Frequencies – RichardThinks Band Of The Week (10/01/13)

This week’s RichardThinks Band Of The Week is Frequencies from Baltimore, MD! Formerly known as Swagger Point, Frequencies combines different elements of metal that will be sure to take your ears to a new level. Having released their self-titled debut EP produced by ex-I,The Breather member, Justin Huffman and featuring Garret Rapp of The Color Morale; Frequencies have begun their invasion onto the music scene. We sat down with guitarist, Matt Dewitt for this week’s edition of RTBOTW to discuss the origins of Frequencies, their debut EP, working with Garret Rapp and the future. Check out the complete chat below, and be sure to tune in every week to see new band’s featured in “RichardThinks Band Of The Week”!

For more information on Frequencies, be sure to check them out on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!
Frequencies is:
Ron Ron Scott -Vocals
Matt DeWitt – Guitar
Sean Griffith – Drums

RIYL : The Color Morale, Volumes, Of Mice & Men

Interview with Matt DeWitt of Frequencies

1. First, can you please introduce yourself & tell us your role in the band.

   My name is Matt DeWitt, and I play guitar in Frequencies.

2. With so many bands emerging in today’s scene, how do you believe Frequencies stands out?
   
   One thing I believe that we have going for us is that we have only one vocalist who does all of the screaming and singing, and both are incredible. You either see vocalists that do both and either one is better than the other or they both aren’t that good. Also I think people are getting pretty tired of seeing the cliché rhythm guitarist singer. We also are making music that sort of combines a lot of sub genres in metal. We have the poppy post hardcore chorus’ and singing parts, but the majority of the song is a very heavy metalcore type.
3. Can you give us a brief history on Frequencies?
   
   I actually was looking on craigslist for local musicians to maybe start up a project with and I ended up coming across the perfect listing from Sean and Ron Ron looking for a guitarist and they listed a lot of bands as influences which were some of my favorites at the time, so I emailed them some of my old bands demos and they loved it. We met up at a show at the ottobar in Baltimore and got along really well. It all just kind of fell into play after that.
4. If you could pick three words to describe your band, what words would you pick?
   
   Honesty, Tenacity, and Real.

5. What has been the biggest accomplishment for the band to date?
   
   We definitely are proud of the feedback we’ve received from the release of the EP. Releasing that album really opened our eyes to exactly how much it meant to some people. It made all the time and hard work put into it well worth it.
6. The band’s previous name was “Swagger Point”, and now is Frequencies. What made the band want to change the name?
   I’m not really sure how “Swagger Point even came about in the beginning haha. I Personally wasn’t really worried about the name at first, I knew the music we were making was good and that people were going to like it regardless of our name, so it wasn’t something I was really concerned with at first. Then after a few months of “Kings” being on youtube we started to see comments like “I would love to show my friends this band but im not going to because of their name” or “I almost didn’t even click on this because of the band name” that was a pretty scary thing for us, because here we are with some very serious music that we know people would love, and its apparent that some people may not even be giving it a try just because of the name. we had to change the name to something more appealing to people. Something people WOULD click on. 
7. For your debut EP, you worked with Justin Huffman (ex-I, The Breather), how did that come together and what was the experience like?

   Ive actually been working with Justin musically for about 4 years now, pretty much ever since he started ITB. We went to the same high school and grew up in the same area together and had a good bit of mutual friends. I heard the jams he was recording for his band I, The Breather before they got signed and wanted to work with him to get that quality of recording. You could really just tell through the sound he got out of his own music that he knew exactly what he was doing and he was good at it. So Justin is always my go to guy for recording any music. Hes great at what he does and is very laid back. When we get in the studio together to record we just click and work well together. Its something I can always count on and look forward to. 

8. On the track “Sacrifices” you had Garret Rapp from The Color Morale guest in the song. How did that come together?
   
   Garret Rapp is one of the few vocalists that everyone in our band has always been a huge fan of. We really loved the new direction he had gone in on his bands newest album “Know Hope” and thought it would blend really well with our music. I hit him up on twitter at first, then it moved to emails, and he went into the studio next day and recorded the Chorus on that song. It sounded great and its something that we are really proud of. Having him featured on music that I wrote was a very proud moment for me. 
9. Lyrically, what inspired the songs on the EP?

   Our vocalist Ron Ron wrote all of the lyrics on the EP, its really a mixture of different things. These songs have influences anywhere from relationships, zombie apocalypses, hostile alien invasions, or Ron Rons feelings on his relationship with god.  We get asked a lot if we are a Christian band because of our song “Kings” we are NOT a Christian band, but having a Christian vocalist may sometimes result in some Christian lyrics.10. What is next for Frequencies?

   Very good question, We are actually taking Frequencies in a whole new direction. i cant say much about that, but what I can tell you and the fans, is that you can all expect something VERY different than what we’ve done before. Like I said, we are heading in a whole new direction. Same band members, same name, new music.

   11. Is there anything you would like to add?

   Just a huge thank you to everyone that supports us and shows us love on twitter and facebook. That stuff means the world to us and keeps us doing what we do. Be sure to follow us on twitter @frequenciesband and like our facebook page facebook.com/frequenciesmusic also check out our EP at frequenciesmusic.bandcamp.com