EMQ’s with EXXYLE
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with UK based solo Rock project, Exxyle. Huge thanks to Instrumentalist/Singer/Songwriter, Frank, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Hey, my name’s Frank. I play guitar, a little bass, and I sing, however I make all of the rest of the instruments work on my laptop. I’m a one man band that doesn’t play three out of five instruments in my songs, so I work around the problem 🙂
I’m a solo act, so I still feel awkward referring to myself as a band. I’ve been dying to make music for a living since I was a kid and never took the chance out of fear that everyone that told me you can’t succeed as a musician were right. So, I proved them right by not trying! I’ve been start and stop with music for like 25 years now, and only when the pandemic hit did I seize the opportunity to dive in completely and let the chips fall where they may.
How did you come up with your band name?
I’ve always had fairly unpopular opinions and perspectives on the world organisation, society, and the trappings of morality and order, to mention a few. As such, there’s mostly been a shelf life to my participation in most groups or communities. It’s a bit of a socially nomadic way to be, and I usually find myself on the fringes, rather than in the popular knots. Hence, exiled. Exxyle is just a much cooler way to put it on an album cover.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
Well, born in South Africa, and moved permanently to the UK. Been here for the last decade and half. In all honesty there’s a fair few really good hard rock and metal groups trying to make a name for themselves here that absolutely deserve the attention.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
I’ve been releasing a single every few weeks since August now, although the latest one isn’t metal at all! It’s my cover of ‘Desperado’ by the Eagles, and is entirely stripped down and acoustic. It’s soulful and melodic, almost a lament. But, if it’s metal you’re looking for, the previous two tracks have enough octane in them to set your ears on fire. Both original tracks by me. In August I released ‘The Cancer Redux’, kinda my flagship song and in September it was ‘Line In The Sand’. ‘Desperado’ released on October 15th.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Oooh, I always dread this question because I don’t know how to keep it short. Let’s see, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, KISS, Anthrax, Blacktop Mojo, Stone Sour, Alter Bridge, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, Tool, Metallica, Godsmack…there are dozens. Each song I write has its musical roots firmly within at least two places of influence, like ‘Line In The Sand’ was a lot of Slash, Guns ’n Roses, Motley Crue whereas ‘The Cancer Redux’ featured a spirit of Adam Jones, Mick Thompson, Mick Gordon guitar style with Slipknot-ish traces. I’m sure you hear this all the time, but to put it down to just a few of the greatest ones for me is impossible. I will say though that the spirit of Lemmy is in everything!
What first got you into music?
My dad. Long car trips listening to Shakin’ Stevens, The Moody Blues, Suzy Quatro, John Mellencamp are some of my favourite times. Spent countless hours with him transferring his old vinyls to cassettes, making road trip mix tapes. Went through a bunch of genres growing up, and when I was around 14 or so I saw Aerosmith’s ‘Livin’ On The Edge’ on TV and I was set for hard rock forever. Learned to play guitar on my dad’s old acoustic he brought out of the army with him and went from there.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician, who would it be?
Corey Taylor and Stone Sour. Slash. Myles Kennedy, Blacktop Mojo. Not that I have any of the skill, talent or experience to share a roomer a stage with these monsters of rock, but it would be rock ’n roll. As. Fuck.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Rock Am Ring. To me that is the pinnacle of rock and metal festivals. Or Shiprocked, actually. How fuckin cool would that be, bobbin around in the ocean with wall to wall rock ’n roll!
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
My wife’s my biggest fan and to date the only one that’s ever given me a gift for making music. That being said, her biggest gift is allowing me the opportunity at this stage in our lives to pursue my destiny as a musician, nothing can ever beat that. But also, the band gifts she’s always giving are cool as fuck too.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
The comfort you buy with conformity is a poisoned pill that keeps you believing that your value is equal to the function you perform in society. Find your true purpose, determine your own value, and reach for that which you’ve been told you can’t achieve. And go straight through anyone that won’t get out of your fuckin way.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Lemmy. Of course Lemmy. We’ve been robbed of some legends, especially recently. Chester Bennington, Jeff Hanneman and Dimebag come to mind immediately, but Lemmy is forever the godfather.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
There’s an intrinsic freedom that comes with being expected to say whatever you want to say, whether it’s appropriate for the company or not. I love that apprehension that falls over people when they find out you’re a metal musician and they’re just waiting for the first bomb to fall out of your mouth. What do I hate? Marketing, advertising and taxes, oh my god, taxes. Very un-rock ’n roll. I’m deeply principled against how the system is designed to have us exploit ourselves and one another for its perpetuation, and all of the above (plus more) make it so that I have to set aside my principles to be able to communicate my principles. The dichotomy makes me sick.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I would remove everyone in it whose only vested interest in music is the money it can make. If you don’t have a musical compulsion and you’re only here to make some cash, you can fuck off and leave music and the business of music to musicians and fans. Let a new order breed itself out of the chaos by those with an inalienable passion for, and connection to, the art.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Nine Inch Nails, “The Downward Spiral”. Listening to that album and finding out everything I could about Trent Reznor set me on a path to become a self-produced musician.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, or Downloads?
Downloads for convenience and clarity, vinyl for depth and immersion. CDs can eat a dick, and I’d love cassettes too, if they weren’t so damn fragile. Can’t even begin to think how many times my heart broke when a tape got ate or played so much it stretched.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
I’ve never played live.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Exactly what I’ve been doing for the last 25 years…whatever is readily available for me to put some food on the table. I was working in security until the pandemic hit when I finally had the opportunity and the balls at the same time to dive into music full time. Hasn’t put any food on the table yet, but hope springs eternal.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I’m gonna assume the dinner party is at my house, so my wife and daughter are already there and I invite five other people. I’m also gonna assume that by dinner party you mean backyard barbecue with a keg, a couple coolers full of beer, a gentleman’s selection of bourbons and a very large bonfire. Let’s see, my old man for sure, Roger Waters, my bud Francois who I haven’t seen in 15 years and kicked the ass of a cancer that very nearly killed him, the ghost of Lemmy, and Jason Momoa as a favor to the wife. Besides, the guy is cool as fuck!
What’s next for the band?
Well, got two more singles, one original, one cover to be released over the next few months so in the meantime try to get the word out and the music heard. That’s a full time job in itself as I’m sure you’ll agree, but there is more writing underway as we speak, hoping to start recording on those at the soonest possibility. I’m super stoked to see how ‘Head In A Box’ and ‘The Hollow King’ come out in reality after only living in my head, to say the least.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
I have my website at https://exxyle.com I’m mainly on Instagram though, I dabble a bit in TikTok and I of course have a YouTube channel. There’s a Facebook page that gets everything I throw on Instagram and also a Twitter page I don’t really use that much. My first two tracks have lyric videos on YouTube and then Desperado has its own actual music video that I made myself. Streaming wise, the music is everywhere…Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Amazon, you name it.
Jaffa Cakes! Are they a cake or a biscuit?
They’re a fucking trap. Orange and chocolate together can kiss my ass!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Just to say thanks for your time and attention. I’m stoked as hell to be on your site, and to all your readers, keep it hard, keep it metal!
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