In the midst of the release of Frog’s new excellent album, The Count, Daniel Bateman joined us over Zoom from New Rochelle in New York State.

Felix: Hi, I’m Felix from Farrago with Daniel Bateman from the band Frog. Hi Daniel, thanks for sitting down with us. How’s the road been treating you, you recently played the Hopscotch Music Festival?

Daniel: It’s been treating me fantastically, having a great time. I love playing music, and hopefully you all enjoy it too.

Felix: Your most recent release comes out in the next 24 hours or so, the songs are titled in an interesting way (in all caps with the variation listed next to the name), can you tell us a little about that?

Daniel: The variations are like a bunch of different songs that I find relate to each other, and it’s not a very straightforward way of relating to each other. It’s more of a rhythmic set of ideas, as well as, you know, they’re all improvised. It’s more of a vibe thing…

But, you know, someone who isn’t as involved or interested in that line of thinking maybe wouldn’t notice, and just think they’re regular songs. Which is also how you can look at them, and you can take them as you need or as you want…

Variations of a theme is a very old form. It’s existed for as long as people have been making music and writing it down, and I love the Goldberg Variations. Mozart has the A Major variations that I like very much. I think Bach with the Goldberg Variations is pretty iconic, so that’s a great way to define the form in that time. Everyone did it.

Felix: So you’ve got this great track, “RIP to the Empire State Flea Market,” which I think is about a girl, but I’ve always been sort of mystified by the line, “Irish immigrants stare out at the water, standing mute and still.” What is that song all about?

Daniel: The Empire State Flea Market was a flea market in Port Chester, New York, in Westchester County, that I went to with my friends and then later my girlfriend who I’m now married to—so I had a very personal connection to it. And, it closed down! And I was sad. But that whole record was just about living in Westchester as a young person.

Felix: Is that line some connection to the area’s history?

Daniel: It could mean anything, I just like it… For me, it’s an image. It’s a beautiful image, right? What is an Irish immigrant? They’re looking for something, a better life you know, and they think maybe they have it but they don’t know yet. I thought it was beautiful, but that doesn’t mean that’s how you should think of it.

Felix: Since I watched Kings of Blah, the documentary on your 2017 tour of London, I’ve been really into your track, “Nowhere Band.” I don’t know if you meant it this way when you were writing it but I found it relatable the way the doco used it as a motif for navigating the kind of weightless feeling of the industry these days. There’s less of that direct path of “Get signed, get a recording out, how many albums does it sell.”

Daniel: When I wrote that song, that came out in 2013, so that was a completely different music industry I was talking about. Things are very, very different. I don’t know if they’re better, but they’re very different. Things were bad then too, it’s honestly almost never good for the people actually doing the art in any era. Even if they got signed, they made no money. All those bands, no one made any money. You had to make money, and still, it’s always the same.

Felix: Yeah, I was just reading about The Rolling Stones, their landmark deal as one of the first bands to make a million dollars on a record or something, all of that went through their manager and they didn’t get it for like twenty years.

Daniel: Alan Klein, Yeah.

Felix: So I suppose you’re right. Would you have rather been more Bach-style, and have a patron who was the Duke of Normandy or something?

Daniel Bateman: Such a good question, I’ve thought about this a lot. It really was different, back in Mozart’s day, and this has so many parallels to today, but your job as a musician was to be friends with rich people, and hang out with them, and play songs for them, and write songs for them. It was a social thing, and money was a social grace that rich people gave to people that don’t have money. So you had to be friends with them, best friends with them, and then they gave you money.

Mozart was like five, and his Dad would take him and his sister all around the world, to all of the king’s houses. He would blindfold them, and they would play. He was on tour from the start, he was a working musician from age three, and he was world famous as a child who could do parlour tricks and stuff like that. So is that easier, or harder than now? That seems pretty fucking hard. He was the greatest musician who ever lived and for most of his career was in abject poverty. He was only not in poverty for the last two years of his life, and then he died. So it’s good vibes.

Felix: I suppose you would have to deal with Salieri, if you were Mozart.

Daniel: Such a good movie, oh my God. It’s a fantastic film. The guy who plays Mozart is so good, And Salieri. Such a fantastic film.

Felix: It’s a very Spongebob, Squidward dynamic they have going on.

Daniel: It’s very, like, it’s a play, you know what I mean? You’re trying to make middle-aged people chuckle, when you make theatre in the upper west-side or whatever. So there’s some of that energy, a little bit of wackiness.

Felix: You had a KEXP session this year, what was that like? It’s kind of hallowed ground at this point.

Daniel: It was awesome, I had a blast, it was so much fun. They’re so nice, oh my God. Larry Mizell, Jr, who was the host, was like the coolest person I’ve ever met, so it was awesome. He’d also heard of New Rochelle, so that’s good. Hallowed ground, this is important, this is a New Rochelle renaissance right now, I’m not sure if you know about this. You heard it from me first. This is a renaissance. New Rochelle renaissance, right now… If you’re from New Rochelle, you say it ‘Noo-ra, Shell’ - that’s how you say it.

Felix: Kind of like how people from Melbourne say “Mell-bin,” not “Mel-burn.”

Daniel: Yeah, it’s exactly like that.

Felix: I know that you and Tom formed Frog in New York, what acts are coming out of the New York scene right now that you’re interested in?

Daniel: I liked Cameron Winter’s record, that was a good one. I liked “Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed).” Such a good record, I really liked it. I watched the videos, he’s a great artist.

Felix: So that’s the big act coming out of New York right now that you’re keen to get the word out on?

Daniel: You gotta ask Steve. I listen to composers, I listen to Tammy Wynette

Felix: Yes, I was reading up on your influences, I read about a fella called Count Basie… I’m usually talking about The Rolling Stones and stuff.

Daniel: He was one of the biggest stars in music in the ‘30s, but that was a long time ago, so no one remembers who he is. But, that’s too bad for them, because that’s amazing music.

Felix: It seems like the recent iteration of the band has been yourself on guitar and vocals, Thomas White on bass and your brother Steve taking over for him on drums. How has that restructuring changed the chemistry of your act?

Daniel: Steve is the best thing that’s ever happened to us. He’s famous—he’s the most famous person in the world. It’s scary. It’s scary. Can’t even talk with him.

Felix: The Count and 1000 Variations on the Same Song from earlier this year seem more low fidelity than some of your older stuff tended to be.

Daniel: If you’re asking how I recorded the music, that was mostly made on this eight track half-inch tape machine. I don’t use tape because it sounds like that, I don’t like that it sounds like that. But I use tape because it goes way faster, because you have to accept what it is.

When you turn on the tape, that’s money. That costs money, so you have to be ready. And you have to do it right. It forces you to do that in a way that digital doesn’t. Everything happens much faster if you work with tape, so it’s not about the sound at all. But I like the sound too.

Felix: Do you think that allows you to put out more work?

Daniel: We’ll never stop releasing music again. If it’s been seven months, it’s gonna be three months next time. Then one and a half months. Then every two weeks.

Felix: You recently played a set at the Hopscotch Music Festival. You shared a set with Built to Spill and Unwound, can you tell us a little bit about that? Any highlights from that festival?

Daniel: I had a fantastic night. I was pretty hot up there, but five’s very high. Doug from Built to Spill is such a nice guy, and Unwound was amazing. Unwound was so awesome, so if you like that kind of music, you should definitely check them out if you don’t know who they are. And you should go see them, because they’re playing a lot, everywhere.

Felix: They’ve seen a bit of a critical reevaluation in the last ten years or so.

Daniel: They were awesome. I’d never listened to them, and I went to the show, it was incredible.

Felix: What’s the future for Frog? Do you plan on coming to Australia anytime soon?

Daniel: Are you kidding me? I’d love to. I’m available for hire, I’m looking for those dollars. Do you know where they are? Do you have a lead on that? You’re interested in seeing me? You should contact me and offer me a place to play! And let's do this! Not just you personally, anyone listening—direct to them. Contact my booking agent, that’s what he’s for.

Felix: Well I can tell you that at least as a critic, which I could be completely wrong about, I do detect some Frog influence going around Melbourne in pockets right now. Like this great band called Claude…

Daniel: It’s the Melbourne renaissance! Are you kidding me? I know it now—I thought it was true, wasn’t sure. With my best friend Craig, I already knew you guys were awesome. Now I’m sure of it, because of what you’re saying. The vibe’s great. Jump in, the water’s warm. We should write songs for the Melbourne tourist board.

Felix: Thanks heaps for talking with me! You can check out Frog’s new album, The Count, from the 19th of September—I’ve heard it and I can say that I’m a big fan. Thanks so much for your time Danile, have a good one!

Daniel: Thank you, cheers. Big ups to Melbourne. Listen, I’m gonna get there if it kills me. It’s the Melbourne Renaissance. Everyone get ready—get excited about this, guys! If you know that it’s happening, then it’s happening. Ok? Think about it that way.

Felix: Also, New Rochelle renaissance. We’ve got a double renaissance going on.

Daniel: I’m so glad you said that, I’m glad you brought that up. Thanks for remembering!