Freak Parade: Rock Elements

Could you tell us something about the beginnings of the band?
I met Mike [Mike Bowling – bass guitar] in Liberec years and years ago. We were both working as teachers there and there wasn’t that much to do except go out drinking and everything like that. Mike was always a musician. He was a professional musician in the States. He started a band and was looking for a singer. Basically, he asked me if I’d do it. I tried out. We were already friends and it worked out.

Did you have a background in music before?
No, none at all. My grandmother was a singer in choirs with the church. I was an artist. That was what I studied. I didn’t want to be a singer at all. Mike had to get me a bit drunk first to get me to agree. Once I did, I started loving it.

How did the rest of the members become involved? For example, Honza Hovarth, your drummer, is a symphony percussionist. How did he join a punk band?
Honza’s from Liberec. We’ve known him for year and years. When we needed a new drummer we thought of him and remembered he was cool, a nice guy, so we auditioned him. We normally find drummers through word of mouth. Auditioning drummers can be a nightmare. There are a lot of horrible drummers and it drives you mad. We were so impressed with Honza. We just love him. A band is so much more than just a group of people. It’s not just musicians. The combination of the personalities has to work.

Is this reflected in the sound or do you and Mike come in with ideas and work from there?
Generally, Mike’s the song writer. He loves to sit and write songs, so he will come in with a song. If we don’t like it, we will tell him very quickly. Sometimes, he’ll come up with music, and I’ll write the lyrics. Sometimes, he comes in with everything. On other albums it was more of a collaboration. The first album was quite a collaboration because we were together all the time. We would come out with riffs or sentences and would build songs. It’s always a collaboration in some way.

What sounds were influencing you with this new album?
Mike wrote a lot of these songs and we’re all getting older. We like this type of music. Sometimes we’ll hear our music in clubs and look at each other and say “God, this is really heavy.” This one is a bit more upbeat, a little more poppy, a little more danceable. It’s still got that punk thing. We’ll always be old punks.

Has Travis [Travis Crow – lead guitar] brought some extra dimension to the band?
A lot of these songs came with Travis. When we formed as the band we are now, these songs came about. Travis is great. He’s a lovely guy. He’s great to work with. He brings a nice element to the band. He’s a great guitarist. Everyone brings something. You can’t have a band with the wrong elements. It doesn’t work.

Can I ask what you think you bring?
I’m the brains [laughs]. I don’t know. I bring a little bit of everything. I’m the girl in the band with a bunch of guys. I bring a bit of softness. And I do write some of the lyrics, like “Crushed Ice” and “Bitter ain’t Pretty.”

Where do you get your ideas from? Are they personal or things you see?
A bit of everything. If Mikes writes a song, I’ll listen to the music and hear words in the melodies. I’ve got a million ideas in my head. I’ll just pick sentences which appeal to me. Things that fit. What I’m feeling at the time. Sometimes, I can be a bit sarcastic. Sometimes it’s other people’s stories.

Was riot grrl [a punk movement typified by female led bands] a big thing for you guys when you started out?
I don’t think we ever wanted to be like anyone else. Mike’s writing the music and he’s a guy, and I’m singing lyrics which can be quite [pauses]…They are from a man to a woman, so it can seem a bit strange. But I like all that stuff. I’m a girl who likes big boots, piercings and tattoos.

You’ve been based in the Czech Republic for a while. How does the Czech music scene compare to other places you’ve worked and toured?
We like playing Germany. They treat us really well in Germany. It’s well organized. When you arrive there’s food, there’s drink, there’s a bed, there’s a decent sound system. Everybody’s there. Here it’s not quite like that. But everywhere’s different. Every club is different. Every owner is different. The music scene here is full of really cool people. There are some really great bands. Not the best bands are the most famous here. That’s just crazy commercialism. They just promote bands which are kind of rubbish.

So which bands should people keep an eye out for?
The Tower of Dudes who we’re playing with tonight; they’re great. They’re one of the bands that when I saw them I thought: “This is a real band. Not just a bunch of people who think it’s cool to come here and play music.” They don’t play cover songs. They’re proper musicians. There are loads. Houpací Koně are a good band. We’ve played with them a lot. There are all these good musicians and there are always new bands coming up here. It keeps it going and separates the wheat from the chaff.

Has being an expat band presented obstacles?
When we first started it was 1993, so we were seen as something very different. It probably gave us some advantage. But we don’t have the connections or the people who will pull strings for us. We came here with nothing, no one, so the advantages and disadvantages balance out. We were much more known around the country by Czechs and then we moved to Prague and now we’re ‘expats’. But all our friends were Czechs and we were not originally seen as an expat band.

Where do you see the band heading?
Music is my passion. I’m not really going to stop doing it. The album is getting a lot of coverage. A lot of people are talking about it. A lot of people are hearing it. And there’s the cover of “Holky naši skolky” [by Petr Kotvald and Stanislav Hložek] which is getting a lot of attention now, so that’s interesting for us. If it takes a silly song to get you noticed, hell, we’ve got three albums. We can prove that we don’t just have silly songs. We just want to play. We like playing around the world as much as in the Czech Republic. Wembley, that’s my goal.

Check out Freak Parade for yourself at their next gig: Friday, September 11, 7 pm at Rock Café. They´ll be joined by SUFFER (Trebon) and Czech author Jaroslav Rudis (Grandhotel, Nebe Pod Berlinem). More info: www.freakparade.org.