I remember that day that FRODUS called it quits, and the fact that their final release And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea would be posthumous just didn't seem fair. They were a band that had legions of devoted fans, but their high-brow "Conglomerate International" motif often turned away the less committed. How could REFUSED, a band working generally in the same sphere go on to sell a bazillion records, while FRODUS struggled to move past its own realm? Eight years since the release of Weapons, FRODUS returned to the stage for a show in Arlington, Virginia in March before making a widely touted performance in Austin, Texas for SXSW. Pastepunk's James Hepplewhite caught up lead singer and guitarist Shelby Cinca to discuss the culmination of events that lead the reformation, and how FRODUS' musical theme peaked a mere 10 years before American Capitalism took one on the chin (and in the groin). - Jordan
Pastepunk: I guess the first question is Why now? What factors at this moment in time conspired to bring the group back together? Do there need to be larger touring plans than a practice show in DC and a SXSW gig?
Shelby Cinca: Many factors with small details brought FRODUS together for the SXSW gig... the first one was DIVISION OF LAURA LEE from Sweden (whom we are great friends with since playing in Sweden in 1997 and Håkan, the drummer, releasing a live FRODUS CD around that time) played a show at the Swedish embassy last year in DC (link: YouTube). The PA was crapping out and the band ended up having a fit and stormed off the stage. As the amps were feeding back our friend Mike Phyte wrangled Jason and I to go on stage and play something. I quickly showed the chords of "Invisible Time Lines" to Saadat of THE CASSETTES and we went for it. It was a blast and then the timing worked so the banks were crashing and corporate corruption was being torn open for all to see this year plus Gilead Media re-released our LP Conglomerate International which is about corporate culture/greed/society this past March! Then one thing led to another with the SXSW event actually being a Lovitt Records + Slip Productions (our old friend Courtney Ryan Buie who has been booking shows since the 90's) showcase. Some of our peers re-united as well like THE VAN PELT and MILEMARKER so we felt like it made sense to just go for it. I think every detail was important for it to happen and really if the economy was good and there was no reason to be angry and scream about anything I'm not sure I would have felt so inclined. I want my screams to be impassioned and have meaning, not just to be screaming because we just another punk band having a reunion show for the sake of ourselves.
Not sure if we'll do a full blown tour but there may be some more shows in the future.
Pastepunk: Will there be a reissue of And We Washed Our Weapons In the Sea?
Shelby: Lovitt Records plans on doing the vinyl reissue of And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea this year.
Pastepunk: Since your break up, what if any thoughts do you have on the spazz-core label in 2009, or chaotic music generally in a post-DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN landscape which, perhaps fittingly, a member of is filling in on bass?
Shelby: I don't think many people use that genre-label that I came up with that much way back in a Lovitt Records ad in the 90s. I do think its kind of a funny label and I prefer it to others. I consider FRODUS these days as "post-office" as in music you listen to after your frustrating day at an office job (Amen! - Ed.).
Pastepunk: Having leaked some songs on Napster yourselves in advance of a record, how do you personally, as well as the Conglomerate feel about the ever multiplying avenues which one can access music digitally without having to pay for it?
Shelby: There are a ton of avenues which are great but they end up making money off the file-hosting by pushing crappy ads in our faces. I think Bandcamp.com is the best music site in the world as far as hosting music and having a sleek interface and smart outlook. I have my electronic music on it (triobelisk.bandcamp.com) and I love that I have the option to have it all as FREE 128k mp3 and CHOOSE YOUR OWN PRICE for any higher quality. It totally fixes the distribution problem and removes the concept of record label as a means to distribution. From my experience, people in the end are cool when they know the money goes DIRECTLY to the artist at a price they choose if they want to invest in higher quality files, etc... I met the guys from Bandcamp at SXSW and they are totally righteous gentlemen and I think their site is the future as they have non-sleazy plans for monetizing the site so they can keep it up and improve it without throttling the base experience and maintaining a strong support for artists. A great feature is that since by me hosting the free version on Bandcamp, fans can avoid crappy zShare ads and I get invaluable stats where people are finding out about my music and then I can later contact the blogs that are spreading the good word and give them new tunes when they drop. It's almost like going back to a digital DIY version of the age of fanzines and vinyl and creating a community. I think intangible goods should work in this manner, free and/or at least reasonably priced. I personally buy software from small software companies (http://www.pixelmator.com/) that have fair prices and I enjoy to support my peers.
There has been an incredible amount of wasted time and energy that has gone into suing people for "stealing music" which is completely insane. If that energy and money was put into making a better infrastructure instead of paying for bottom-feeder lawyers to uphold an antiquated way of doing things in "the industry" than I'm sure when all this was going down 10 years ago we could have had a working and fair system of obtaining music from "the cloud" with a small and reasonable internet-tax. But as far as me personally, I'm fine with people downloading Frodus music without paying for it, the people that want to invest more in the band will get the vinyl and appreciate the artform of that archival piece and the people who want to casually just listen to some songs then thats cool too. If I could I would have all the Frodus catalog on Bandcamp as free/choose your price.. but since we were on a ton of labels in the 90s then I can't really do that. Maybe all the labels will wake up to that model eventually as they realize having access to the stats and themselves hosting the free version (that will end up existing anyway) is incredibly valuable in itself. It goes to the karmic principles of if you give you shall receive, right? But you know, humans like to repeat mistakes and have a hard time dealing with change of their comfortable lifestyles for the common good of man/culture/etc...
Pastepunk: If you knew then what you know now, what would change?
Shelby: Maybe have stuck with one label and not jump around so much... but honestly, everything occurs for a reason and you learn from these experiences... so I wouldn't change a thing other than perhaps beginning doing yoga back then so I could have been a true yoga master by now.
- First photo uncredited (via the FRODUS MySpace page); Second photo used with permission, by Shannon Wang.
I remember that day that FRODUS called it quits, and the fact that their final release And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea would be posthumous just didn't seem fair. They were a band that had legions of devoted fans, but their high-brow "Conglomerate International" motif often turned away the less committed. How could REFUSED, a band working generally in the same sphere go on to sell a bazillion records, while FRODUS struggled to move past its own realm? Eight years since the release of Weapons, FRODUS returned to the stage for a show in Arlington, Virginia in March before making a widely touted performance in Austin, Texas for SXSW. Pastepunk's James Hepplewhite caught up lead singer and guitarist Shelby Cinca to discuss the culmination of events that lead the reformation, and how FRODUS' musical theme peaked a mere 10 years before American Capitalism took one on the chin (and in the groin). - Jordan 
Pastepunk: Having leaked some songs on Napster yourselves in advance of a record, how do you personally, as well as the Conglomerate feel about the ever multiplying avenues which one can access music digitally without having to pay for it?
