First thing on the agenda is Frog’s excellent “Track by Track” feature with The Alternative. It’s a great dive into the ‘GROG‘ album from Danny Bateman, exploring the meaning and methods behind this wonderful record. Our thanks to Jami Fowler for putting the piece together.
Tonight (Jan 9th): Bateman will also be on BBC Scotland tonight for The Roddy Hart Show. With ‘GROG’ having recently been the show’s “Record of Note,” Bateman was invited to talk about three songs that shaped him for their “Me-in-3” feature. Listen live at 10pm GMT / 5pm EST or catch it after broadcast on BBC Sounds. Thanks to Roddy and Richard Bull for arranging this.
Resonance FM:
“American lo-fi, indie-pop rockers Frog return to The Hello GoodBye Show a full eight years on from their blistering live session back in 2016…Today’s special feature includes a pre-recorded interview with songwriter Daniel Bateman plus, a few tracks from the new LP ‘Grog’.”
Saturday (Jan 13th): Frog return to London’s legendary Resonance FM for deXter Bentley’s excellent Hello GoodBye Show! Tune-in live (Central London on 104.4 FM, D.A.B. in Greater London, PAWAROTA in Poland, and worldwide online via ResonanceFM.com) at 12pm GMT / 7AM EST or find it on Mixcloud after broadcast.
Frog Live w/ Ray Bull (Brooklyn , Jan 25th):
The show has already sold out once so don’t miss it this time: tickets.
Due to the great demand for tickets, the show has been moved into a larger venue! If you missed out the first around, be sure to grab tickets for Frog at Elsewhere (The Hall) on January 25th (tickets & info)!
If you’re one of many people only just learning about Frog now through ‘GROG,’ then check out these two introductory features on Various Small Flames:
The Parker brothers recently formed a new band, their first since 2013, called My Best Unbeaten Brother. They’ve put a song up on Spotify called “Slayer on a Sunny Day” which you can hear in these introductory playlists:
“Daniel’s humdrumAmericanportraiture and embodiment of passionate persistence have defined Frog’s sound for nearly a decade, and on Grog, a brotherly bond encourages those songwriting traits to get louder, bolder, and weirder without sacrificing any of the heart.” – Pitchfork
Frog CDs Available Now:
Grab them on Bandcamp or frog.band (where t-shirts are available too).
Frog Live:
Frog’s December 19th show has sold out (thanks for the house Frog!) but they’ll be supporting Ray Bull on Jan 25th at Elsewhere (Zone One) in Brooklyn, NY! Tickets & info.
Thanks to to the great Various Small Flames for letting me put together this Holiday-themed playlist of songs from Audio Antihero and its extended family. It features Nosferatu D2, Frog, Benjamin Shaw, Fighting Kites, Broken Shoulder, Papernut Cambridge and pen pin (a new Magana project).
As a part of Canary’s Unplugged series, this December 19th event will be a unique and intimate Frog performance in a gorgeous Manhattan venue. Also on the bill are Rachel Rose and Foxymoron. The boys are back in town.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 on the door (but the show is expected to sell out).
We’ve been thrilled to have seen Frog do so well on Hype Machine recently, with Frog topping both the “Popular Now” chart with “Black on Black on Black,” and also topping the overall Most Posted Artist chart.
Thanks to everyone who featured the album and everyone who helped with likes and shares, etc. We even saw old classics like “All Dogs Go To Heaven,” “Black Friday,” “Rubbernecking,” and “American“ in the Popular Now charts recently! Check Frog out on Hype Machine!
It has been wonderful to see more and more reviews and features rolling in from sites all around the world:
“Grog is, in many ways, a culmination of the greater Frog project: a refinement of the musical and lyrical themes Bateman has pursued his whole career, with fuller arrangements and a bounce that never quite materialized on older records.” – SWIM INTO THE SOUND
“It’s held on to Count Bateman’s garage-y sound, but the shy persona and subdued grainy sound is replaced with something more confident, as if it had spent the last few years perfecting its dad bod.” – WMUC 90.5 FM
“…the discordant fervor of “DOOM SONG;” with it’s cacophonous guitar-driven jangle and droning vocals, brings to mind genre luminaries like Pile or even Modest Mouse with a touch of swampy twang. Its ascending, chromatic chord progression also brings to mind the haunting and soul-crushing crunch of Alice in Chains’ “Them Bones” without ever dipping into grunge territory.” – BUFFABLOG
“Frog loves hooks and melodies, some review I read compared them to a cool seventies rock station. Vulfpeck sprang to mind when I listened to a few tracks. And Ween.” – CHRISTMAS A GO GO!
“…it seems that it’s by flitting around that they manage to make sense, and it’s clear that diversity is a source of unity here. Amazing! A deep love of music always pays dividends, as Frog once again brilliantly demonstrate.” – LE VILLAGE POP(“Album de la Semaine” feature)
“Grog kind of feels like an alternate-universe oldies station in how it picks and chooses sounds from throughout the past to create a new listening experience.”
“Grog kind of feels like an alternate-universe oldies station in how it picks and chooses sounds from throughout the past to create a new listening experience…If Kind of Blah is one of the best New York City albums I’ve heard, then GROG is about growing up in the suburbs of the only good city on this entire planet.”
“…there’s no pretentiousness and you believe and feel every single moment. Bateman brothers put their whole souls in these songs and the overall result is a deeply moving and authentic collection.”
“Frog seems to have gathered a new sense of inventiveness and energy, coming up with that not easily definable sound between everything that was and is cool about New Zealand’s Flying Nun Records and left-field Americana, picking up pieces from everywhere and arranging them in a manner that suited Bateman brothers’ fancy.”
“The whole thing hangs together so well it feels almost operatic. Unlike some of the earlier Frog albums, this one is not something you’ll come through unscathed, but you’ll be a richer person for listening to it.”
“So, here we are, a writer who couldn’t make it pay, writing about a label that couldn’t make it pay, putting out an album by a band that couldn’t really make it pay; a passion-project triumvirate doing what they can.”
"Butthole Surfers/was it worth it?," there's a hook to hang your hat onhttps://t.co/Ru1vC5YmwD
“Audio Antihero has released some of the most exciting indie rock and pop this side of Williamsburg’s gentrification — and with the release of frog’s latest album last week, the little label that could proves it’s not out of the game.”
Frog Interviews:
There’s also a brilliant (and unhinged) interview with Frog’s Danny Bateman on Tasteful Dissonance. Plus, if you missed it, there’s a great interview up on UChicago’s Firebird Magazine also.
Radio:
“GROG” was the “Record of Note” on Roddy Hart’s BBC Radio Scotland show last week! Keep tuning in to Roddy’s show as there’s some more cool Frog stuff coming soon!
In addition to BBC Scotland and BBC Introducing, Frog have been getting national airplay from FM4 in Austria and Radio 3 in Spain, plus GROG was “Album of the Week“ on The Breakdown. The band are also doing brilliantly on noncommercial radio, even making it into various charts. Thanks to stations like WKDU, WRUR, WMUC, CJRC, KXFM, Amazing Radio, KZSC, KHDX, Dandelion Radio, WMBR, KXCI, Radio DePaul, WNMC, Radio Free Brooklyn, WMSE, WHPK, KXLU, WRSU, WUNH, WUSC, WYSO, WQFS and many others! ❤
University of Washington’s “Sphere of Influence” show even played an entire one-hour set of Frog classics yesterday! Killer playlist. Expect something similar from DJ Orb Gripper on LA’s KLMU Online Radio in the very near future.
Frog Win Award:
Some great news! The “Kings of Blah” Frog documentary by Alex Coppola won the YoFi Fest 2023 Audience Choice for Best Featurette!
“…straddles the line between hearty Americana, barren indie rock, and low-key emo. That sound continues on Grog, where Frog sing stories of dead-end detectives and fateful love that give your heart a soft punch.” – PITCHFORK
“…a distinct, off-kilter personality that’s just slightly off in the best way possible. The end results are riveting—or should I say ribbeting?” – BANDCAMP DAILY
“As ever, even the shortest of Frog’s stories feels epic, with a whole world created in a few simple lines. This Froglore (because why not?) is absurd, optimistic, defiant and yet grounded by love for the human condition, with all of its faults and quirks. By rights, Frog should be huger than their millions of streams. For now, GROG is more than enough to double this, and beyond, given a chance – 9/10.” – GOD IS IN THE TV
Today we had a lot of fun with what became known as “#frogGROGblog“ by premiering seven songs from Frog’s “GROG” today with music sites from all over Europe and North America.
There was also a really great interview with Bateman in Firebird Magazine (University of Chicago) courtesy of Evgenia Anastasakos. Please read it, it’s so fun. I include a preview below.
Quick reminder that Frog are playing Yonkers Brewing Co. tomorrow as a part of YoFi Fest 11. Tickets for the “Kings of Blah” screening are all SOLD OUT but there’s still time to secure a spot for the live show, album launch and after party! TICKETS.
We’re working really hard on this album, and we can’t wait to share it with you. If you’d like to help us make most of the might “GROG” then there’s a few free things you could consider kindly doing ❤
“New Ro” is the third and final single from Frog’s “GROG” and it’s streaming exclusively today on the wonderful Various Small Flames. Beautiful music writing for an excellent site, please check it out.
Audio Antihero 