We hope you have been enjoying these articles on the winners of the LA Music Critic Awards for the first half of 2016. Our next feature is on the winner of the Best Pop/Rock Artist award, the dynamic duo known as Freddy & Francine.
Freddy & Francine is an LA-based pop act composed of Lee Ferris and Bianca Caruso. Freddy & Francine released their second CD, Gung Ho on June 10, 2016. Caruso was unable to be interviewed as she was working on a deadline for the networks, so all the answers came from Ferris on her behalf. Nevertheless, please sit back, relax and learn things about this amazing group.
IVB: How long have you been performing?
LF: We started the band in 2008 after originally joining up to write together. I started performing for family when I was five years old, and sang in choirs and high school musicals before heading off to college to continue my musical career. I first attended school for opera before going to Berklee School of Music to learn jazz guitar. I have performed all over Los Angeles in various bands before becoming half of Freddy & Francine. Caruso had a choral background in high school before studying classical music independently. She moved to LA from Austin and has also studied voice and piano. She sang back up for various bands and artists in Los Angeles, including Broadway star Idina Menzell. We first met in 2007 when we were performing in the 40th anniversary production of the musical “Hair.”
IVB: Who are your influences?
LC: Definitely Bob Dylan (thanks to my father), as well as classic rock like the Rolling Stones, ELO, the Beatles, Van Morrison, and other 70’s artists including The Band. I love traditional 60’s and 70’s rock. I also love big band and be-bop, world music (especially African), Motown and Stax.LC. Motown & Stax. Caruso is more influenced by 80’s and 90’s soul/R&B acts like En Vogue, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. She likes more pop R&B than classic Motown R&B.
IVB: What made you decide to DIY?
LF: Well, no one was knocking on our door or offering us a lot of cash. This was something we wanted to do no matter what so it was pointless to just wait around for someone to “discover” us. DIY gives us the independence to make our own decisions, and to learn the music business on our own terms. We get to do it all by ourselves. We would love to have more people on board to help us but in the meantime we’ll keep doing it ourselves. We especially like that we get to keep our own publishing rights.
IVB: Are you seeking to be a mainstream artist?
LF: The term “mainstream” is a little general. There are niches within the genres. For example, Americana covers so much stylized content. We can go as far as we want right now. We’re not interested in being “Top 40.” We do want the respect of our peers but not necessarily the general public.
IVB: What are your future plans?
LF: We plan to keep touring in support of our new album and continue to build relationships across the country so we can play at Festivals like the one we just did in Colorado. We want to make a new record every one to two years, publicize our record and market it well. We’re working on getting radio airplay. We are primarily learning everything we can so that when the labels do come knocking, we won’t be taken advantage of.
IVB: Any good stories from touring/recording/performing?
LF: Well, most recently we played the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest in Denver, with headliners like Mavis Staples, Lucinda Williams, and more. We loved getting out of LA to a place where music is truly appreciated. We recorded our new album in Eugene, Oregon with top notch musicians. We loved working with musicians that were also playing with other well known artists.
We also love setting up food competitions for free food. We’ll tell our fans to tweet “so and so” and get something in return, and we make video of our antics. It’s basic Touring 101. We both have very outgoing personalities. Our motto is “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.” We plan to just keeping trying new things.
IVB: What type of social media do you use?
LF: We have an updated website and Facebook page, as well as Twitter, Instagram and a YouTube channel.