Interview With The Fathoms

The Continental: How long have The Fathoms been around?

Frankie: About 2 years.

The Continental: Where and when was your first show?

Frankie: At "The Middle East" in Cambridge, MA with Los Straitjackets about 1 1/2 years ago.

The Continental: What are your favorite songs to perform live?

Frankie: Different members of the band have their own favorites so I can't speak for the other guys. I like all of them - maybe Five Fathoms Deep?

The Continental: Do you do any covers?

Frankie: Usually we'll do Commanche, Hawaiian War Chant, and Man of Mystery. Sometimes I'll even bring out my Vox Continental organ and we'll play Dick Tracy, Telestar, and Moonchild.

The Continental: What was the first song you came up with? Frankie: The first songs I came up with never made it onto the CD, but are still in the can and might make it onto our next CD. But the first tunes we recorded were Fathomless, Groovy Boots, and Cerveza on Dee Mesa. The Continental: What kind of gear do you all use?

Frankie: 1964 Jazzmaster through a silverface Fender Twin and a re-issue '63 Fender Reverb Tank. Also - a 60's Vox organ.

Greg: Jazzmaster reissue through a blackface Super Reverb wih a 1963 re-issue Fender Reverb Tank.

John: Fender Jazz bass and acoustic upright bass through Galien Krueger head and 2 15" speaker cabinets.

Stan: Old "Radio King" drum set.

Dave: Selmer Mark VI Tenor Sax, Conn Soprano Sax (30's or 40's), old Conn Baritone Sax, and a Selmer Mark VI Alto Sax.

The Continental: What groups are you all into?

Frankie: We're into a broad spectrum of music. For instance, John, Stan, and I have a rockabilly trio called the Cranktones. We also have an R&B band called Jumpin' Bones with Dave on sax. Then we have a western swing boogie type band in which I play steel guitar, John on bass, Stan on drums, Allan "The Undertaker" Sheinfeld on vocals and rhythm guitar, and this guy Jerry Miller, a complete monster on guitar and five string electric mandolin. The name of the band is still up for grabs at this point and our first gig is May 22! So I guess you could say we're pretty much into American roots music, besides being big surf music fans. We all dig The Astronauts, The Lively Ones, Eddie & the Showmen, The Rumblers, and of course, The Ventures, Dick Dale, etc. Oh yeah, we're also really big on British Invasion music and we're all big fans of a band from Scotland called The Kaisers.

Dave: My tastes are really eclectic. I really like jazz. I also dig Mancini , John Barry and just about any wacky and exotic instro music. I also play in the all instro band Four Piece Suit.

The Continental: Tell me of any unusual occurrences you've had at your shows.

Frankie: All of the Fathoms shows have been terrific - but I did have a gig once with another band out in the boonies of Connecticut where there were only 2 people in the audience, and one of them stole the other one's car.

The Continental: What is the instro scene like in Boston?

Frankie: There isn't really a big instro scene in Boston but when there's a show it's usually very well attended by loyal fans of this type of music.

The Continental: Each year I select 40 of my favorite tunes from the previous year. Fathomless was #1 on my list for 1996. Tell me a bit about the recording of this tune.

Frankie: We're very flattered about Fathomless being picked #1 by Continental for 1996 and we really appreciate that people are enjoying our music. Fathomless was recorded the first time in a cheapie 8 track studio and the engineer was really freaked out about how much reverb we wanted on the cut and how lo-fi we wanted it to sound. But basically, that is the tape that got us our record deal. The second recording was done at a 40$/hour multi-track studio and again - disbelief on the part of the engineers and studio personnel on how much reverb we wanted and how we wanted to record the drums. There's actually a third guitar part on Fathomless just crankin' out eighth notes on the root note of the chord changes very similar to what The Astronauts did.

The Continental: Any chance of a West Coast tour anytime soon? Frankie: No plans right now to come out the West Coast. The Continental: What are some of your favorite movies? Frankie: John, Stan, and I are big fans of 50's Sci-Fi, as well as Herschell Gordon Lewis and Russ Meyer movies. I also dig screwball comedies from the 30's and 40's.

Dave: Just was blown away by Cronenburg's latest - Crash.

The Continental: What's your favorite car?

Frankie: '55 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria. Stan owns a '64 Chevy Impala Super Sport. I don't know about the other guys.

The Continental: What is your favorite Frank Sinatra song?

Frankie: I grew up in an all Italian (Sicilian) household where Frank was like a God - my father Jimmy was a guitar player and my uncle Sal was a lounge crooner from way back - heavily influenced by Frank, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone and the like. As far as I'm concerned, when I hear "The Voice" I can't imagine a better interpreter of a song or a cooler cat no matter what tune he sings.

The Continental: What is your favorite cocktail?

Frankie: We're all pretty much shot & beer drinkers, except for Dave who gets into the mixed drink thing a little more.

Dave: I have been known to be adventurous, but I like fresh European beers and ales from the tap. I especially like half n' half Guinness and pear cider. Mmmmmmmmm!

The Continental: What are your plans for the rest of 1997?

Frankie: We're in the process of recording another album and hopefully it will be out in the fall on the Musick Recording label out of Philadelphia.

Dave: We're in the middle of putting together an East coast tour that will feature an appearance at the big Southeast Surfari Fest in Atlanta June 21.

The Continental: Do you have any final words for the readers of The Continental?

Frankie: If you're reading The Continental, chances are you already dig this kind of music, so just continue to show your support by going out to instro and roots music type shows and hopefully you can turn some other people on to this stuff who otherwise don't know anything about it except that they usually dig it when they get a chance to hear it.

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