Andy Frasco & the U.N. - Happy Bastards '2016

Tracks list

Tracklist
---------
01. Tie You Up
02. Youre the Kind of Crazy I Like
03. Doin It
04. Make It Work
05. Mature as Fuck
06. Heres to Letting You Down
07. When Youre Lonely (Fill You Up)
08. (Oh My My) Cant Get You off My Mind
09. Lets Get Down to Business
10. Blame It on the Pussy
11. Good Ride
12. My Recovery

You can’t miss Andy Frasco. The electric-shock hair. The megawatt
charisma. The golden lungs, magic fingers and party-starting songs. When this
twenty-something Californian bandleader takes to the stage with The U.N.,
you’ll get an adrenalin-shot of pure escapism. “We want people to
be happy,” explains Andy of his musical mission statement. “To smile
at their faults, love life for what it is, and follow the beat of your own
drum.” 

Happy Bastards is aptly titled. Released on Ruf Records in 2016, this fourth
full-length album shakes your feet and skewers your woes. Recorded at Lavish
Studios and Brando’s Paradise, California, these twelve new songs are an
industrial-strength blast of glass-half-full optimism, with the band’s
self-styled brand of party blues jostling with funk, soul, rock and roots. 

“I’m trying to bring a different interpretation of what people
think the blues is,” says Andy. “Not all blues need to be sad and
lonesome. I love acts like Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, Buddy Guy, The Band,
Samantha Fish, Houndmouth – all these acts that really made the blues
their own style.” 

Andy Frasco & The U.N. are surely destined to join that pantheon of greats. The
band was formed in 2007, yet the frontman’s own backstory goes back
further still, to his roots as a precocious 16-year-old manager/promoter on the
West Coast. “I was sneaking into rock clubs trying to sign the hip new LA
bands,” he remembers, “making business calls at lunchtime in my Math
teacher’s classroom, just so they would believe I was older than 16. 

“I was living two lives,” he adds. “But it brought me the
foundation to eventually book myself for the first five years of my career when
nobody really gave a shit about me. I knew I needed to earn their respect, so I
told myself I’m not going to stop until I see my dreams come true.
I’ve been on the road for ten years straight, playing over 250 shows a
year, through six countries, basically living in a van. It’s a toss and
pull relationship, and I wanted to try and give commentary on those subjects on
Happy Bastards.” 

Across the US and Europe, on major stages from Wakarusa to Zwarte Cross
Festival, Andy earned a reputation for full-throttle, sweat-drenched,
smash-and-grab live shows. “We’re just trying to throw a
party,” he explains. “Get people to turn off their phones, leave
their stress and complications at the door, live in the moment and just
celebrate life for a few hours. If by the end of the night I see 90 per cent of
the room laughing and smiling, then I know I did my job.” 

There have been great studio albums before – try 2014’s acclaimed
third release Half A Man – but none have bottled the band’s
frantic live energy quite like Happy Bastards. “We got the record produced
by Rick Parker (Lord Huron, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Scott Weiland Band) and
John Avila from Oingo Boingo,” says Andy. “Having those guys on your
side was huge. They get that we are a live band, so they set all of us up live
and we basically all played together until we all got it right. It was an
amazing thing to make a record like how they made records in the
’70s.” 

Co-written by the frontman, guitarist Shawn Eckels and Kenli Mattus, these
all-original songs are emotionally resonant and rip-it-up exciting, driven by
the chemistry between the core U.N. lineup of Ernie Chang (sax), Andee Avila
(drums) and Supaman (bass). “I basically picked my favourite musicians
from around the world,” explains Andy of the cosmopolitan vibe. “I
have a few guys from the Netherlands, Germany and guys from Missouri, Tennessee,
Texas, California. That’s my favourite thing about music. It’s so
universal. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what language
you speak.” 

By extension, these songs are universal, too, with everyday worries fuelling
everyman anthems. As Andy nears his thirties, the lyrics tell of a man accepting
his mileage but poking maturity in the eye, with irresistible results.
“The lyrics are really about being in a quarter-life crisis,” he
explains. “Trying to adapt to being an adult without losing that kid in
your spirit or soul.” 

As such, there’s the reckless excess and reggae breakdown of stompy
highlight “Mature As Fuck”. There’s the funk-bass mob chant
of “You’re The Kind Of Crazy I Like”. Both ends of the
romantic process are documented by the soul-drenched breakup tune “Good
Ride”, and the acoustic-led alternative seduction ballad,
“Let’s Get Down To Business” (“You know you make me
want to climb the walls/You know you make me lose my shit…”). 

The modern world might be a cruel and uncaring place, but while Happy Bastards
plays, everything seems momentarily brighter, better, drunker and more up for a
dance. “I think it’s my strongest piece of work to date,”
considers Andy. “I wanted to make an album that celebrates life. And I
think we accomplished that…”

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