Track By Track Breakdown of Frog’s New Album

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You might’ve never heard of Frog, but lucky for you, you’re about to. The New York based band recently  released their debut LP, Whatever We Probably Already Had It, on Audio Antihero Records. The expansive indie folk record has become a favorite over here for its silly charm and witty one liners. “God is great he’s hilarious”. It will makes fans of Jeff Rosenstock listeners, but also has a distinct indie vibe that reminds me of my favorite things about Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin or Los Campesinos.

Danny Bateman (Vocals / Guitar) and Tom White (Drums / Keyboard) spoke with us a bit about each of the tracks on their recent LP. Take a read through while you listen to these jams.


“Frog Lives!”

DB: It is important that we herald ourselves, as we rush out of the grave and onto the stage, because if there’s anything that I’ve always hated, it’s to be unheralded. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself, as every villain has said during every attempted murder of every hero.

TW: Getting together and shouting our name for a few hours always seems to keep us on track. This has been edited down considerably. Welcome to the new album!


“American”

DB: Most songs about America are fat fingered attempts to dial 0 and make dirty jokes to the operator, or else they’re about injustice and sung by bruce or ice cube. I was unable to produce songs like that, so I made this one. I wrote a few songs using this G tuning that I read about in Keith Richards’ autobiography, and they all sounded like this.

TW: I think this song is about posturing a little bit while you grapple with some personal things. I might just be projecting.


“Something to Hide”

DB: This song is about an affair. I got the idea from some friends who started their relationship by having an affair not unlike the one in the song. Clandestine meetings, coded greetings, elevators in seedy hotels, cheating.

TW: Loooove this one. Danny brought it in pretty much finished so we just worked out where to go nuts and went for it. I still think we haven’t played it through more than 10 times ever. Time to play some shows!


“God Once Loved a Woman”

DB: This one is kind of self explanatory. Tom and my mastering engineer got mad at me for mixing it with too many dynamics and keeping the guitar too low. I like it though! I wrote it about how I wanted God to act more like the ones they had in Greece, when Zeus kept disguising himself as swans and pigs to have sex with human women.  

TW: This one has been kicking around since 2011. Super excited that it has finally made it into the big wide world, it’s really pretty.


“Gimme Your Number”

DB: One take Tommy! There were some false starts though. He’s still got his whistling hat available, if you’re in the market. Tom told me that the lyrics for this were ‘gimme ur number’ but didn’t explain how to fit that in, so I ad-libbed it in the background, along with some offbeat snaps. Most of my actions are regrettable if I really think about it.  

TW: Interludes are a big part of our mesmerizing live performances. I usually grind through some circus music but this is part my big plan to branch out. I was thinking maybe I’d do a love song, but Danny’s getting pretty fast at changing his strings so this is more of a love pitch.


“Journey to the Restroom”

DB: The working title for this was “At Our Italian Restroom”, which we quite possibly should have kept. As I remember, this was pretty hard to nail down, and I don’t think that I really ever got the mix quite right. The more records you make, the more comfortable you are with failure.  

TW: This one comes out of nowhere.


“Bones”

DB: People have always liked this one, I tried to be romantic. Sometimes the best songs are just sitting down waiting for you when you get back to your apartment. We tried recording this with like a big bridge and drums, but it didn’t quite work right, so this is just what we do live. Shout out to T on the keys.

TW: Another super duper deep cut. We’ve played it live for ages but kept getting bogged down in how to put it together for an album. We had it the whole time! Bones!


“Don’t Tell Me Where You’re Going”

DB: My favorite song on the record. I like the piano. Usually the first full take on any instrument that I finish is the best one, and every other take is me trying to recreate that magic and failing. I stole this song from that part in Fight Club where he puts her on the bus but shields his eyes from the bus number so he doesn’t know which one it is.

TW: I just plain love this song. You’re the best, Danny.



Henderson Cole // @HendoSlice


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