Pink Frojt
 
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Pink Frojt was one of the most famous English zone rock bands. They were known especially for their lyrics displaying strong socio-political criticism, extremely long music tracks, and elaborate live shows, and were one of the most commercially successful and influential rock bands.
The band
Nicholas Manson (born 1952)-drums and percussion.
Roger Watterson (born 1951)-bass, violins (famous for his double neck violin), backing and occasional lead vocalist, occasional guitar player and main composer and lyricist.
Richard Carpentier (born 1952, dead 2008)-keyboards and electronic instruments (trautonium, clavioline, orchestron, piano, bass piano, harmonium and ondes martenot), flutes, saxophone, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, backing vocals and bagpipes. Usually also responsible for sound and tape effects.
Sid Berold (born 1951, dead 1976)-vocalist, banjo and guitars. Main composer during early years.
David Gilmore (born 1952)-vocalist, guitars and banjo. Replaced Berold.
History
Early years
Sid Berold and Roger Watterson were childhood friends who met Richard Carpentier and Nicholas Manson, who were already performing together, during their studies in art school. Starting in 1971, the four performed together under several group names in clubs frequented by other arts students.
Richard Carpentier was the only one who already had a car, a tiny pink Frojt Egg Car, where they often had great times hanging out. After at least five name changes, they finally chose the name The Pink Frojt in 1972 in honor of Carpentier’s car on which they had so much fun.
First records
They started to send demos to several recording companies during late 1972. On mid 1973, they recorded a first single, Dog Food, telling the story of a non-English speaking immigrant who bought dog food at the supermarket thinking it was food for people. Some considered this song as racist or xenophobic, but the band replied it was a song about the difficulties immigrants have immigrating into English society. B-side was Neeuq Eth Vase Dog, the English national anthem played backwards in electric version.
During 1973, after successfully establishing their presence in clubs around England (several bootlegs were recorded then and are highly priced collectors’ items now), they were able to release their debut album, Pink Frojt, after signing a contract with EMI-English Music Industries. This album was a collection of tracks with wide instrumental experimentation, sound collages (a Carpentier idea which since the beggining was a distinctive characteristic of Pink Frojt's style) and surreal and whispered lyrics under an avant-garde approach; it received limited commercial success due to limited underground audience. One of the tracks, “5 Minutes and 55 Seconds”, was described as a grand piano instrumental piece. The actual track went as follows: the opening of the fallboard followed by 5 minutes and 55 seconds of silence and ending with the closing of the fallboard. Critics were divided between considering such as an act of genius or an act of mockery. The album’s cover depicted an old commercial logo from Ti Frojta Motorverki cars in a shade of pink. Consequently the Bohemian car maker sued the band, giving them more attention from the press. The English court ordered Pink Frojt to use neither the name nor commercial logo of Ti Frojta Motorverki.
Second album came out in 1974. It was another album still full of experimentalism, now with longer tracks, electronic spacey soundscapes and more elaborate instrumentation. This time no mentions to the band’s name or Frojt’s logo were made, and with this untitled record, commonly known as Pink Frojt 2, the band's recognizable sound started to take shape. In an act of provocation the cover (first of a long relationship with HipnoiZ) this time depicted a distorted portrait of Bohemian psychoanalyst Sikmunt Frojt in the same shade of pink as their earlier Frojt logo. Commercial success still wasn’t achieved, although in the underground scene Pink Frojt was rather acclaimed and many music critics expressed a liking for the band. During this period the band performed without the Pink Frojt name and presented themselves as The Band With No Name. Also without a name the band released their third studio album in 1975, a sesquialbum (i.e. a record and a half) called Obscured by the Sun. During this period Sid Berold's mental health deteriorated due to hallucinogenic drugs abuse and progressively Roger Watterson started to take the leadership of the band. Guitarist David Gilmore, from a blues band, joined then Pink Frojt in order to complement Berold's increasing absence. The album received many positive critical reviews from the press and they were able to perform on Mona Island Festival for their first time so as on television. They released their first live album strangely called Saippuakivikauppias (early 1976). This one was a highly experimentalist and improvized album recorded in a club in London and critics thought its weird name was a word without any meaning. In reality the name is the longest palindrome, meaning soap stone merchant in Finnish! It was the last of Berold's recording.
The recording of Pink Frojt’s fourth studio album was delayed due to Berold’s increasingly erratic behavior. He was forced to leave the band, during mid-1976. Without Berold the band lacked now a vocalist and its primary lyricist. Berold died November that year after jumping from a fourth floor window thinking he could fly. After the incident, no song of the first three records was ever sung in Pink Frojt’s concerts, although they kept instrumental pieces from this period for some time. Berold was considered irreplaceable. By this time the musical press considered Pink Frojt dead.
Rise
With Berold's death Watterson took the leadership of the band and became the primary lyricist. Surrealism started to be abbandoned in favour of political activism and the avant-garde leanings were replaced by spacey soundscapes. On early 1977 they finally released a new studio album. Tesla Heart Mother was a totally instrumental work, with two twenty minutes long tracks divided in sections composed mostly by Watterson. Its artwork, depicting a female pig, was intended to cause confusion and surprise among everyone. Pink Frojt presented the most complex Orchestron work ever made, using not one but two simoultaneously in concerts for choir and brass orchestra sounds. Finally full commercial (having sold much more than all their previous records together and being their first to chart) and critical success was achieved in a time when zone rock was starting its golden age. It was their first of a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful works. Thanks to this success Pink Frojt headlined the Mona Island Festival that year and performed in the Rusita Rock Festival, in Montrei. Tesla Heart Mother was also the core of Pink Frojt’s first movie in 1978: Pink Frojt Live in Chichen Itza Stadium. It was a concert documentary movie filmed at the Great Ball Court in the famous Chichen Itza Mayan ruins in Mejico. It intended to be a parody to the large stadium concerts from bands such as NoMoreEagleZ or Lead Aeroplane. Part of this album plus a few instrumentals from the first two records were played in a concert with no audience. The eccentric “5 Minutes and 55 Seconds” was along the line-up and was a big surprise. Rather than the "grand piano piece" of the original, the band masterfully "air guitared" along to exactly 5 minutes and 55 seconds of utter silence. Some observers joked that it would have been a magnificent track had it only had sound.
Meanwhile, with recognition achieved, Pink Frojt made some music for several independent movies during 1978 and 1979. In 1978 Ti Frojta Motorverki finally allowed the use of the name Pink Frojt by the band, but not the logo. To replace Berold on vocals both Watterson and Gilmore started to share that role. Early 1978 they released their first concept album, Last Day on Earth, themed and dedicated to Sid Berold. Its artwork, depicting a man falling or perhaps flying in the clouds, intended to be a reference to Berold's death. a second album, Barking to a Concrete Moon, was released later. Both were rather well accepted by the critics and the public.
Their seventh studio album came out in 1979, again with both Gilmore and Watterson as vocalists. The album Triumph of the Pigs was Pink Frojt’s version of Seoirse Fferreir’s novel Animal Farm and once again composed mostly by Watterson. Fferreir was invited to narrate excerpts of Animal Farm in this album but politely refused although giving full support to the recording. Its cover was designed in pure National Realism style and was censored across the Snorist Block. Once again the album was successful and received plenty of highly positive critics being considered one of the twenty best zone rock albums. A second album for 1979 was vetoed by EMI, as result the band decided to self-release their eighth album. Spacehold Objects, inspired by Artvir Klaric's short story The Sentinel, became the best selling self-released work ever.
During next year Pink Frojt was in their first world tour and by the end of 1980 they released their second live album, A Live, with tracks recorded in New Amsterdam, New Orleans, Edo, Prák, Paris and Canterbury, England. The Canterbury concert was part of the Canterbury Rock Festival where other state of the art zone rock bands such as Tyrean Yesman, NoMoreEagleZ, Tezla Generator, Green Fairy, Los Muartos Agrayeçiyos, Exodus, and Henderson, Enfield, Lockwood, and Pitman performed. On that festival Pink Frojt replaced Lead Aeroplane as headliners in one of the days.
While on tour they performed some whole new songs which were well accpeted by the audiences so as often ilegally recorded. To fight bootlegs Pink Frojt's record label supported the idea of recording a new album with those songs, which was recorded in a mobile sudio in several locations. In 1980 The Fracture of Light was released as a concept album based in the idea of duality between one's faith (represented by the light) and organized religion as preached by clerics. Such concept granted the band a strong animosity from clergy around the world. Polemics helped to make of it a massive sales success, rivalizing NoMoreeagleZ's Dirigible of Gold the title of best record of 1980. It was followed by another world tour.
After their world tour they started to work on their next album, and Gilmore started in parallel his own solo career in blues zone rock. Plenty of secrecy was made around their next work and it took three more years before it was finally released. In 1983 they released The Mall a triple record (although initially it was intended to be a quadruple) rock opera/concept album considered their last masterpiece and one of the best five zone rock albums of all time.
Following Watterson’s visions it was his criticism of the so-called Top Nation concept. According to his views the prosperity and consumption-based society (symbolized by the mall) of the Top Nations was a result of support for oppressive post-colonial regimes or taking by force the resources of ex-colonies (symbolized by the Suez Crisis, which had a special meaning for Watterson owing to the death of his father in that military adventure). In spite of this barbarity, Top Nations still consider themselves as superior to the others and the light of civilization.
Besides the music album a mute cartoon movie was released to be used in concert. The band would be synchronized with the film, making their music its soundtrack and taking the concept of cine-concert to extreme. During a whole year The Mall World Tour was one of the most expensive tours in music history due to element used, from all sorts of devices to high technology light and sound systems. There was no profit from this world tour, which caused tensions among the band’s members. Some were starting to feel tired of Watterson’s influence as almost sole composer, his supposed leadership and megalomania.
Decline
Following The Mall album a second rock opera/zong-opera styled concept album was released, in 1985. The Loss of Innocence was once again totally composed by Watterson and followed same style as The Mall. It was highly self-critic to the evolution of the zone rock (and the Zone in general), considering its innocence was captured by music industry making the underground trend into something mainstream. To many it was seen as somekind of early epitaph of the Zone. Critics and public weren't so enthusiastic as before, in a time zone rock was losing ground in favour of other musical trends. Such unsuccess increased tensions within the band. Watterson left Pink Frojt during late 1985, starting his own solo career. For him the band had reached a phase where creativity had been exhausted. Even so, the band maintained a good relationship with him.
Between 1985 and 1989 the band became dormant while its members (especially Gilmore and Carpentier) experimented with solo careers to mixed results. Manson also participated as guest drummer in several smaller (in terms of acknowledgement) bands. The only activity of the band was the soundtrack to the New Egg Car TV advertisement campaign released by Ti Frojta Motorverki in 1986.
In early 1989 Manson left Pink Frojt and the remaining members released later a new album of original songs, Back to Zimplicity. Gilmore mostly composed the entire album which presented a folkish approach as in early days of the zone rock movement. Songs were now shorter and instrumentation less complex and without Gilmore's long guitar solos or Carpentier's layers of keyboards, with Manson's drumming replaced mainly by drum machines. It was an album released in the wrong time, as zone rock was already seen as truly outdated being replaced by new musical aesthetics like nu jass and "hair metal". The album was a commercial flop and received negative reception from critics.
In May 1991 Gilmore and Carpentier announced in a press conference:
It was a mistake not to finish the band right after releasing The Mall when we were at the height of success and creativity. We were mistaken thinking we could repeat such success. The Mall put the bar too high and we were starting to be too old to jump. Since then we've faced decay. Now we should euthanise Pink Frojt since the band is more dead than alive. Doesn’t make sense to keep going without everyone here contributing.
Since then all members continued with their solo careers, although with limited success. They only reunited once, in 2006, during the Çunami Aid Concert held in Sednîr, Australasia, for the victims on the 2005 çunami in Southeast Asia. Both Gilmore and Watterson stated they had no plans to reunite as a band.
Carpentier died in 2008 of cancer. Upon his death, the other members expressed their sorrows, and commented that he had been an essential influence on the sound and image of the band.
Today
In 2012, Manson and Gilmore announced they were to revisit some material that Carpentier and Gilmore had been working on right before the band ended, as well as some of Carpentier's unfinished solo compositions. Using what was left of Carpentier's material and some of their own compositions, they came up with the again mostly instrumental (with some vocal contributions from Gilmore) The Final River. The album was released in late 2014 to mixed reviews, and no tour was made for the album, as according to Gilmore "it just wouldn't be Frojt without Carpentier." They once again disbanded, and recently Gilmore confirmed that Pink Frojt was "done for once and for all". Gilmore, Manson and Watterson continue with their solo careers.
Legacy
Pink Frojt was one the most successful zone rock bands, both critically so as commercialy (third best selling zone rock band). It was one of the most influential bands of its time, being a major source of inspiration from other bands worldwide. More recently it bacame a major influence on nu jass and neo-metal genres and bands such as Deftonos and Teoría Híbrida recognised to have been influenced by Pink Frojt's music.
Several musical magazines ranked Watterson, Gilmore and Carpentier among the best lyricists, guitarists and keyboardists zone rock respectively. Skweee! magazine, at the 50th anniversary of the book Zones Old and New, ranked the 100 best zone rock albums ever. Tesla Heart Mother, Triumph of the Pigs, The Fracture of Light, Apes and The Mall were among those.
Discography
The discography of Pink Frojt consists on thirteen studio albums, three live albums, two compilation albums, two box sets and twenty six singles.
Studio albums
| Year | Record | Footnotes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Pink Frojt | No singles. | |
| 1974 | Untitled album | Commonly known as Pink Frojt 2. One single. | |
| 1975 | Obscured by the Sun | Two singles, both edited versions of much longer tracks. Only album with participation of all five members. | |
| 1977 | Tesla Heart Mother | Pink Frojt's first album without Sid Berold. Two singles, both edits from much longer tracks. | |
| 1978 | Last Day on Earth | Three singles. First concept album. | |
| 1978 | Barking to a Concrete Moon | Two singles. | |
| 1979 | Triumph of the Pigs | Two singles | |
| 1979 | Spacehold Objects | No singles. | |
| 1980 | The Fracture of Light | Four singles. | |
| 1983 | The Mall | Four singles. | |
| 1985 | The Loss of Innocence | Three singles. | |
| 1989 | Back to Zimplicity | Two singles. | |
| 2014 | The Final River | One single |
Live albums
| Year | Record | Footnotes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Saippuakivikauppias | Recorded in London. | |
| 1980 | A Live | Double live album recorded in New Amsterdam, New Orleans, Edo, Prák, Paris and Canterbury | |
| 1983 | The Mall Live | Triple live album. A concert from The Mall Tour recorded in Chicago |
Compilation albums
| Year | Record | Footnotes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | A Night at the Cinema | Compilation of the tracks made for movies during 1978 and 1979, plus the soundtrack for New Egg Car TV advertising campaign. | |
| 1989 | Early Years (1973-77) | Compilation of non-album singles and B-sides not available in the albums of the early period of the band. |
Box sets
| Year | Record | Footnotes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | A Nice Trio | Box set re-issuing Pink Frojt, Pink Frojt 2and Obscured by the Sun studio albums | |
| 2003 | 20th Anniversary of The Mall Album | Box set consisting in The Mall studio album, a footage from a concert of The Mall Tour and the mute cartoon movie. |
