea, but after they left the stage the lights remained dimmed. We all knew there was more to come.

When the band came back out on stage, they did so alongside their tour manager Scott Schmadeke. Scott, who I worked with to arrange the interview with the band, donned Dylan’s guitar for their final song, a performance of The Stooges’ song I Wanna Be Your Dog. Dylan was able to move around the stage more freely without his guitar, and went out into the crowd to surf during the energetic performance.

Frankie and the Witch Fingers, fresh off the release of what I consider to be one of the best albums of the year, are a live act you won’t want to miss. The band is going to continue their U.S. tour dates later this month with the HELLOWEEN tour, moving through California and the west coast.

Interview Transcription:

Ian:
Hi, this is Ian Keller with WLUW, and I’m here with Frankie in the Witch Fingers. Can you guys just introduce yourselves for a second?

Josh:
Yeah, what’s up? I’m Josh. I play guitar and synth.

Nick:
I’m Nick. I play drums.

Pickle:
Hey, I’m Pickle, I play bass.

Dylan:
I’m Dylan and I play guitar and sing.

Ian:
Well, thanks, you guys so much for taking the time out to do this interview with us. We really appreciate it. We added your new record Data Doom on rotation at WLUW. It just released last month, just over a month post release, how are you guys feeling about the record, the reception, just generally, what do you guys feeling about the record?

Pickle:
We’re super stoked that it’s out in the world finally, and that we get to go out and play it for people.

Nick:
It’s pretty cool, seeing like a lot of fans already know some of the lyrics to a lot of the songs too. It kind of scratches an itch that you can’t really describe, but it looks and feels awesome for sure.

Josh:
It’s funny, because we played a lot of these songs last year before the album came out, and it’s it’s cool to see the difference between the shows then and the shows now.

Dylan:
It’s nice to have the album out. I’m super grateful for all that went into it, you know, our label and our team. And now we get to celebrate by going on tour and playing the music together.

Ian:
That’s awesome, and so this is the first record that you guys have recorded as this collective. What is it been like to introduce Nikki and Nick into the band? And how has the writing style or the process in which you guys create music changed? Or how have you introduced your own unique styles into the music creation process?

Dylan:
It’s been great having Pickle and Nick. I would say the biggest difference that they brought to the table was, I think there’s a much more emphasized attention musically on rhythm and the style they brought to the table. Like, Nick, when when we started jamming and Pickle has always been into more Afro and, like more drum centric music. So I think we kind of put a focus on that, naturally when they joined the band.

Pickle:
Yeah, it’s been super fun writing and jamming with the guys and exploring where our musical tastes overlap. I think this album really showcases that.

Nick:
And yeah, as far as the process goes, like, how it’s changed since we joined, I could only answer from how it’s been since I joined. When I joined I, can’t really say that there’s a rhyme or a reason to how we write. When people ask us this question, it all depends on who comes up with something first, it all depends on who builds off of it. Someone might come up with a bassline first, someone might come up with a drum beat, someone might come up with just the synth part, and then, we just take our time building it, it’s like everything kind of is like layered. But I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to say, there’s no like set, rhyme or reason to how we write a song, it just kind of eventually happens, and, you know, when it’s done, we kind of have a feeling that it’s done.

Ian:
So I wanted to speak to you guys about the themes of the record, obviously having a lot to do with technology, and machines and such, and the one that really stood out to me was Empire. I really enjoyed that song and the lyrical content, I think it’s really poignant too, given the times of like, AI, machine learning on the rise. So kind of wanted to ask you guys, what are your thoughts on AI in the music industry?

Josh:
It’s present, I mean, it’s honestly amazing how you can give AI a prompt to make a song in the voice of a certain singer, and it spits it right out. I know a lot of people feel threatened by it, I personally don’t because I feel like you can tell the difference of music that comes from heart, someone’s heart rather than music that was created by an algorithm, or ones and zeros. But it’s definitely interesting times we’re in, something to keep a lookout for.

Dylan:
I think we agree. AI is interesting, interesting times.

Nick:
I’ll say that, when I hear an AI generated song, like, this is what Notorious B.I.G. would sound like if he was rapping about modern day stuff. You hear it, it sounds like him, but it’s, it’s so disingenuous. It’s like I said, when someone asked us this, I think that that kind of stuff is hilarious. And I don’t really view it as a threat personally as a musician, who is someone who actually takes their time to be ethical with like, what I listen to and I want to make sure that whatever I’m listening to comes from like a good place and it’s not you know, AI.

Josh:
I personally only listen to AI Biggie, so I take offense.

Pickle:
Yeah, I think AI is just a new tool, and we’re learning how to handle it. That goes with art and music.

Dylan:
I have a thought. I just saw this interesting thing with AI which was this guy who used to make music with his father lost his father, his father passed away. So he was able to upload all of the vocal tracks that his father recorded, and he was able to continue to make music with his father’s voice. So there’s all kinds of levels to it. It can be good, it can be bad. It’s just, I thought that was kind of interesting.

Ian:
Yeah, that’s a that’s a great answer, and I really appreciate like all the different perspectives that you guys have on it.

Pickle:
Well, we’ve thought about it a lot. And we also do, like talk about it amongst ourselves.

Nick:
Yeah. I will say that, maybe in a way, it does worry me a little bit too. Especially in the pop aspect of it. Because when you think about how easy music is digested in a pop radio form, if somebody who’s just listening to the radio, who’s just digesting whatever is on the radio, they might love it, and it might become a huge market and on its own, I kind of hope that doesn’t happen, but that’s a negative side to it. That would make me personally really bitter, and I hope it doesn’t get that bad. I do hear what Dylan was saying too where, you know, I wouldn’t even think of something like that. You know, that’s pretty cool, and that’s pretty, I would say positive. But yeah, definitely has its given takes.

Ian:
So I also read that you guys recorded this on, what’s it called… a Tascam 388. Now that’s reel to reel, right? So what was the decision behind that, and does it relate at all to the themes of the record about automation, machines, technology, digitization?

Dylan:
That’s super interesting to make that connection. That wasn’t our intention. We just got this cool tape machine, Pickle actually bought it, and we’d used it before, on the album Brain Telephone, and then we came into possession of another one. It’s really nice just hitting your sounds through a tape, hitting the tape really hard. Gives it a nice warmth and character that you can’t really achieve digitally, makes it feel more real, no pun intended.

Pickle:
I really like the connection between analog and digital and the AI versus humanity aspect of it. I feel like well, AI is just another tool, just the way the Tascam is the tool or the way that using a DAW or a digital recording workstation is a tool. So I think…. and Josh is a tool! No, I think the spark of creativity comes from your brain and you use whatever tools are around you to to flesh it out. And for us, we were bouncing back and forth between analog and digital, and that was really interesting for us to warm things up through analog. There was like a human touch there. I don’t know. I feel like that’s a really interesting connection you made.

Ian:
Great, thank you guys. So Dylan and Josh, you guys met in college at University of Indiana? Um, do you guys have any experience with college radio? What was the college radio scene like there, and what is your experience been with college radio as you guys have kind of blown up as a band?

Dylan:
So I think it probably wasn’t our first show, but maybe our second show together, when I first met Josh, we actually played at a college radio… the local radio for IU was called WIUX, and we played a WIUX event. Both of our bands. And that was kind of the beginning of our friendship, so really it added a lot to the music community in Bloomington, Indiana which was really cool because there was there was a music school so there was a need for music and art. It just felt like, yeah the the college radio, the people doing the college radio… our old bassist Alex Bulli was like heavily involved in like curating certain bands for the festival they did and everything. So it was very intertwined with the music community there and that was pretty cool.

Ian:
So I also wanted to talk to you guys about Doom Bloom. How did that come to be? What were the conversations like and what was the inspiration behind like, ‘Let’s let’s make a weed strain.’

Josh:
Yeah, they the company Mota out of Los Angeles reached out to us through help of our old manager actually, shout out Andy Factor for throwing us that connection even after we stopped working together which was really cool. Yeah, they reached out and said they wanted to make weed strain for us and we got to pick the strain you know, pick the blend of sativa / indica. And as people who enjoy marijuana it’s pretty nice to have our album artwork on a cartridge of weed. And I actually chose the name Doom Bloom because our song Doom Boom, add an ‘L’ in, real nice and easy.

Nick:
Yeah, we actually got to go in and cut the plants ourselves and plant them and everything too, and yeah, they’re ready. We’ve had friends at home pick it up. Personally, we haven’t even gotten to smoke anything yet. But yeah, I see it as a beneficial thing on both sides. You know, we have a lot of fans who tend to be fans of the herb. And I think for the shows where we’re legally allowed to sell it and everything, it’s gonna help our fans get turned on to this company, Mota, and you know, people at Mota who might not know our band might get turned on to us. So I just see it as a growing relationship, no pun intended.

Pickle:
I think I think it was a natural progression. When I met these guys, everybody was huge stoners. And I think if you guys could go back in time and talk to yourselves 2013 When you first started the band, you’d be like, “No way, we have a weed named after us!” When weed was like more illegal back, then. We’re super lucky to have done this partnership, and I feel like, I mean, music and drugs go hand in hand, and I think there’s just, this is opening up a new way of experiencing the band, you know? Smoke the weed, listen to the music, experience it on a different level.

Ian:
Well, I actually only have one question for you. Why is Mild Davis named Mild Davis? I don’t get it, I’ve listen to the song so many times, I don’t understand.

Dylan:
Well, the song was like, heavily inspired by a Miles Davis song, that was I believe on the album “Big Fun.” So I think when we initially had the idea, we were kind of already talking about Miles Davis. So at the end of one of the sessions, it’s pretty common for Josh, who is the general engineer of what we’re doing to like, quickly, name the file, not really think about the song title or anything. So yeah, it’s usually something really goofy. And this time around, it was Mild Davis, which we all thought was really funny. And then it’s just one of those things where you just keep calling it that, and then eventually, you can’t call it anything else, because you’ve just known it to be that thing. We have quite a few songs that that are titled that way. So this is just another one of those.

Nick:
It’s also oddly at the point now where I’m like, if I’m talking about Miles Davis, I might just I might just say like miles like Miles Davis or like I was just like crap, like

Josh:
Cheryl did that. Yeah, I think she Yeah,

Pickle:
We did a KEXP session and Cheryl Waters accidentally called Miles Davis, Mild Davis. And so I feel like that’s a milestone. A mildstone.

Nick:
Oh!

Pickle:
Boom! Pun fully intended!

Ian:
All right. Well, that’s all I got.

Nick:
We’re starting trends.

Ian:
Thanks so much for talking with me.

Josh:
Thanks, Ian!

Nick:
Thanks, Ian!

Pickle:
Thank you!

Ian:
You’re welcome!

If you’re interested in more WLUW interviews, we have many more on our website at WLUW.org, as well as on our Spotify Podcast page, WLUW Radio.