FRayle
Interview conducted September 13, 2022
By Dan Locke
Frayle is Gwyn Strang and Sean Bilovecky (formerly of Disengage), together who form an artistic nest of reprieve for when so many unwanted layers have been sloughed off, we are raw and worn. Yet we don’t want a cure. We want to feel the burn and freeze of reality against our skin, against our beings. From this place of embodying our senses, of tearing away the mask that covers our sacred vulnerabilities, we are able to actually begin to understand our experience and nurture it, forming a cocoon from which we can emerge indestructible. The band is rounded out live by Jason Knotek on bass and Jon Vinson on drums.
Skin and Sorrow on Aqualamb Records & Lay Bare Recordings, is that invitation to the liminal cocoon: where we receive knowledge and occasional sparks of creation through our rest into discomfort.
What is your upbringing?
Gwyn: I was brought up in a small town in a small province in Canada. The town was built on a marsh, so there’s aways lots of fog and melancholy
How did you discover music?
Gwyn: my family is very musical. When I was a kid, my grandparents would empty out their living room, and all my family would bring out their guitars, and violins and play, and everyone would dance. It was amazing!
How did you start to write music?
Gwyn: Sean made me.
So you are from Cleveland. Why do you think that Cleveland is recognized as the capital and the birth place of Rock and Roll?
Gwyn: There are a lot of very famous musicians from Cleveland.
What was your first performance at like?
Gwyn: I was very nervous to perform in front of people and Sean promised that our first show would be very early on a Tuesday so that I could get used to it. It ended up being a headlining show on a Friday, so I was extra nervous.
How did you get your bands name?
Gwyn: We though Frail was a great name. It’s a lullaby word, and it is indicative of my vocal delivery and lyrical content. We broke it apart and put it back together in a different way and it seems somehow stronger than the original spelling…
Describe your music.
Gwyn: Lullabies over chaos
Royalties never appear like magic. Royalties are only sent to you through work undertaken by a PRO to ensure that their members are getting paid. If you’re not yet signed up to a Performing Right Organization like ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, you may not be receiving all the royalties you deserve.
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP ?
Gwyn: We belong to ASCAP
What makes a good songwriter?
Sean: We’re still trying to figure that out. Creating music is extremely personal but I always try to keep the audience in mind. Not so much “will they like this”, but more “is this the best decision I can make to take them on the intended journey”. You can’t write in hopes that people will like it. For me it’s more about speaking clearly through song.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
Gwyn: I think it was either Let the Darkness in or a song called Lullaby that we haven’t released.
Sean- How did it feel to be name “artist you need to know” by Revolver Magazine?
Sean: That was definitely an honor. We have a lot of respect for Revolver and to be mentioned by them was pretty rad.
Why was your debute album called “1692” One of the things which happen in 1692 was 13th February » Massacre of Glencoe: About 78 Clan Donald called Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William III of England or William of Orange.;
The cause for this madness were wild accusations of a witch being in the midst of the community. The reason for this belief of witches was sparked when these two young girls related to the priest Samuel Parris, started to act bizarre in 1692. ( The Salem Witch Trials)
Gwyn: 1692 is in reference to the Salem Witch Trials. We wanted to create a sanctuary for anyone who’s ever felt persecuted or pushed out in any way.
What is the process of writing your music?
Gwyn: Sean and I work separately. He will create a riff, and we’ll put together a loose arrangement, then I will sing a melody over it. We’ll solidify the arrangement, I’ll write lyrics, and then we’ll mix, and Sean will master. Since we record, mix, and master everything ourselves, we spend months on each part of the process.
Tell me about the making of “Treacle & Revenge”?
Gwyn: I think this is probably my favorite song on the album! I wanted to make sure that the melody gave lots of space to the guitars so you could hear what they were doing
Sean: I was playing around with my guitar pedals and come up with an “octave up” tone that I really liked and wanted to highlight with the opening riff being all by itself. It’s a way of saying “here we are” through guitar tone.
Tell me about the album “Skin and Sorrow” Which comes out Sept. 23rd?
Gwyn: This album is one of mourning. I know a lot of people had many losses during the pandemic, and this album is reflective of that.
Sean: We are constantly pushing ourselves and trying to blur the boundaries of any genres that people associate with Frayle. We like to spend lots of time in our studio playing with sounds, arrangements, etc. For Skin & Sorrow we also used some different amps on certain songs to give them a unique sound.
What is your favorite track on your album?
Gwyn: Mine is Treacle and Revenge. It’s just such an amazing riff!
Sean: I would have to say “Bright Eyes” The chorus riff was actually written by King Midnight that I found on Instagram. I reached out and asked him if he was interested in working with us. So the chorus riff is his and we wrote everything else. I love the end result.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
Gwyn: It serves its purpose. It makes it easy to get your music out there.
Sean: I am definitely split on this one. I agree with Gwyn that it serves it’s purpose and helps to attract new listeners. The problem for me is that It gives listeners ownership for fractions of pennies. Subscribers have the ability to start, stop, and listen whenever they want. To me that’s ownership, and the artists are not compensated fairly. What makes it even worse is that services like Spotify are spending millions to sponsor sports teams. Ugh.
The symbol # is known as the number sign, hash, pound sign and a sharp sign in music. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as “hashtags”, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag.
Are people forgetting that the # is a part of music?
Sean: LOL. I definitely did. Gwyn: We deal only in flat notes. Haha.
Digital vs. vinyl?
#seanbilovecky hashtag on Instagram • Photos and videos
Gwyn: We mostly play digital. It’s just so much easier. Sean: We are going to get so much shit for saying that. haha.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
Sean: I have Creedance Clearwater Revival songs pop into my head from time to time. It makes me wonder what life was like for young people dealing with the Vietnam War and the end of “flower power”. I’m also really into their guitar tones.
If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?
Gwyn: I think it changed live music, at least for a while. Since there was no live music for a couple of years, everyone wanted to get back out to play as soon as possible. I think that saturated the market for awhile. I hope things will settle back to normal soon ish.
Do you think that Covid-19 has been a plus to an artist career?
Gwyn: I think some people made it work for them. You had to be creative to get your music out there without touring.
Sean: I’m not sure if it has been a plus for us, but it did force us to focus on what we can control and not stress about what we cannot. We couldn’t tour, but we did make videos and spend lots of time in our studio. I would say we continued to grow as a band during Covid.
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Gwyn: We both continued writing and recording during quarantine. We did some live streams and released a couple of singles.
How do you stay healthy during the lockdown?
Gwyn: We both stayed in. No socializing and made sure to keep covid tests on hand.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
We’re both creative people, so we just built on our existing hobbies. Lots of designing, sewing, painting, writing.
