A little over a week ago, we had the opportunity to sit down at Lollapalooza with the namesake members of Franc Moody, Ned Franc and Jon Moody, to discuss their history, artistic process, and, of course, which Jamiroquai song pushed them to create the most. After working through some technological glitches, we were able to get the full interview transcribed! Massive thanks to Ned and Jon for taking the time to chat with us!
A: Andrew with Glasse Factory here with Franc Moody, Ned Franc and Jon Moody, backstage at Lollapalooza! So really, starting it off: how’s it going today? How are you guys feeling after last night at Sleeping Village and getting ready for today?
JM: Good, good. A little jaded, a little tired, but only because we gave everything last night, but you know, we’re a taco and a beer away from conquering Lollapalooza. No, we can’t wait to get on stage in a minute, honestly. It’ll be great.
A: It was honestly incredible last night.
JM: Ahh, you were there? Amazing!
A: Yeah, I was actually right behind sound, so I was like… dead center, right underneath the disco ball. It was beautiful.
JM: No way! Beautiful.
A: Truly a beautiful time. Um, so really … just give me a little bit about yourselves. Really, about your guys’ history as artists in general, whether it’s all Franc Moody specific or just whole life.
NF: So Franc Moody… Probably the thing to say is that both of us were in different bands, both were kind of influenced by R&B and old soul, funk, blues, that sort of thing. We kind of came to the end of those bands. Previous to that, we had started this big community, this kind of big warehouse up in Tottenham, North London, with a bunch of bands, a bunch of musicians, that kind of communal vibe. Which was an amazing kind of cooperative, but our bands kind of came to an end, and Jon and I were mates from that warehouse, and then we came together. We were kind of done with the band thing, so we thought “Let’s start a writing thing.” Start writing, production. And we quickly took on management, and it was management who then said, “You guys should form an artist project.” And we were like, “… Oooookkkkkk.”
JM: Like, “nah, nah, no thanks.”
NF: But then we were like, “Ok, well, one thing we will do is we’ll handpick the members of this band to make sure it’s the right feel, the right members, the right personalities.” Best players, really do it properly. So we got this motley crew together that is now the Franc Moody lineup, and we released an instrumental, and from there it kinda snowballed … but that was kind of the inception, the early days.
A: Nice. I did not realize it started off with management! I really should have connected the House of FM —
NF: Oh, no no. We took on management. And they suggested.
A: Ohhhhhhhhh.
NF: Yeah, we were never managers ourselves. [laughs]
A: My bad on that one, totally misheard the phrasing.
JM: Yeah, very glad we cleared that up. [laughs]
NF: The myth! The mystery of the management company! We then became lawyers as well. [laughs]
A: Skipping ahead a little bit: what does your creative process usually look like right now?
JM: It’s interesting, because we’re deep in album writing mode now for album three, and right now, we’re in a wonderful stage of that process which is experimenting. And dreaming. And aiming high. And trying to find some new sounds, some new formats, some new juju, if you were, to kind of add to the Franc Moody palette, and see where that goes, really. But it’s really a lovely place to be because we’re not too precious about anything at the moment, we’re just kind of getting as much shit out as possible. We will get to a point where we need to hone in on a few of them, but yeah, that’s what it’s looking like right now. We’re just off the back of seeing LCD Soundsystem in LA, which was a very inspiring show, and we were instantly just like… looking up all the equipment they use and that kinda shit, trying to dial in some of those sounds and stuff. But it’s great.
A: Nice! You mentioned LCD Soundsystem, I actually saw that same – that was Re:Set, right, that was at Re:Set?
JM: Oh, were you there, man?
A: I was there at the Nashville iteration!
JM: Sick, sick. Fuckin’ awesome!
A: I was thinking wardrobe for today, do I wear Jamiroquai or do I wear the LCD Soundsystem shirt, and then I thought, “I’m gonna do Jamiroquai cause I’m talking to the boys today,” but yeah.
JM: Nice, man! Did you get the merch, then, the disco ball?
A: I did, yeah.
JM: Nice.
NF: I’ll be wearing mine today.
JM: We only got the long sleeve though. Are you going to wear the long sleeve?
NF: Yeah, because I can turn off the sweat button internally.
JM: That’s fair. I sweat for you.
NF: He really does. [laughs]
A: Honestly, sometimes it’s better, I’ve found, at festivals, to just go long sleeve, cause like… yeah, it’s sweaty, but I’m gonna walk out of here today super red.
JM: Yeah, that’s true. [laughs]
A: But actually, I’m curious, with regards specifically to LCD Soundsystem, kind of piggybacking off of that: who or what would you say is your biggest creative muse at the moment? I know you said you’re looking into all the gear and trying to recreate some of those sounds.
JM: Honestly, that concert is probably a big one.
NF: Yeah, honestly. Like we were saying… To be honest, it was a big moment for us, going to that Re:Set gig [out in LA] cause we had been doing a couple of DJ gigs, and we made sure that we were flying out a day later to go and watch LCD, Jamie XX, and Idles play. And watching LCD was big for us, honestly, because the whole thing, the kind of integrity, the stage setup, the way they compose songs, it was really… For us moving forward with the next album, it’s been a big one.
JM: Sort of a mish-mash of influences they have, and the people who are on stage. Again, it’s a similar sort of motley crew style setup, and they’re playing to an audience from 25 right through to like 45-50. And that’s just fucking cool. And they’ve been around for ages, they’re gonna be around for ages. And it’s really where we’d love Franc Moody to be, you know? It’s also where we’re aiming, I suppose.
NF: Yeah, it’s not age-specific, it’s —
JM: It’s just powerful music.
NF: Yeah, it’s just very, very ageless, timeless, and like I said, the integrity is impeachable. Unimpeachable.
JM: And there’s an element there that doesn’t take itself so seriously. You know, it’s not… It’s not fooling around or whatever, but it’s kind of fun but it’s cool and it’s also deep if you want it to be, and I don’t know, it’s very clever. He’s a genius, James Murphy. If you’re listening, reply to our email. [laughs]
NF: Please, James. Reply to our email. [laughs] It might be in your junk folder.
A: Collab of the century.
JM: Yeah, we’re not a management company. [laughs]
A: Ahhhh man. [laughs] Alright, so I’m gonna kind of pivot a little bit: how do you contend with audience expectations while creating music? Flip side to that question: do you contend with audience expectations?
JM: You know, that’s a really good question, it’s something that I think we’ve felt a little bit of pressure on in the past. Um… Not pressure, but just being aware —
NF: Like today.
JM: Yeah, like today. But like thinking… “Oh, we’ve had a few tracks that have worked, should we just be keeping it in that lane,” or whatever, and I feel quite liberated in the moment that there’s not much of that going on in the writing process. However: a good example today with thinking about the setlist, and I’m not gonna name the tunes, but there’s a couple of tunes we’re thinking like: “Oh, they’re just feeling a little bit old,” maybe a bit tired to us. And we messaged our booking agent saying “Look, bit of advice on the setlist, what’s the audience like? Where are we aiming here?” And he was able to kind of fill us in a bit more about the kind of crowd that’s gonna be here at Lollapalooza, so we’re catering for the set in that way. And then we’ve taken one song out from last night that we know from experience doesn’t translate so well in the daytime outside. Does that make sense? So you’ve always got… Like, setlist is a very, very, very important thing in a gig, and that’s all forever changing, but in terms of writing, we’re trying to free ourselves of this kind of need to satisfy what’s worked already. We want to grow, not stay in lanes sort of thing, if that makes sense. But it’s a risk, you know? It’s a risk.
A: True, yeah. That makes a lot of sense. When we go off the record, I’m just gonna ask out of curiosity what the songs are.
JM: Oh, of course, yeah.
A: Not right now, though, we’ll just do that later. So really, um… We’re running a little low on time, so I’m just gonna slide to the last two questions I have. One was just out of curiosity for my own sake: favorite Jamiroquai album from each of you.
JM: Oh my gosh.
NF: Travelling Without Moving.
JM: Yeah, I mean, “Little L” for me – I know that’s not an album, but that track is just forever… sorry, I know it’s just a track, but it’s insane.
NF: Oh yeah, “Little L” for me as well. That holds a very special place in the Franc Moody annals.
JM: It was actually a real pivotal point for the birth of Franc Moody because our friend and producer Joe Hertz, who was next door to us at the time, the studio next door, came in and we were talking about lyrics and we were talking about songwriting, and his point was: “Look, you don’t need to have these epic stories and whatever, you can have these sort of ‘throwaway lyrics’ like ‘Little L,’” and so we put it on and we were like… A. That is an amazing lyric, and B. This song is just everything. It’s so sick. And it kind of really set the tone. I think we wrote “Yuri” about 30 seconds after that.
A: Hell yeah, damn.
JM: Yeah.
A: And then finally: what is the one thing you guys want people to know about Franc Moody?
NF: We’re in it for the long haul.
JM: And we’ve got a terrible dandruff problem. [laughs]
You can check out Franc Moody’s website here, and we’ve embedded their first full album, Dream in Colour, below. Have you ever seen Franc Moody live? Have a favorite song or album? Let us know!
Other Articles
Deep Tropics Set Times Are Here!
No Comment! Be the first one.