“Never doubt the openers!”
Written by: Kira Holden
Okay, let me clarify. I went to this concert for the opener, as did quite a lot of other people I talked to. Don’t get me wrong, George Clanton put on an outstanding headlining performance. But for many people, it was Frost Children who stole the show. The NYC-based duo sure knows how to captivate an audience, and if I was sure of one thing based off the crowd after that show – a LOT of them are new Frost Children fans.
The group’s eclectic mix of genres blend in a way that is so hard to describe, I’m not even going to try. reaching everything from hyperpop, indie, and even folk, it’s clear there’s something for almost everyone to enjoy. Not to mention the fact that even though the group is fresh off of a new album (Speed Run, which came out back in April on True Panther), they have another, Hearth Room, dropping in November. Needless to say, they had a lot to choose from when coming up with a setlist – and they did not disappoint!
This was easily the most energetic crowd I’d ever seen for an opener. Then again, it almost seemed like it was the most energetic opener I’d ever seen, period. The band leapt right into an all-out, aggressive set, barely slowing down until the very end with their new track “Lethal”, which in and of itself represents a shift with the band’s new album – while they’re known for being heavily electronic, this new track/album sees the band explore an acoustic direction, however it still fits seamlessly into their Repertoire.
I caught up with Lulu and Angel after the show to hear more about the creative thinking behind the two albums, as well as to hear more about their biggest tour to date.
What are your thoughts this far into the tour? How’s it been being on the road this long?
L: “It’s been really fun. It’s the longest we’ve been away from NYC in a long time.”
A: “It’s fun being in Kansas, though. We’re from Missouri, it brings us back to our roots.”
I saw a photo on your Instagram with Dyche Hall in the background. What made you stop by campus?
A: “We shot, like, our promo photos for the merch that we made here, because on the way to Las Vegas where our first show was, we stopped in Lawrence because it was kinda in the middle. And I woke up thinking, ‘We gotta go shoot it at like an Ivy League looking building’, so… yeah, shoutout Dyche Hall.”
Have you guys done anything else while you’ve been in Lawrence?
A: “We went to this thrift store across the street, Wild Man. I got this skirt [worn on-stage]… it’s an exact replica of a skirt I usually wear, this blue and white tennis skirt that I got in Long Island, but it’s brown and orange… it’s kinda like a Speed Run/Hearth Room vibe. We went to Fuzzy’s Tacos, too.”
So you guys are putting out two albums this year, with Hearth Room coming in November. Was it a case of having a lot of material, or wanting to do something different?
A: “Yeah, we wanted to put out two albums this year… just cause. One was us, like, at the clubs, a real reflection of us at the clubs. We were DJing almost every other night in New York, making money, partying, etc… I kinda felt like I was just this Williamsburg New York character, this like, hipster that was aging at like 5x speed, and I was like… I already feel myself wanting to make like a folk album. As we were making these club-ready DJ songs, I was like, f##k it, I also want to make this folk record… then I hit my head really hard in May right when we started making it, and it just kinda switched something in my brain.”
Wow, you guys really must have made the record fast then, if you started in May.
A: “Yeah, there’s songs that I’ve been tossing around in my head. You know, write something, voice memo it, how should it sound, etc… indie as hell, I think a lot of indie rock people are gonna start listening to it.”
One last thing, do you have any advice for breaking the confidence barrier for someone getting into playing music?
A: “A big thing for me was getting into Gary Wilson, we have a song with him on our album Spiral called ‘Mayfly’, he’s like this really old head, made, like, funk albums in the 70s and stuff. His performance art is really just, like, freak of nature type stuff. Yeah, just kind of embracing the vibe and culture of the music you do, really.”