Interview with:Shaun Frandsen - Glis
For three years there was no musical sign of life, but now Shawn Frandsen returns with ‘A Shot and a Bassline’, which is a collection of songs form different periods in the project’s history, but he’s also working on a new album right now. Read the interview to learn more…
Shaun Frandsen (SF): Very good, thanks!
RoD: You’re already in the studio, working on a new GLIS full length. How far advanced are the works on that release?
SF: Most of the tracks are finished in demo form, and now they see post production. It could take a few months, or maybe a year at most. I don’t really know. Whenever I am happy with it I guess. The album will be named COLDHEART TEMPO.
RoD: What can we expect from a new GLIS album after all those years of starving?
SF: I have always been interested in electronic music outside of industrial and EBM. Also, I always liked indie-rock and post punk style music. A combination of both will happen perhaps. I own and can play a guitar, and I always wanted to add it to my music. GLIS holds no boundaries for me. I’m creating the music with a live band backing in mind. Guitar and real drums… but overall it will maintain a heavy electronic dance feel. The track ‘Insomniac’ from the 2001-2008 record kind of captures this new sound idea. I’m also working with a producer for this upcoming record which is new for me.
RoD: Speaking of production: Do you rather prefer hardware or software synths or maybe a mixture of both and why?
SF: Right now I’m trying out a lot of amazing new software. To me, most of the soft synths out there don’t sound as warm as a nice hardware synth though. I still notice a weaker sound. But, you can hide a lot of that by combining it with hardware or FX in your studio. So I do both now. I got a new Access Virus TI Polar, a beautiful Gibson Les Paul guitar given to me from my father and a ton of software synths to forge new music with. I think I’ll be content and entertained in the home studio for a while.
RoD: With all the technology in the back, projects and band should be able to produce incredible electro tracks. From a musician’s point of view: Why do you think that the result is very disillusioning in many cases?
SF: First of all: Thanks for the good question! It’s become an inflated market. Yes, the technology is exceptionally advanced, especially in software music production. However, it has also become so easily attainable to the masses. It’s not difficult for a beginner to achieve with barely any effort a decently produced song within hours of uploading a cracked program to his or her laptop. So, in the last decade we got this massive inflation of uninteresting music and painfully unexciting live gigs. But now, with free or illegal music downloading it has become less profitable for a band to quickly put out a garbage record and convince the masses to buy it or their label to even release it. The standards go up now. It’s a perfect example of the cycle of nature. To make a long story sort, I think music in general will finally improve on the average. Anyone can play the game now. It’s a question of who can bring it to the next level.
RoD: Besides GLIS, you also have some other projects you’re working on including the one under your own name. Your MySpace Profile mentions an upcoming Electro Project. Can you already telly us anything specific about it?
SF: It’s really just my DJ handle and it’s kind of becoming infused with the next GLIS album now. I thought of putting an end to GLIS while ago, but I thought “why am I doing this?” It’s already changed so much from album to album anyway.
RoD: Let’s get to ‘A Shot and a Bassline’ which is about to be released. Where did the Idea come from to release an album with reworked tracks?
SF: At first I wanted the tracks re-mastered because I was unhappy with some of the final mastered tracks from before. Then I thought: Well, no one is going to really notice that but me and some other musicians / DJ’s, so I also wanted the tracks re-edited and re-produced to make them more viable with the present. Whether I was going to do it myself or work with a producer was the question. Then it turned into a kind of unique concept when I asked Krischan to take the control.
RoD: How did you and Krischan come into contact or did you already know each other?
SF: I met Krischan on the VNV NATION tour in the USA last fall. I was playing keyboards with VNV and he was doing their sound engineering. I knew that he had produced, co-produced bands like COVENANT and [:SITD:] and done really great mastering, so it was easy to confront him with the question. I asked him, he thought the music was ok, and he did an amazing job making it even better.
RoD: I guess you’ve been very curious, what Krischan would do with the originals. What was your first reaction when you were listening to the final result?
SF: He was able to do everything I idealised for the songs, but didn’t or couldn’t do at the time. I was very happy with the results. I had always done all my own production and always worked alone with the exception of guest vocalists. Now I can see that there’s more potential that I originally thought with the tracks. It’s not like he remixed the tracks, he basically re-produced them. If I was going to suggest one quintessential GLIS album to someone, it would be ‘A Shot and a Bassline’.
RoD: Thanks for the interview and good luck with all of your projects. Any last words?
SF: Explore different types of music and genres. You never know what you will find whether it’s old or new!
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