Punk Rock's A-Frames To Re-Record Third Album

The A-Frames — currently one of Seattle's hottest punk bands — will re-record their upcoming (third) album in March; the not-yet-titled album is expected to be released in the fall.

The band — singer/guitarist and chief songwriter Erin Sullivan, drummer Lars Finberg and bassist Min Yee — scratched initial recording sessions, which took place last fall in Sacramento, Calif., because the band was not able to prepare as much as they'd hoped. "I had been living in New York all summer for work so hadn't written a ton of new stuff and we hadn't played much," Sullivan wrote in a recent email. "It was also different because Chris (Woodhouse, former FM Knives guitarist who helped produce the band's first two albums) usually comes to Seattle to record us and we changed that. Long story short: not enough songs and not the sound quality we were hoping for.

"I'm sure some of it will still be used on the next album or future 7-inches," he continued, "but [Woodhouse] is coming up [to Seattle] in late March so we can record some more."

Woodhouse helped capture the incredibly compelling, angular and somewhat artsy punk sounds of 2002's self-titled debut (Dragnet/S-S Records) and last year's 2 (S-S Records) — both vinyl editions are currently out of print, but CD versions are available — which is why the A-Frames wouldn't do a third one without him. "He is a super genius recording guy," wrote Sullivan. "The producing is us, Chris and Scott from S-S [Records] — we did the other albums that way and it works great for us."

They will record the upcoming album much as they did the last. "We record basic tracks in our practice space in Georgetown then overdub vocals and other shit and mix at my house in West Seattle," Sullivan wrote.

The A-Frames recently played a mind-blowing set of sluggish yet driving, bass-heavy punk at Portland, Ore.'s Dante's, a red and black fire-lit nightclub. Falling into their sparse guitar work, dark, frustrated vocals (borderline speak-singing) and shivering, robotic beats is not an option — it's inevitable.

The band — who recently released a seven-inch on France's Royal Records — has not yet decided which label will release the upcoming album. "We have a few good offers and will make up our mind once the record is done," wrote Sullivan.

When asked if they were approached by any majors, Sullivan replied with a no. If they were, would they consider? "I'd have to see the offer to know if we'd do it or not," he wrote. "We're a little fussy and don't like people getting into our business too much."

So far, the band has seven of the songs for the new record named: "Black Forest," "Galena," "Memoranda," "Negative," "Pedestrian," "Death Train" and "Eva Braun."

"It sounds like some German obsession but the titles are a little misleading, whatever," wrote Sullivan. "I think all of those [will be on the album] and there will definitely be others."

For three weeks in April and May, the A-Frames will tour the Midwest, before heading down through Texas and then up the West Coast. — Jenny Tatone [Tuesday, January 27, 2004]