The New Underground of Frederik’s Dead

“Can you all clarify something for me—is the apostrophe in Frederik’s Dead a contraction? Or is it possessive? Maybe it’s ambiguous?

Frederik’s Dead isn’t exactly rock. Maybe it fits under a rock umbrella, but that’s a big umbrella. It’s not necessarily rap, even when it’s expected to be. And metal doesn’t feel quite right either.

In the words of guitarist Justin, “the genre is genre-bending.” Aswan, the group’s vocalist, adds that the only genre they have agreed upon so far is “experimental… whatever we can all like is what we end up with.” The group’s four members –Aswan CC ’22 on vocals, Justin on guitar, Langston on bass, and Martin on drums– have a wide variety of musical backgrounds and influences, ranging from high school punk bands to Bill Withers to steel pan drums. But despite these influences, Frederik’s Dead is determined “to do [its] own thing… we don’t want to sound like anyone.” 

On the Creative Process

With its members currently scattered across the US, Frederik’s Dead combines a more methodical approach with “just jamming”; each member brings unique elements of music they enjoy to the group, where they can talk over and work out ideas. According to Aswan, this process involves a lot of “getting shut down…we all manage to annoy each other with our music taste, even though they’re not completely different.” Still, it’s a collective process, says Justin, one that extends beyond the music of Frederik’s Dead to include the visuals and the lyrics—everything gets done as “a group collective.”

On How The Band Came to Be

“So from the beginning, I can tell you how it all got started. All right. Well, the band at least. Um, me, Martin, and Aswan wanted to go see Pacific Rim 2…” Langston, the bass player, attributes part of the birth of Frederik’s Dead to a certain poorly reviewed action movie sequel, which was the first time three of the band’s members hung out together. Aswan played a demo for the group: “It wasn’t really rap. I was screaming and it was super loud”, and Langston told him about the idea for a metal rap band. They reached out to Justin, who had been playing with drummer Martin for years, and began practicing together as Frederik’s Dead. 

Justin, Langston, and Aswan all have backgrounds in musical theory but said they wanted to stay away from that with Frederik’s Dead. Aswan remembers at the band’s first rehearsal: “We were all feeling the fuck out of it. And I was like, screaming at the top of my lungs. We didn’t have a PA setup or anything. I was just yelling and shit. And I like– as soon as we finished, I puked. It was like, red vomit all over the bathroom. That feeling is the kind of feeling I try and create every show.”

On Place

The group’s dream venue is “somewhere as dynamic as our music… as dynamic as that dynamic within our band,” one in which each member brings their own ideas to produce work which in its totality pulls no punches: not lyrically, not visually, not musically. Justin acknowledges that this venue might not even exist yet, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been difficult finding a pre-established setting for Frederik’s Dead. 

“We’re all basically from Norfolk [Virginia]. And I feel like how Norfolk affects our music is for one the scene and the amount of creatives and notable people that people around the world know from Virginia… Pharell, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Pusha T, blah, blah, blah, right… the music scene around the 757 from the 60s to the 90s, early 2000s was popping. But… the music scene has declined a lot. And, for example, like the last band me and Martin were in, we played shows around Norfolk and DIY places and actual established venues. And I would say that 75% of those places that we played don’t exist anymore.”

That 75 percent figure is contested amongst the band’s members. Langston argues it might be higher. Venues that have managed to scrape by are pressured to accommodate the entirety of the area’s local music scene, leading to sets that shove wildly different artists and styles awkwardly together. The local rock venues, much like the local rock bands, are also very white. Justin says Frederik’s Dead is the only rock band that he’s seen with more than one or two Black people. Langston remembers being advised to write raps for his writing assignments in middle school. Aswan describes the experience of trying to record at a studio and being rejected because the studio didn’t do “hip hop music.” He connects this to the deeply-rooted racism in the band’s home state of Virginia: “a lot of people don’t consider it part of the South because it’s not so far south, but they forget that it was the capital of the Confederacy. Like, it’s, it’s very, very, very deep here.” 

Aswan: “Everything we talk about, our whole experience is shaped by that. It’s, it’s pervasive. It covers every part of our lives, like schoolwork, travel, where you can shop, what kind of shows we can even get, who we can record with… that kind of sense of not having support and having to do it ourselves and having to make it ourselves and trying to like, speak to our own unique experience in front of people that don’t give a fuck or like don’t even want to hear it. Yeah, that has shaped us a lot. And I kinda love that.”

On the Future of Frederik’s Dead

Within the scene of Norfolk, VA, Justin mentions that he feels like Frederik’s Dead “[is] creating our own kind of underground movement and culture. In the absence of anything else, because we’re the only people that are making music like we’re making…And so I feel like we’re kind of an anomaly in this scene. But I feel like that’s an interesting thing, because the history of this area has been so up here for a very long time, and only recently it’s down. So it’s kind of interesting.” 

As for what’s currently in the works, Aswan mentions an EP coming out April 2nd—titled A Witch Named Slickback—along with music videos for each song on it and a website. Langston describes missing the energy of the band’s last live performance, which was one year ago in New York, but Justin is confident they’ll be back. Aswan shares similar sentiments about live experiences: “I want [the audience] to, like, come to the stage, jump on, look at me while I’m yelling in their faces. Like I love all of that, seeing people feel what we’re saying and feel what we’re playing. I want—I want to keep that no matter where we take this.”

Last Quick Takes: Albums with no skips

Aswan’s no skips albums – Frederik’s Dead, By the Grace of the Butcher and Earl Sweatshirt, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt

Justin’s no skips albums – Los Hermanos, On Another Level; Juicy J, Vol. 9mm “It’s On”; Narada, Andean Legacy

Langston’s no skips albums – Metallica, St. Anger; any Muddy Waters album; Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III

Martin’s no skips album – Lightning Bolt, Wonderful Rainbow

Frederik’s Dead new EP, A Witch Named Slickback, comes out April 2.