Since initially forming in Bloomington, IN well over a decade ago, the acclaimed Los Angeles-based psych rock outfit Frankie and the Witch Fingers — currently founding duo Dylan Sizemore (vocals, guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, synth), along with Death Valley Girls‘ Nikki “Pickle” Smith (bass) and Mike Watt’s Nick Aguilar (drums) — have a long-held reputation for restless experimentation rooted in the multiple permutations of their lineups, and for a high-powered and scuzzy, garage punk meets thrash punk take on psych rock paired with absurdist lyrics, frequently fueled by dreams, hallucinations, paranoia and lust. And as a result, their material can be simultaneously mischievous, menacing and dreamlike.
Slated for a September 1, 2023 release through Greenway Records/The Reverberation Appreciation Society, the Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays’ forthcoming seventh album, Data Doom is built around the cerebral yet viscerally songwriting of the outfit’s co-founders, while marking the first written and recorded material featuring Smith and Aguilar.
In crafting what may arguably be their most rhythmically complex work to date, the band drew heavily from each member’s distinct sensibilities: Smith tapped into her extensive background in West African drumming, an art form she first discovered through her music instructor parents. Aguilar leaned into formative influences like longtime Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen.
Self-produced by the proudly DIY-minded band and recorded direct to tape by the band’s Menashe, Data Doom ultimately took shape through countless sessions in their Southeast L.A.-based rehearsal space, with the band allowing themselves unlimited time to explore their gloriously strange impulses. “There was no pressure and no real time constraint for this record, and because of that the creativity flowed in a very free way that probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d been on the clock in a studio,” Frankie and the Witch’s Dylan Sizemore says in press notes. “It showed us that the more we take the time to communicate and share our ideas with each other, the more it feeds our creative energy and helps us to make something we’re all really excited about.”
While showcasing the expansive and eccentric musicality of past efforts like 2020’s Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters . . ., Data Doom reportedly features nine high-wattage songs built with both dizzying intricacy and completely unfettered imagination.
Data Doom‘s latest single “Mild Davis” is a expansive, stream of consciousness-driven song that sees the acclaimed JOVM mainstays cycling through a whirlwind of rhythms and textures paired with dexterous guitar work, proggy synths and a series of mind-bending solos. Seemingly drawing from Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo-era DEVO, acid jazz freakouts, garage psych and space rock, while influenced by Miles Davis‘ early 70s electric period, “Mild Davis” may arguably be the wildest, face-melting ripper I’ve come across this year. “We worked on that for two weeks straight, puzzle-piecing together different parts into one very weird and stream-of-consciousness song that’s mostly in a 7/4 time signature,” the JOVM mainstay outfit’s Josh Menashe recalls.
Lyrically, the song sees Sizemore shifting between savagely despairing the state of the world and resolutely dreaming of a brighter future. “I wrote ‘Mild Davis’ in a moment of feeling pessimistic about what technology is doing to our society, especially as AI is creeping to the forefront more and more,” says Sizemore. “But then the bridge comes from a more optimistic perspective, where it’s questioning whether we could reboot the whole system and start all over.”
The song is accompanied with a fittingly mind-melting, animated video that places the band in a surrealistic hellscape of technology, fascism and destruction.
Along with the album announcement, the band announced an extensive run of international tour dates at some of the biggest rooms they’ve played to date. The tour includes a September 27, 2023 stop at La Sala Rossa, one of my favorite rooms in Montréal‘s to catch a show, and a September 30, 2023 stop at Warsaw. Check out the rest of the tour dates below. And if they’re in a town near you, you need to catch them turn a room into a sweaty, raucous and joyous mosh pit.
FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS
LIVE 2023
JUNE
15 – Patterns – Brighton, UK
16 – Jimmy’s – Liverpool, UK
17 – Projekts MCR Skatepark – Manchester, UK
18 – The Cluny – Manchester, UK
19 – Stereo – Glasgow, UK
20 – Hare & Hounds – Birmingham, UK
21 – Oslo – London, UK
23 – Milla Club – Munich, DE
24 – Astra – Berlin, DE
25 – L’Aéronef – Lille, FR
26 – La Source – Brussels, BE
29 – La Sirène – La Rochelle, FR
JULY
1 – Upload – Barcelona, ES
2 – Wurlitzer Ballroom – Madrid, ES
3 – Lata de Bombillas – Zaragoza, ES
5 – Petit Bain – Paris, FR
6 – Sonic – Lyon, FR
7 – Pointu Fest – Six-Fours-les-Plage, FR
12 – Relâche Fest (free show) – Bordeaux, FR
14 – Rock Im Daal Fest – Idar Oberstein, DE
15 – Valkhof Fest (free show) – Nijmegen, NL
29 – Binic Folks Blues Fest – Binic, FR
AUGUST
8 – Palp Festival – Martigny, CH
11 – Sonic Blast Fest – Vila Praia De Âncora, PT 25 – Purple City Music Fest – Edmonton, CAN
SEPTEMBER
9 – The Usual Place – Las Vegas, NV ** 10 – Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ **
11 – Love Buzz – El Paso, TX **
14 – Parish – Austin, TX **
15 – Andy’s Bar – Denton, TX **
16 – Continental Club – Houston, TX **
17 – Gasa Gasa – New Orleans, LA **
19 – JJs Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN
20 – The Blue Room – Nashville, TN #
21 – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA #
22 – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC #
23 – Pour House – Charleston, SC #
25 – Black Cat – Washington, DC #
26 – Crystal Ballroom – Somerville, MA ~
27 – Sala Rossa – Montreal, QC ~
28 – Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT ~
29 – First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA ~
30 – Warsaw – Brooklyn, NY ~
OCTOBER
2 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH #
3 – Bottom Lounge – Chicago, IL #
4 – Miramar Theatre – Milwaukee, WI #
6 – Hi-Dive – Denver, CO #
7 – Hi-Dive – Denver, CO #
8 – Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM #
27 – Quartyard – San Diego, CA @
28 – Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA@ **
29 – Rickshaw Stop (Psyched! Fest) – San Francisco, CA @
31 – Rev Hall – Portland, OR @
NOVEMBER
1 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA @
3 – Catalyst Atrium – Santa Cruz, CA @
4 – SLO Brew – San Luis Obispo, CA @
** w/ Spoon Benders
# w/ Wine Lips
~ w/ Iguana Death Cult
@ w/ MONSTERWATCH
