The Franklys are our favourite Anglo-Swedish garage-rock band, and we’re super-excited for the launch of their brand new EP ‘Framed’, out April 5th – check out the awesome video for lead single ‘Not Guilty’ and pre-order your copy here. The band tell us that “lyrically, the record takes a look at the current state of the world’s affairs, whether that be on a small scale, such as in ‘Small Town, Small Talk’, or on much wider reaching issues. For example, ‘Mayday’ takes a swipe at the massive mess of the Brexit vote and its subsequent fallout. The songs deal with an increasing obsession with gossip, news and a lack of empathy fuelled by portrayals of unobtainable perfection found on some social media.”
Their distinctive, driving pop-rock sound wins them instant superfans, so we asked them for a sneaky peek in their gig arsenal … We talked tech specs with guitarist Fanny Broberg and bassist Zoë Biggs.
Fanny: My main guitar is a semi acoustic vintage Höfner Verythin 1965. I play it live at every show and use it to record most of our songs. The tone is distinctive and has a great feel and vibe to it. With its big body it is ridiculously oversized on me as I’m very short but it’s super light and has a thin neck so it’s very comfortable to play. A lot of songs have been written on this one! Hollow body guitars can often feedback quite a bit so my mate Kev from the repair shop Stairway to Kevin filled in the hollow parts with foam and that did the trick beautifully. It was in mint condish when I purchased it but is now looking a bit worn and rugged as I flail about quite a bit onstage. In a way I feel bad that it kept so well for so long until I got my hands on it, but a guitar is meant to be played and every scratch gives it more character I reckon.
My go-to amp is Fender Blues Jr and is the best gig amp in my opinion. Sometimes when you need to borrow someone else’s amp and have to do a quick linecheck I find those amps with loads of knobs too annoying to work with, and all I really need is a clean channel anyway so the Blues Jr is perfect with just a few basic knobs. It’s also fairly light and small enough for me to carry to gigs. I crank up the master to 12 and use the volume button to adjust volume to get the cleanest sound out of the amp and use pedals for effects.
Pedal wise I have a pretty standard set up. I use Boss Distortion DS-1 on absolutely all songs and I love it. For some reason it has a reputation for being a shit pedal for teenagers but that is so wrong. It sounds awesome with my guitar and amp and I can’t tell you how many guitar geeks have complimented on my tone and asked what I use and get surprised for not using a ‘fancy’ pedal. The reason why they ask is because all my pedals have been painted red to match my guitar so unless you check closely you wouldn’t know what’s on the board. Except for the DigiTech Whammy pitch shifter which is already red of course!
On my board is also DigiTech Digital Reverb, Boss Chromatic Tuner, Electro-Harmonix Micro Pog, TC Electronic Flashback which I use for delay (and loop for home practice) as well as Electro-Harmonix Memory Toy for slapback. My favourite pedal of all time though is Electro-Harmonix Big Muff which I use for solos and whenever the songs need a fuzz boost.
Also on the photo is my dog Lucia.
Zoë: My bass set up is a Höfner Ignition Club Bass, EHX bass metaphors pedal, EHX Nano Bass Big Muff Pi pedal, and Ashdown Rootmaster 2×10″ 500W combo amplifier.
The Höfner club bass is my ideal bass; great deep tone, reliable and doesn’t break your shoulders or the bank.
I invested in the EHX bass metaphors pedal last year and for me it’s an all in one dream. It serves as a compressor and distortion pedal, while also having a DI. The Nano Bass Big Muff Pi comes with me when I want to boost the distortion level even more.
The Ashdown RootMaster 500W 2×10″ amp is a proper workhorse and has served me well. Super powerful combo, and compact enough that you can move it around fairly easily. Lightweight for a bass amp at 17kg! Lots of options with both passive and active inputs, 5 band EQ control, shape control, compressor and sub harmonics control.
When recording I use my club bass, Höfner Verythin HCT or a Fender P bass.
I don’t have a dog in my pictures, which is upsetting on so many levels.
Pre-order The Frankly’s new EP ‘Framed’ here.
Tour dates:
09/03 – The Horn, St Albans [UK]
16/03 – Acoustic Couch, Bracknell [UK]
11/04 – The Finsbury (EP Launch), London [UK]
13/04 – The Royal Standard, Hastings [UK]
24/04 – Kult 41, Bonn [DE]
25/04 – 7er Club, Mannheim [DE]
26/04 – Horrible Punk Festival, Bludenz [AT]
27/04 – Club Voltaire, Neu-Isenburg [DE]
30/04 – Molotow, Hamburg [DE]
02/05 – Slow Club, Freiburg [DE]
03/05 – Pink Pank, Rotterdam [NL]
04/05 – Sonic Ballroom, Cologne [DE]
Follow The Franklys:
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LOUD WOMEN 