I recently saw Francobollo at The Cookie, they were jaw-droppingly perfect live. The cuts from their album 'Long Live Life' sounded all the better live and some of the guitar playing on show was absolutely majestic. What the band have managed to encapsulate is a unique sound, pulling from many different genres and accumulating in one of my albums of the year. I got the chance to chat with them recently, and it sounds as if their band dynamic really gets their creative juices flowing and culminates in the great music they produce. We further chatted about their album art, their UK tour and... Italian postage stamps...
Question: What does Francobollo mean and where does it come from?Francobollo. The name Francobollo is Italian and means postage stamp. it was our first bassist Frans that came up with the name. He plays in a great band in sweden called "Sista Bossen" Check them out! Mad pop punk sung in swedish. really good!
Q: What made you want to pursue music?
F. Because there's very few things that makes us feel as good as playing music. Don't really know what else we'd do if we didn't play music. Scary thought.
Q: You've just released your debut album, Long Live Life, how did that feel to release and how much does it mean to you?
F. It means loads. We've been playing together for ages and to finally release something solid like a record feels great. You gotta release albums just to put an end to eras of influence and sound otherwise you go a bit nuts. You start losing interest in songs that are really cool simply because you don't feel it fits where you are at that moment in time.
"Long Live Life" is almost a greatest hits of the last seven years we've been playing together. I think this is why the album's very eclectic in its sound. Sometimes we're mad for jazz and sometimes we're mad for Queens of the Stone Age. The next album I reckon will be more in one vain of our writing style.
Q: What does the title Long Live Life actually mean to you guys?
F. We're aiming to celebrate life in all its difficulty. Long live life even though a life lived can feel long. "Enjoy your worries, you might not have them anymore" to quote The Books.
Q: And how long did the album take to make?
F. The writing's been going on for several years in the wait to find the right deal and the right producer. The actual recording only took about 2 weeks and pretty much everything was recorded live. We actually recorded even more songs during the time in the studio but decided to shorten the album a bit to make it more punchy.
Q: Does writing new music come easy to you?
F. Yeah I think we've got a very special dynamic in the band that makes writing super easy. No one judges what's added to the song and we always allow each other to be playful and explore before we return to the original idea. Our aim has always been to make Francobollo as eclectic as possible with a big spread defying genres and making our own sound the only thing that contains the music.
Q: Are there any plans to release it on vinyl?
F. We've released "Long Live Life" on special edition green vinyl and the standard black. You can also get our latest single "Future Lover" on 7" with a pretty sweet acoustic version of Finally.
Q: On such a great album its hard to pick a favourite track, but if you had to pick a favorite song?
F. I'd say Kinky Lola since its the latest track out of all of them and points in the direction of where were currently aiming our sails.
Q: The long live life cover is incredibly unique as well, how did that come about?
F. It was made by Mikael Marklund, a friend from school. He used to live next to Drummer Sean's house and they've been friends for ages. He's super talented and we're so happy to get him involved in the project. We love what he's done with the sleeve and really hope we can continue working with him on the next releases we do.
Q: How exciting is it to be out touring that album to all yours fans?
F. So exciting! We're especially excited about going outside the UK to mainland Europe to see how the crowds like us. Returning to Italy will also be amazing, they dig our name and they give you such great food. Mmmm Food!
Q: What can fans except from your live shows?
F. It's like riding a Roller coaster with a shotgun. Up and down, left and right and then bam right in the kisser.
Q: Any good gig stories?
F. Loads of them. Too many to write even, come to a show and ask us and we'll gladly share them with you guys!
Q: Favourite venue you've played?
F. Molotow in Hamburg is absolutely great with some super sweet staff that really cares about the music and the musicians. In London it would've been The Silverbullet (RIP), Catch and if its outside of London we'd probably say the Jam Café in Nottingham.
Q: And finally, whats next for Francobollo?
F. We're playing our first Radio 1 session with Tom Ravencroft and then we're off to Europe for a while. Then we'll come back and continue writing on album number 2. Can't wait for album number 2!
F. It was made by Mikael Marklund, a friend from school. He used to live next to Drummer Sean's house and they've been friends for ages. He's super talented and we're so happy to get him involved in the project. We love what he's done with the sleeve and really hope we can continue working with him on the next releases we do.
Q: How exciting is it to be out touring that album to all yours fans?
F. So exciting! We're especially excited about going outside the UK to mainland Europe to see how the crowds like us. Returning to Italy will also be amazing, they dig our name and they give you such great food. Mmmm Food!
Q: What can fans except from your live shows?
F. It's like riding a Roller coaster with a shotgun. Up and down, left and right and then bam right in the kisser.
Q: Any good gig stories?
F. Loads of them. Too many to write even, come to a show and ask us and we'll gladly share them with you guys!
Q: Favourite venue you've played?
F. Molotow in Hamburg is absolutely great with some super sweet staff that really cares about the music and the musicians. In London it would've been The Silverbullet (RIP), Catch and if its outside of London we'd probably say the Jam Café in Nottingham.
Q: And finally, whats next for Francobollo?
F. We're playing our first Radio 1 session with Tom Ravencroft and then we're off to Europe for a while. Then we'll come back and continue writing on album number 2. Can't wait for album number 2!
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