Francesco Frentrop of MAD LEE: “Good music is timeless”

Mad Lee was founded in mid-2018. Since early 2019, Mad Lee can be seen regularly on Dutch pop stages and in music cafes throughout the country. The band can also be found regularly in Germany and occasionally in Belgium.

The recognizable Rock and Blues classics are given a somewhat heavier jacket and ‘live’ the passion drips from the stage. Honest music, without fuss and with a lot of energy brought in a style of its own, a sound of its own. An energetic atmosphere, nostalgic recognition and a swinging audience characterize a performance by Mad Lee.

I’m sure fans would be interested in knowing more about your backstory. What was it like in the beginning days of your music career and how have you grown since then?

We’re not the youngest musicians out there. A lot has changed since the beginning of our music career. Electricity was discovered, dinosaurs became extinct, we used to make music with sticks and stones but we adapted. Have we grown since then? I like to think so, but we’re still very much in touch with our inner caveman.

What are the elevator pitches for your music that’ll make people have to listen?

Listening to our music is on a strictly voluntary basis. Feel free to ignore it, but don’t come crying to me later.

What do you hope listeners take away from “Blind Lady Justice”?

Maybe that good music is timeless. We don’t have to come up with something new all the time. Who cares if it’s not fresh? 99% of the fresh new stuff is just disposable plastic garbage. Should you ignore 17^th century painters because they’re not cubists? Art doesn’t work that way, neither does music. You can enjoy K-pop and Bach at the same time for different reasons. Personally, I hate both styles with a passion.

Please tell us a bit more about your latest track, “Blind Lady Justice”. What is the message you’re trying to convey with this release?

The song tells a story. That used to be quite common in popular music, but these days it’s rare. The man in the song is wanted for murder but he doesn’t see himself as a bad guy. More like a victim of circumstance. He is afraid he will face a death sentence, but even more afraid of prison and the loss of his freedom. He prefers a life of being on the run and having to look over his shoulder for lawmen and people seeking revenge. It’s not clear who or what the man is, but he is convinced that his eventual and inevitable death will make headlines.

The message that the song conveys is clear: Always chew before you swallow.

Do you have any specific reference tracks that drive your productions?

Rock music is a direct derivation of the blues. Many big names (Stones, Aerosmith, Whitesnake) started out as blues bands. Bill Fiorio, better known as Duke Tumatoe, well he’s not well-known in Europe. I tried to bring him over here several times, but no luck. He’s from South-side Chi Town. Literally grew up between many legends of blues. He loves it. Loves it so much that he quit the blues band he was playing in when they decided to go more rock for commercial reasons. That band was REO Speedwagon. Bet you heard of them, haha.

Anyway, we thought it would be funny for our first single to not just be a blues song, but be really old blues. Age-old blues. We listened to a lot of that stuff and one name stood out: Bessie Smith. A remarkable lady with remarkable songs and a remarkable life. Blind Lady Justice was inspired in part by her ‘Send me to the ‘lectric Chair’.

I didn’t write any horn arrangements. Mostly because I don’t know how to write horn arrangements. So, when Weber [Weber Marely – sax] asked me what they (the horn section) were supposed to play, I found a recording of Basin’ Street Blues by Louis Armstrong and told them I wanted it exactly like that. I’m not sure if they even listened to it, because what they ended up playing sounds nothing like it, but I still love what they brought to the song.

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?

Not really. Songs often start in the car during long drives. Usually just one line that then expands into a verse or two. I don’t write it down. If I can’t remember it the next day then it wasn’t good enough to begin with. Then I sit behind the piano and may or may not complete the song.

But I also find tranquility to be inspirational. I am always extremely busy and focused on work. Only when my mind gets a break is when I get creative in the artsy kinda way. Vacations are usually good for half an album.

My dear friend Bex Marshall [British blues singer] organizes an annual writing retreat at her villa in Cyprus. Writers from all over the world come there to have a good time, jam, and hopefully write a song or two. It works for me because it takes me out of my daily routine and gives me a chance to focus on music.

What was the craziest idea you had – whether feasible or not – that you really wanted to go forward with?

If you want to talk crazy, you’ve come to the right guy. I can be rather impulsive and if something sounds like fun, or a challenge, or exciting, then I’m not one to overthink consequences or risks. But let’s stick to the subject at hand. The average age in the band is close to 70 and that’s mostly thanks to me bringing it down significantly. I would say that releasing a debut album at this stage in life is pretty crazy. To be fair, at least we can guarantee that we won’t bail out at 27 like some rock stars.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise, or reading poetry play?

Kickboxing. I don’t know what it is, but it gets me in the right mindset for anything. It’s the contradiction in the sport. You have to respect your opponent and at the same time respect yourself more. You have to be proud and humble. You have to be strong and fatigued. You have to be brave and scared. I’m getting to the point where I need to find a sport that’s better suited for my age, but I will surely miss it.

I don’t do drugs other than alcohol, coffee and nicotine and all those in moderation. I hate scented candles or any kind of essence, but my wife tells me it stinks in my studio. I don’t smell it. Maybe it’s the smell of my mojo.

Guilty pleasure time. What would you say are some of your current most guilty pleasures? All is fair game-food, books, video games, whatever floats your boat. Let us have it.

I can only speak for myself, in part because I promised Johan [Johan Coenen – bass] not to mention his obsession with BDSM, but also because I have no clue what the others are up to when we’re not on the bus. My personal guilty pleasure is building guitars. I’ve been an amateur luthier for 25 years now and that makes for about 25 guitars I built and/or assembled. Some of them are quite nice, I’ve been told. I don’t even play them myself because I am a pianist but building a piano seems like a lot of work and is just too fucking complicated.

Any future plans or upcoming shows?

Bert [Bert Meijer – guitar and vocals] has undergone some serious surgery after a near fatal motor accident. This happened shortly after we recorded BLJ and he only recently recovered enough to start playing again. We will continue to work on the album, maybe release some more tracks along the way. We have a short tour into Germany next month and after that it’s the Dutch club circuit.