Multinational quartet, Frogbelly and Symphony, combine each member of the band’s musical style to create a unique sound that is warm, engaging and leaves the listener yearning for more of their music. Guitarist Benjamin Trott was a member of the newer version of The Albion Band, singer and fiddler Liz Hanley plays for The Green Fields of America, Mick Moloney navigates Irish music with storytelling. Completing the foursome is drummer, writer, singer, and producer Ray Rizzo, who has collaborated with Josh Ritter, Bob Weir, Julia Stone, and numerous others, along with the group’s bandleader, bass player, and co-vocalist, Thomas Lebioda.
The group’s latest single and music video, “Benjamin Went Fishing,” is vibrant and gives ample screen time with each member, playing specific roles, dressing in period costumes and frolicking around the British countryside. (Hip Video Promo) The video was made with their collaborator Juha Hansen, who is a filmmaker and videographer based in Hamburg, Germany. Juha is also a renowned photographer and musician who has played a large part in shaping Frogbelly & Symphony’s sound. Each member of Frogbelly & Symphony took time to talk about each of their background in music, their input with their latest video and single, their fun music favorites and more.
I thoroughly enjoy you guys’ music. Each of you guys come from a musical background, so what drew you all together to create Frogbelly and Symphony?
Ben Trott: Thanks! We all enjoy each other’s music, and the fact that we each represent a different facet of musicality draws us together – we are each drawn to those different perspectives which inspire us to create music alongside the many shared values we also have in common. It means that as artists what each of us individually brings to the table can only benefit and come out of the creative process that is Frogbelly and Symphony stronger and more powerful.
The music video for “Benjamin Went Fishing” has striking visuals. What was the process like working with Juha Hansen, and did you guys have a lot of input behind the concept with it?
Ben: We often describe Juha as the “fifth band member”. Nowhere was this more appropriate than when we worked with him to create the Benjamin Went Fishing music video. Conceptually the basis from the four of us was the story behind the song (Benjamin Trott left the band for a brief period before returning, humouristically referred to as him having ‘gone fishing’), the choice of the locations for shooting, and the use of the costumes and props (Victorian costume and boat/fishing rod, etc.). From this Juha was able to direct us and shoot a great series of scenes which he proceeded to edit into the striking storyline in the finished video. The fact that he was able to achieve these results with such limited resources and in such a small time-frame (it was shot in just two days) is a testament to his ability, efficiency, and creativity.
You all collaborate with Hansen often. What draws you all together to create stunning visuals?
Ben: As described above, we as a band often have a good idea of the kind of visual aesthetic we would like to present. At times this can be a difficult thing to express or specify, not that it is necessarily complex -perhaps rather the opposite- but that perhaps it takes some understanding of us collectively as a band and also as individuals. It is in this regard that Juha is highly qualified! Not only does he have this understanding (shared hours in a tour van certainly contributed here!), but his intuitive sense of context and timing means that the photos and videos he takes are at once uniquely ‘Frogbelly’ and unmistakably ‘Juha’.
Your new album, Canis Major, comes out soon also. Can you share the background of the recording and writing process for it?
Ben: The album has 11 songs on it that we are very proud of, pared down from about 14 or 15. It was composed primarily in fits and bursts over 3 years between Thomas’ studio in Sheffield, Martin Bisi’s BC Studio in Brooklyn and The Creamery studio in Brooklyn. The song ideas generally developed from relatively simple roots before morphing through a variety of forms during different recording sessions and live touring arrangements. Each recorded song is a beloved creature that has lived, breathed, changed and grown-up bathed in our experiences and activities as a band!
You all have just finished touring Europe, and were to tour the States beginning the past month. How did the tour go, and what do you guys like most about touring? The least, perhaps?
Ben: Although we have indeed just finished touring in Europe, a certain recent pandemic meant that we opted to remain in our respective countries (shortly after this, and at the time of writing, flights from the UK to the US have also been canceled). However, we are endeavouring to use this tour time-frame to step up our collaborative activities as a band, working together and “touring” despite our geographical separation. The results of these activities can be seen through our online presence. To answer the second part of the question; the main thing this band hopes to achieve is to spend more time in the same room together when we do this great things happen! Nowhere is this more apparent than when we go on tour. We love creating music together and this creates a chemistry that we love to share and involve the audience in.
Fun Questions
Who was your first concert, and who has been your favorite?
Ben: My first exposure to live music would probably have been English Morris dancing when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old! My parents used to play and dance for a Morris team, my dad played flute and is perhaps responsible for my passion for folk music, although it manifested sometime later. It is difficult to pick a favourite concert, with so many different genres often I can be at a gig and completely lose myself and feel like ‘this is the best concert’ then the following week or so there’s another ‘best concert’! The Cure and several other bands at Glastonbury 2019 felt this way, but so did seeing Paco Pená play a flamenco concert in 2010.
Thomas Lebioda: The first rock concert (apart from school band gigs) I ever attended was the band ‘America’! I was about 16 years old and went with another geeky friend of mine who was into “old music” like I was. We were by far the youngest members in the audience. It completely blew my mind and although I hadn’t started playing an instrument by that point, I think I became a bass player that night :))…
My favourite one…. not an easy one to answer. Probably “Fleet Foxes” at Haldern Pop Festival in 2013. Still getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Goodness, it was devastatingly good.
Liz Hanley: My father is a fiddle player, so technically I was 2 months old when I went to my first concert, a Christmas concert at the Savin Hill Yacht Club in Boston. The first concert that made a big impact on me was at Symphony Hall in Boston. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa, used to do Saturday afternoon children’s concerts. When I was 10 I went with my mom and brother to see their performance of Peter and Wolf. I had just started playing in a youth orchestra and I was totally hooked.
Ray Rizzo: The first time I heard a bass guitar plugged in at an Italian restaurant in Springfield New Jersey, I was hooked. Watching a drummer at my cousin’s wedding when I was 8 equally floored me, the sensation of feeling sound waves passing through the air from independent instruments. My first concert and the first smell of weed was Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark At The Moon tour with Carmine Appice on drums. Motley Crue opened. They were touring behind Shout At The Devil. The band Wasted also played. Wasted were unmemorable but Ozzy and the Crue deflowered me big time. My favorite concerts were INXS on Listen Like Thieves tour, Prince on the Lovesexy tour, Bob Dylan numerous times, Elvis Costello in Ghent, Pere Ubu in Chicago when they first got back together, REM four times on the Green tour, David Byrne’s American Utopia, and Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock playing as a duo.
What was your first album on cassette, CD and/or vinyl?
Ben: I think the first album I had was the Michael Jackson album ‘Bad’ which someone bought me on cassette when I was very young (7?), I seem to remember it came with a toy car.
Thomas: First Cassette: “The Miracle” by Queen, First Vinyl: “No Jacket Required” by Phil Collins, First CD: “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em” by MC Hammer.
Liz: “Jagged Little Pill” by Alanis Morisette on cassette
Ray: first vinyl was a double purchase: The Bay City Rollers and The Monkees Greatest Hits. First cassette, also a double purchase): Def Leppard Pyromania and David Bowie Let’s Dance.
Which five albums and/or artists would you not want to live without?
Ben: Prince –Diamonds and Pearls, Ash, Tim Edey, Kate Bush, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Adaptation of The War Of The Worlds.
Thomas: Can’t really answer this sorry. I am a vinyl collector and I’m still discovering new additions to “my favourite music ever-list.”
Maybe this helps: I don’t think I’ll ever find anything as astonishing, miraculous and important as what “The Beatles” have achieved. And I mean that in the broadest sense. Music, especially in recorded and broadcasted form has transformed humanity in general. The Beatles (including their team) have made a huge and probably unparalleled contribution to that.
Liz:
I spend more time going to live concerts and folk sessions than listening to records to be honest.
Tamar Korn is my favorite musician to track down when I’m in NYC. She’s a dear friend and an incredible early jazz singer.
I couldn’t live without a good folk session. Sitting together with friends swapping old songs and tunes in a pub, house party or field is one of my favorite things to do. My favorite traditional Irish music album is Andy Irvine and Paul Brady’s self-titled album.
Rubber Soul is an important album for me. It’s one that I listened to over and over as a kid with my mom.
Fiona Apple “When the Pawn…”
Ray: Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album. McCoy Tyner’s The Real McCoy. Thomas Dolby’s The Golden Age of Wireless. Keith Jarrett’s Vienna Concert. Toots and The Maytals Anthology.
Do you have a guilty music and/or entertainment pleasure?
Ben: Probably the fact that I regularly enjoy listening to fairly cheesy 80s music. Although I feel comfortable enough with myself that I don’t feel guilty! I also play in a covers band called ‘Go Vest’, which has a lot of this kind of repertoire… Maybe that makes me feel a bit guilty!
Thomas: I go to a “record listeners club” once a month. I think I’m by far the youngest in the group. We get together at someone’s house with an expensive Hi-Fi system and attentively and collectively listen to one album! (often with closed eyes, ha). And then we talk about it and revel in it. Bit like a book – club, but for music albums.
Liz: Aw, man these questions…I was deeply immersed in classical music in high school in the early 2000s. Out of ignorance and perhaps to balance out my intense music tutelage, I listened to mainstream pop radio. I was going to say Fountains of Wayne were my guilty pleasure, then I learned about the sad passing of Adam Schlesinger. The only thing I feel guilty about is not seeing them live in concert. Rest in peace brother and thanks for the music. I also like crime dramas like Law & Order.
Ray: On the last tour I started addressing the audience in a Bernie Sanders voice which has become a new obsession, so I’ve been extra invested in watching videos and following his actions during this moment that is unprecedented (typed with a Bernie accent). It’s not watching Bernie that I feel weird about, it’s watching it to get better at impersonating him that feels funny. And fun.
What are you reading and/or listening to currently?
Ben: Currently reading a collection of Erotic Folktales from Norway, collected by Simon Roy Hughes, fascinating and very funny! Just been listening to the album ‘Revival’ by Gillian Welch.
Thomas: Book: ‘A Man Without A Country’ by Kurt Vonnegut, Music: currently listening / watching online shows by our musician friends mostly. David Wax Museum and Rowan Rheingans were great yesterday! Check them out.
Liz: Currently reading “The Art of Violin Playing Book One” by Carl Flesch which was translated and edited by my violin teacher in high school, Eric Rosenblith.
I’ve been listening to guided meditations by Deepak Chopra and watching live streams by my friends, most recently Tatiana Hargreaves as part of the Stay At Home Festival. Also Altın Gün’s 2019 Gece is excellent.
Ray: I’m reading five books at once, heavy stuff that I need long periods of isolation to digest. Also a biography of Clive Davis. Music-wise, Stephen Malkmus’ Traditional Techniques has been on repeat. I’m also catching up on new releases by my friend’s bands – Muzz, Bonnie Light Horseman & Sam Cohen.
Follow and connect with Frogbelly & Symphony on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Stream their music on Apple and SoundCloud.
Related posts:
