Jazz Monthly.com Interview with Sean Franks

“Jazz Monthly Feature Interview” Sean Franks
Interview by Baldwin "Smitty" Smith

Jazz Monthly: My next guest here at JazzMonthly.com is an incredible artist. He has a band with a universal groove, it is a superfluous groove that will grip you like a vise and it’s something that you will instantly connect with. He has a great new record out, it is called Guy Like Me, and in case you’re wondering, yes, he is the son of the great Michael Franks, and let me tell you, in this case for sure, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree at all. Please welcome the incredible and amazing Mr. Sean Franks. Sean, how you doing, my friend?

Sean Franks (SF): Good, how are you? Thank you, sir, for the wonderful intro.

Jazz Monthly: Hey, man, it’s totally appropriate and I’m totally digging the record. You have got some great tunes here and I can’t say enough about the band. You cats groove like nobody’s business.

SF: It really is a great band and it’s a lot of fun, and we try to keep it fresh because stuff can get kind of stagnant and it’s been great working with those guys too.

Jazz Monthly: Yes and I gotta say this is a record for all ages. It’s a record for just about anything you would like to do and accompany with music because, I mean, for the ladies out there, you can dance at the club on Saturday night and Sunday morning you can clean the house with this music. (Both laugh.)

SF: I like that. That’s a great analogy. That’s cool. I gotta remember that one. Yeah, there’s no swear word. It’s a pretty safe--

Jazz Monthly: Yeah and like I said, if you’ve got any ounce of rhythm in your bones, they’re gonna move instantly without control.

SF: Right.

Jazz Monthly: I mean, it’s that cool.

SF: We sure hope so.

Jazz Monthly: When you first started developing an interest in music, was it always singing?

SF: No, actually I played drums for the larger part of growing up into my mid-twenties. Actually, I went to a summer program at Berklee School of Music in Boston and also went to Dick Grove, which is no longer around, but yeah, I played drums for a long time and then kind of realized that there were some pianos at some of the music schools in the practice rooms and started kind of banging around on that, and then that’s kind of when the singing came, was wanting to express myself through playing the piano and chords and then the singing came. So it was kind of an interesting process.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, it’s a different road. So was Dad excited when he heard you spout out some lyrics?

SF: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I sent him stuff throughout the years, and I think the interesting thing is I’m a little bit more straight to the point whereas he’s got this kind of really cool way of saying something in a much more poetic sense.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, we know.

SF: Well, yeah, exactly. Whereas I’m much more, as you know, kind of speaking back and forth between two people. So that’s definitely the difference and obviously I’ve tried to take some of his influences, but I think he was an English major so he’s got that one on me for sure. (Both laugh.)

Jazz Monthly: Oh yeah.

SF: He definitely—he’s got the, you know, the pen is mightier than the sword.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, man, I totally get it. But when you were playing drums, did you see the vision of being the leader of the band? Because, I mean, you’re back there in the back. Drummers are always in the back.

SF: Oh, they’re always in the back. That’s right. Well, actually, that’s why I kind of started getting frustrated, not that I was frustrated with playing drums, but I kind of picked up the piano, which is interesting because piano is known as a percussive instrument. Even though you’re playing chords, you can kind of do all this kind of, well, I’m on the piano right now, but there’s like [plays a few notes]. You can kind of play drums on the piano sometimes, you know what I mean?

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, that same groove, yeah.

SF: Yeah, yeah, so that was kind of a natural transition for me, but the singing thing was definitely something that I had to work on all the time because to me, you can play an instrument and you can get through it, but if there’s something that you’re doing wrong with your voice, people are gonna hear it right away. So I paid a lot of attention to that.

Jazz Monthly: So who was your greatest influence as far as really getting out there and doing some singing?

SF: I would have to say two people: Donnie Hathaway and Stevie Wonder for sure.

Jazz Monthly: Oh, those are huge influences, man.

SF: Yeah, the first time I heard those guys sing, I didn’t know that people could actually sing like that. It was pretty amazing; I was like whoa, that’s pretty amazing that this sound is coming from another human being. So that, to me, was a time in my life where I said, well, I gotta start listening to all kinds of stuff.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah. Well, I must say, you developed your own personal art, my friend.

SF: Oh, thank you.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and it’s really cool. You gotta talk to me about this great band because these cats have got it in the hip pocket!

SF: Yeah, they really are great guys. Les Falconer is the drummer, who also does background vocals, and Rob McDonald III on bass, those guys I’ve been working with for probably the last 15, 16 years.

Jazz Monthly: Nice!

SF: They’re local cats here in L.A. and they’ve done all kinds of different studio, live, and touring. It’s been a real pleasure working with those guys in the band. We had a guy named Dave Patterson on saxophone who’s a great local guy here too, so it’s been a pleasure working with those guys, and I think the interesting thing is they’re a little older than I am, so they’ve kind of pushed me to further myself.

Jazz Monthly: That’s always cool.

SF: They’ve got a little bit of the wisdom thing happening, so they’ve been like “Well, we’re gonna do this and you’re gonna have to keep up with us.” (Both laugh.) It’s like when you’re playing any kind of sport, you try to play with people that are better than you so you can kind of rise to the occasion.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, that’s nice, man. All right, so now with Les Falconer—

SF: Yes?

Jazz Monthly: You two probably have some interesting drum conversations, I’m sure.

SF: We do, actually. Actually, Les is always trying to get me back on the set. And Les is actually pretty good at playing chords on the Rhodes, which is what I play. I play a Fender Rhodes. And so sometimes we switch off and that’s kind of fun, but I definitely feel much more comfortable with him laying it down.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, man. Talk to me about the Rhodes because it’s one of my favorite instruments. Whenever someone brings up the Rhodes, I get totally excited because I go back to the Bob James days in the early seventies.

SF: Right.

Jazz Monthly: And the Rhodes, he was pioneering that thing and really did some very cool innovative stuff with the Rhodes that really caught on.

SF: Right.

Jazz Monthly: And it took a dip and sort of faded over a time, but it’s really making a strong comeback and it is just an instrument that I just totally embrace whenever I hear it.

SF: It’s a great point that you just made because all the neo-soul stuff too has got, it’s just Rhodes and it’s coming back in full force as you said and I think it’s great. I played a keyboard for a while and I kept searching for the sound and I kept getting these kind of little dinky sounds that didn’t really move me. I was searching and then finally a friend of mine who was actually in a pretty successful rock band at the time, he was in the Wallflowers.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, great band.

SF: He’s the son of Bob Dylan, Jacob Dylan.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah.

SF: And he had these two Rhodes and I said “Hey, let me borrow one” and after that I bought it off of him. That was it. (Both laugh.) Once I brought the Rhodes into the section of the drums and the bass and the guitar and the saxophone, it was like “Okay, this is what we need to be doing.” So a lot of people, they sample stuff and it sounds okay, but there’s just no such thing as having the real thing sitting right there. So, yeah, it’s been a pleasure to experiment with that instrument and play it.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, it brings such a total element to the band and it’s such a great complement of any instrument, I think. Yeah, I love that.

SF: I agree and plus the cool thing about a Rhodes is, for the kind of music we’re doing, is it’s filling up and creating some sense of warmth to the track as opposed to adding another guitar or strings, which I think strings are great, by the way, but it’s just kind of nice to have that warmth on the tracks.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, man, I totally love the appeal and it’s just a very cool groove. So now talk to me about the band. Who’s the comedian in the band? I know there’s a comedian in this band.

SF: You know what? That’s funny. I would have to say Rob, Rob the bass player, Rob McDonald. He’s the one that is usually constantly joking, but at this point in all of our lives, it’s pretty much who can razz the other guy hard enough until he breaks, so it’s kind of like guys’ night out, you know, who’s gonna break someone else.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, that is an element of the band that you can’t put a price on because it’s a cohesive thing when you think about it, just keeping it loose.

SF: Right.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, it’s a bonding thing and I just love that when you’ve got some great sense of humor in the band because it just carries over to the music in a beautiful way.

SF: I totally agree with you too because if you get too serious and you get too intense and there’s people that are unhappy, then I think it does come out in the tracks and it comes out live, and what we try to do is say “Hey, look, we may not agree on everything, but let’s go ahead and try to get the positive thing happening because that’s what’s gonna shine through in the end.”

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, yeah. Well, I tell ya, this record is a fun gig. It’s a party! I can already tell that it’s a fun gig and I would love to see some of this live because it’s just great, and in particular, I just love the track “Special.” That is really a special track.

SF: Oh yeah, that’s one of our favorites, so that’s great. We’re glad you like that one too.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and “Can You Be Loved?” I mean, there are some love songs here.

SF: Yeah.

Jazz Monthly: And speaking of that, I mean, I love this track “Can You Be Loved?” but the lyrics here are no stranger to any human on earth.

SF: Right.

Jazz Monthly: And these tracks can be identified by both genders, a variety of ages, because there’s such a commonality in the groove and the lyrics which makes it such an appealing record.

SF: Yeah, and that’s what I was going for. I mean, I look at all my collections of people that I look up to and there are very few artists that are writing stuff that’s political. I mean, when you pick up a record that you like, the majority of the time it’s about a relationship.

Jazz Monthly: True.

SF: Or it’s about love gained or love lost or, you know, I mean, “Ribbon in the Sky,” Stevie Wonder. You can go on and on. Although Stevie Wonder’s been able to really go ahead and run the full course of what he’s been able to write because he’s Stevie, but when you look at other artists, one of my other favorite bands is the Gap Band. They’ve been able to come up with these amazing grooves, but the grooves and the lyrics are still about, you know, “You Dropped A Bomb On Me.” So that’s what I find interesting is that when you look at some of your favorite songs, it’s usually about these kind of things between relationships of people, so that’s kind of what we went for and I’m assuming that’s what a lot of artists are going for because if you turn the record over you can see all the names of the songs.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, but you know what I thought was kind of unique and kind of cool, there are a few out there, but what I love too is you can not only sit and sort of contemplate and reminisce with these songs, but you can dance to these songs, man.

SF: Yeah, you know, I sure hope, I mean, like we haven’t played live in quite some time, but when we did, it was like people, they said “Well, can we dance?” It was like “Yeah, go ahead.”

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, get up!

SF: “Go ahead and take care of it.”

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and that’s a great combination, because a lot of times when people are really getting into the feeling of the music and the lyrics with these kinds of tracks, they just want to just sit and listen, but the groove is so tight that it’s like “Yeah, I love the lyrics, but I wanna get up and move now.”

SF: Well, I just think it’s so much fun to experiment with different ideas of grooves and it’s great to write ballads and it’s great to write love songs, and there’s nothing wrong with that and I do it as well. However, it’s always fun to kind of see where you can take something and “Oh, can we try this? Can we try something different?” That, to me, is real validating, to be able to just go “Oh, hey, look, let’s try a completely different groove.” For example, we’ve got four different versions of “Special.” We’ve redone that song four times and every time it’s like “Oh, okay, let’s try this.” That actually is the fun part of it.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, exactly, and I don’t know Stanley Benders but, man, what a percussionist this cat is.

SF: Yeah, Stanley’s great. He actually used to be local. Unfortunately he had to move back to Boston. He’s kind of taking care of his family and as we all know, the country’s in a bad financial—

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, in a situation.

SF: So he had to go back home but, yeah, he’s a great guy and I love the patterns and the stuff he laid down on that record. It was really amazing. It would really be great to get him out on this next one, but we’ll see how that goes.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, well, if you guys happen to do a gig at Scullers or something in Boston, you need to give him a call.

SF: Yeah, that’s right. Show up with your stuff.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, man. Tell him to bring the family, you know?

SF: Yeah, yeah, he really did a wonderful job. I can’t say enough about that.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, and the photographs—you had a couple of great photographers—but you tell Lori Dorn I said she has a golden shutter, my friend.

SF: Lori really is an extremely talented photographer and she is also a very, very nice person, which is always a plus.

Jazz Monthly: Yes.

SF: And she has just been great. In fact, I’m probably gonna shoot with her in the future as well, but she really is a talented, talented photographer.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, yeah. Well, Sean, I tell you what, man, this is a fantastic record. How can people get this record?

SF: The best way to get it is just go to www.seanfranks.com and we shall send it away.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, yeah, and you did some work with the great Jimmy Haslip, of course, too, right?

SF: Yeah, Jimmy was actually planning on playing on this record and he had to go out with the Yellowjackets obviously, but he did advise and help produce some of the ideas, so I was very thankful that he was able to spend a little bit of time on it. I’m hoping in the future that I’ll be able to actually do something with him, just to collaborate on something with him and I, but his schedule is pretty amazing, so we’ll see. I’m hoping, you know?

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, and rightly so. Just speaking of Jimmy, I can’t tell you how many musicians that I come across that speak so highly of him, and I know just from dealing with him myself, he is first and foremost a great human being.

SF: Yeah.

Jazz Monthly: And I could write a book on the stories of musicians that he’s helped in such an amazing way and going out of his way as well to contribute to a record. Like you said, even if it’s just some advice or stopping by the studio to help you with a particular track or all kinds of things. He has always been that golden dude that comes out and lends his help in any way he can. He’s just a great contributor to music in so many ways.

SF: Yeah, I agree and even if it is advice, advice is huge, advice is everything.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, yes.

SF: Even if he doesn’t play on it, even if it’s just an idea or something. Yeah, I agree. He’s gotta be one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and he’s always been very open and very receiving so, I mean, it’s been a pleasure to know him and hopefully we will do something in the future.

Jazz Monthly: Absolutely, and what a talent. Man, that guy can bend some strings, some thick strings, like nobody’s business too.

SF: Yeah, he’s a good keyboard player too.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, man.

SF: So he’s like kind of a non-stop talented, talented person. He’s out with the Yellowjackets. I’m assuming they go out a lot because he’s never here. They must be out like nine months out of the year and then he’s producing several artists, so he’s operating at a pretty high level.

Jazz Monthly: Yes, he is and everything is always topnotch no matter what he puts his hands on.

SF: Right. Yeah, that’s right.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, so I just wanted to give him some props because I hear his name as much as I hear anyone’s name in the business and it’s always a very cool story.

SF: Yeah, and positive, you know?

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, exactly, so you always want to recognize those cool people like that.

SF: Absolutely.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, well, man, listen, you gotta book some dates, my friend, because people have got to hear this record, and pull Papa out and tell him “Hey, man, come out and hang with us.”

SF: Yeah, I’ll have to get on that because that sure would be a fun thing. I would like that to happen so we’ll see if we can slow him down. I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, I know he’s a busy guy in his own right, I know. So what are you working on now? What’s happening?

SF: Well, right now, we redid a couple of songs and then we wrote quite a few new songs and I’ve got some more songs, so I think I’m gonna put another record together.

Jazz Monthly: Sweet!

SF: And we’re kind of just right now waiting for my engineer—his schedule is a little tight right now—and that’s about it. Everyone’s kind of in limbo but not bad limbo. Just limbo to get back to the project. But yeah, I think we’re gonna put together another—I always say we’re only gonna do four or five songs and then it turns into like nine or ten or eleven, you know?

Jazz Monthly: Well, speaking of engineering, Charlie (Bouis), man, what he did with this record is just incredible, some great stuff. He put a lot of personal touch, I think, on this record and please pass that along to him for me.

SF: I will. Charlie’s a great guy and that’s who I’ve been working with this whole time, and we did most of the stuff live so it gives you an idea of what a talented engineer he is to be able to record four or five guys live and make it sound so sweet—I mean, obviously we’re on a budget, but it sounds pretty darn good.

Jazz Monthly: Yes indeed, man, and you can feel that in the music, I can tell, he really spent some time and really put a lot of passion into engineering this record.

SF: Yeah, he’s a good guy.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah. Well, I look forward to your next record as well and you know I’ve already put my two cents in with you that Papa’s gotta do at least one song on this new record.

SF: Well, you know what? I will forward that to him and see if we can get him off the road and see if he can do something. That sure would be a pretty awesome and cool thing.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, because, man, that would be slammin’ to have that kind of thing working on the new record.

SF: Well, I don’t know if he’ll do it, but I am probably gonna go ahead and record another one of his songs, so I think it’s gonna be “B’wana – He No Home” and we’re gonna go ahead and hit that up.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah! I can totally see you doing that one.

SF: So I kind of had an idea how that groove was gonna go because I was listening to it the other day and it was like, you know, it was cool back in the day, but we kind of want to put a little stank on it. (Both laugh.)

Jazz Monthly: That’s what I’m talking about.

SF: You know, it’s like “Don’t you ever write your boyfriend Ken,” you know.

Jazz Monthly: Man, that was cool.

SF: And so I wanted to kind of like put a little bit of—I don’t know if you can use this, but a little bit of romp in there, you know? (Both laugh.) So we’ll see, we’ll see.

Jazz Monthly: But I totally get it, my friend, and you know what? That might be just the thing to pull him in.

SF: Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see if we can—“Wait a second. What’d you do?” So we’ll see, we’ll see how it comes out.

Jazz Monthly: Yeah, well, Sean, I totally dig this record, man.

SF: Oh, thanks.

Jazz Monthly: It has got some seriously cool grooves, the lyrics are fantastic, and I think that you have not only your own audience, but I think you will develop a brand new audience with this great record because it’s totally appealing across the board.

SF: Well, thank you so much and for your support as well and also it’s been a fun interview. It’s been easy.

Jazz Monthly: Well, that’s what it’s all about, man. Having fun and doing your thing, you know?

SF: That’s right, that’s right.

Jazz Monthly: Absolutely. Sean, all the best to you with this great record in all of 2009, my friend, and hopefully we’ll get back together again when the next record comes out.

SF: I would really like that and it’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.seanfranks.com