Alt-pop multi-instrumentalist Frederick, the First bares all about production, meaning, and inspiration in this, his latest interview.
Frederick, the First, an alt-pop artist from Los Angeles, California, has an array of songs that are pretty far-out and wild. His music is eclectic and groovy, and has all the major hallmarks of modern funk. We got the opportunity to interview him and here’s what he had to say!
Alt-pop is such a peculiar genre in only the best ways. How did you find your voice in the
genre? Who in your life inspired you to become a musician?
I wasn’t necessarily aiming at any particular genre. I think it’s just the best, but not so perfect, box to put me in. It’s mostly a result of all the music I’ve been exposed to and have played over the years. I’ve toured the world playing with other artists, for larger production shows in the pit orchestras, and I’ve played in wedding bands and bar bands. I received a degree in Jazz Studies with an emphasis on guitar performance. I’ve just kind of “done it all” in a way and all of that shows up in my music. I love catchy hooks so that wrangles in the pop element.
As far as who inspired me to become a musician it was never really one person. My grandmother and my father were the ones that exposed me most to certain instruments, mainly piano and guitar. They were certainly the genesis of my exposure to playing but I’ve just always been sucked in by music. Just drawn like a moth to a flame. I couldn’t stop it. There were plenty of my siblings and cousins who were in the same environment but didn’t take to it. It’s just a part of me, a major part of me; always has been and always will be.
Frederick, the First, on individual songs
“Spit You Out” seems to be, at its heart, a song about embracing yourself over the toxicity of
another. How inspired by real-life events are the lyrics?
That song is absolutely, 100%, inspired by real events. It is quite striking how much just one person, if you don’t have a sturdy foundational set of beliefs to stand on, can ruin your life. If you care for them enough and they tell you, “I’m leaving, and here are all the reasons why”, and all of those reasons are your fault and you believe them (which you shouldn’t), you’re done. You’re toast. Good night, and good luck.
And it can take years, if not longer, to put the pieces together and see the situation for what it is and was. It’s a god-awful thing to do to someone all the while returning every couple of months to tell them how much you still love them only to leave again in short order. And if you have no self-respect, as I did at the time, you’ll let them do that 6-7 times. I was naive and foolish and I should’ve put my foot down from the beginning. But instead, I wrote this song years later. It helped.
The bassline for “So Good” truly lives up to the track’s name. How do you come up with such
delightful funk, in this and your other tracks?
I love James Brown, Lettuce, Soulive, Parliament, James Jamerson, Stevie Wonder, Timbaland, etc. The list goes on. “Funky” and “Groovy” are my all-time favorite places to be and it just shows up naturally because of it.
Tracks of yours such as “Swimming On The Ceiling” are so remarkably catchy. What do you
believe is the key to a catchy hook in the Alt-Pop genre?
I mean, on an intuitive level you just know it when you’re writing. And you find yourself singing it after you wrote it. It gets stuck in your own head. If it does that then you know you did a good job.
On a technical level, it should be a melodic phrase that is simple enough but not too simple. If it’s too simple it’s boring and trite. A hook will generally be a short simple but not too simple phrase that repeats itself but with slight variation and then typically a line that diverts from the repeated phrase. Like in the chorus of Swimming on the Ceiling, the first line is the establishment of the melodic phrase, the second line is that phrase with an ever-so-slight variation at the end, the third line is the first phrase again and the last line is a complete diversion from the phrase. It should be said that I don’t think of it this way when I’m writing. I just hear it. This is just a “post-game” analysis.
Frederick, the First on the technical work behind his tracks
In your songs, some of your instruments feature more heavily than others and drive the hook
all the better in their own ways. For example, percussion seems to drive “Catching Rain” while
“Spit You Out” is driven by some great string work. How do you determine what to feature most
in your individual tracks?
I don’t really “determine” it per se. While I’m producing and writing, whichever element I’m working on whether it’s writing a melody, lyrics, choosing an instrument, mixing, arranging, creating transitions and fills, or recording vocals, it all comes down to what gets me excited, gets me pumped, lights my fire. And as the process continues a genre will certainly emerge but it’s rarely out of a premeditated idea. So if it starts going in a rock n roll direction then the guitars are gonna shine. If it’s funky then it’s the bass and drums. If it’s R&B then it’ll be the drums and bass and keyboards… and so on.
I do put parameters on my writing every once and a while but it’ll be more like, “I only get to use two chords in this song and I want to use a bunch of non-verbal vocalizations”. Which is exactly what I did for “Woo Haa!”. I mean it’s in the name.
What is the story behind “The Weirdest One”‘s production? Is there anything interesting or,
for lack of a better word, weird, that happened while working on that song?
Uh yeah, how about everything that happened from 2019 to now? I know the pandemic started in 2020 but my life fell apart in 2019. Quickly, I’ll always have an atypical experience of the pandemic. While everyone was sinking in the same boat I was at the bottom of the ocean watching you all come down and eventually, I just was “Welcome, I guess. Here are my condolences.”
So when your ex-fiance shows up with her new transgender girlfriend at the open mic that you two met at and proceeds to sing a song about how much she still loves YOU a year after the engagement ended, you start to wonder who the hell is writing the damn storyline. It’s like being in the Twilight Zone. When you’re 12 years old wondering what your life is gonna look like at 34 years old, that is NOT what you have in mind. Nor could you have imagined it because your sense of normalcy isn’t even in the same universe’s universe. So I wrote a song about it.
On inspirations, outreach, and the future
Released on August 18th, your latest single, “Take Me Away”, is best described as a blend
of the music of Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, and Prince. What non-music inspirations spurred you
along to produce this track?
Oh, this is an easy one. Being in LA. I just moved out here at the beginning of 2023 and the way this city makes me feel is just wonderful. It just has this thing, this spirit that absolutely showed, up in “Take Me Away”.
Instagram has been a big part of what led to your success as an artist. What other platforms
do you use to get your voice out there?
I usually double post on TikTok, and of course, if you understand how to use Spotify that can be a huge plus but IG is where it’s at for me. I like it. It’s the only platform that at least has fooled me into believing it is for creators.
What projects are you currently working on for the future?
I’m working on this amazing 90s-like Alt-Rock record for an artist named David Von Shlegell.
That has been an absolute blast. It’s been very titillating in the sense that I get to indulge all of
my teenage sensibilities and my love for bands like Weezer, Everclear, etc.
I’m also working with a brand-new artist, Ashley Price. There will be a lot of good stuff that
comes from her. It’s very old style meets new style, vintage pop a la Amy Winehouse.
As for myself, I’m writing and working on getting out more in the scene here in LA. I’m also
talking with some other producers/multi-instrumentalists about some possible collaborations but
I’ll keep that as a sneakret for now.
A huge thanks to Frederick, the First for allowing us to conduct this interview!
You can listen to Frederick, the First’s newest EP, The Next Ones, on Spotify!
