Frequency 54 invaded the Machine Shop for the official album release party of their newest CD, Reborn.
Back and stronger than ever, a re-energized Frequency 54 hit the stage of the Machine Shop with an explosive night of electrifying heart-felt rock n’ roll. Justin Rose (Vocals), Bryan Kelly (Bass), Dan Quinn (Lead Guitar), Kurt Stuart (Rhythm Guitar), and Chris Castro (Drums) are back with a new record full of amped up aggressive sounding energetic rock n’ roll.
Frequency 54 is a great passion and creative outlet for these five musicians. The band has enjoyed varying degrees of success over the course of their career and has released five CDs prior to this new one (54 Cent Freq Show 2002, What’s Inside 2004, Beginnings 2007, Live Acoustic 2008, and the self-titled Frequency Fifty-Four EP 2009).
Many old and new members of the Freq Nation, as their fans refer to themselves, were out in full force to witness the rebirth of this Flint Rock Original.
As the lights dimmed, you could hear the rhythmic bombastic drumming sounds rolling off of Castro’s drum set. The rest of the band entered the stage with Rose stating “Flint, What’s Up?†to which there was an overwhelming response from the crowd who had been anticipating this very moment.
The drum roll quickly turned into a track from the new album titled Fear, “See the colors black and white, Feeling wrong although I’m right, I can’t take the way you shit all over me, I don’t know the way this ends, I’ve seen it over and over again, I know that I cannot be happy, She’s in my head…†Rose sang as the band rocked alongside with him.
…the Freq Nation, as their fans refer to themselves, were out in full force to witness the rebirth of this Flint Rock Original.
Without hesitation, the band quickly broke into Ghost, from their Frequency Fifty-Four EP. Rose is an energetic front man who puts every bit of himself into his performance. Doing so, you could see his microphone stand break during the band’s performance of Ghost.
“I already broke my mic stand so that’s good. It went limp on me but that’s not the first time!†joked Rose, further stating “We want to thank you for supporting us for the past 16 years. We’ve toured the country, had two songs break into the Billboard 100 and are now releasing our 6th studio album. We can’t thank you enough for all the years you’ve supported us so we hope you like the new album.â€
The band played Just Go, another new song, as Rose sang “Stop talking to me like you own my every breath I take, This hate I harbor makes my blood flow and I start to shake, I don’t know where I went wrong, I can’t stop hating you, I can’t stop living this lie even though I know that we’re through, we’re through, Just Go, leave me all alone…â€
Rose takes his duties as a vocalist seriously although he is also a man who enjoys joking around with the crowd. In doing so, he stated “Everybody standing right here turn around and look at these lazy fucks (pointing to those sitting at the tables in the back). Come on up here. Nobody is going to take your chair. If they do, I’ll give you your five bucks back†then the band transitioned into My Soul, from their Beginnings CD.
Rose stated “We got a social, that’s what we got†as he held his drink up high in the air, stating “Everybody with a drink put your hand up. Those without one put your hand up. Everyone with a drink see those without one? They’re outta money and can’t buy any more drinks so go get them one!â€
After everyone did their social, Rose mentioned “Its Leigh’s birthday. We’re going to pass around a pitcher and I want everyone to put some money into it. However much money we raise is going to buy how many shots she does right up here on the stage with us and In honor of her birthday, we are going to play her favorite song†as the band played Secret, from their Frequency Fifty-Four EP.
After the pitcher was passed around, Rose held up the money and stated “$70 bucks, but guess what? Leigh gets to pick three other friends to come and get fucked up with her!†Asking Leigh what kind of shots she wanted, she chose RumChata. The band then played another new song, Not Defend, while a friend of the band went to the bar to obtain the shots.
The girls drank their shots of RumChata while everyone in the club sang Happy Birthday then the band broke into Addictions, from the new album, at the conclusion of the shots. During Addictions, the sound system started to cut out. The vocals and the guitars disappeared leaving only the sound of drums and bass. The sound came back and the band transitioned into another new song, Wanted You To Know, however the sound would keep cutting back out.
You could see the frustration on Rose’s face as he tried to sing loud enough for everyone to hear him. It appeared that the Machine Shop staff was unable to figure out how to get the sound system back up and running, so Rose apologized to the audience for the technical difficulties and stated that they were not going to continue. He further told the crowd that he “would rather not perform at all then to sound like shit†to them and that this would be the conclusion of the band’s performance.
Frequency 54 are a band who pride themselves on being able to perform their songs live as good as they sound on their actual CD. Because of this, it would have been an insult to the audience had the band continued with only half a sound system, which only supported the drums and the bass guitar.
The Machine Shop made a sincere apology to the band and to the audience then the Frequency boys came down and mingled with everyone.
Our photographer, Thom Seling, was on-hand to capture the band in action. Here are his images from that night.
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I had the opportunity to sit down with the band shortly before they hit the stage. We talked about the band’s writing process, the new songs, touring, today’s music industry, the band’s influences, recording at Metro 37 studios, pet peeves, and much more. Here is that interview.