Punk gill-breathers Frog & The Belligerence have built up a reputation in south Wales for their loud, abrasive live shows. Now they’ve bottled that same chaos on debut full-length, Have You Met Frog? Founders Emma Axén and Jacob Bowen spoke with Emma Way.
How did the members of Frog & The Belligerence meet?
Emma Axén (guitar/vocals): We started the band when we were working at an office job together, and we desperately needed something to do and neither of us played any instruments, but Jacob could scream really loud, and I could learn power chords and write songs, and I’ve been writing poetry for a long time, so we managed to trick some friends into joining us.
Who are some of your favourite bands?
Emma: The Cramps – we only ever do Cramps covers. We just fucking love them. They do kind of 1950s sounds, but in a really heavy, slimy way. On our new album especially, there’s a couple of songs that are almost country blues, but then made a bit more disgusting. The song Cowboy Rag is like that.
Jacob Bowen (vocals): My main influences were more based around 1980s punk, like Bad Brains.
Emma: Yeah, Bad Brains came up a lot, and Dead Kennedys. I think from the beginning we’ve referenced Butthole Surfers loads, and tried to make things sound disgusting in the same way Butthole Surfers are disgusting.
Was it intentional from the start to combine what’s disgusting with poetry – because poetry’s not known for being disgusting, right?
Emma: That’s so not true! Poetry is filthy. Poetry is vile… if it’s done right. The poetry that I like is absolutely disgusting. We’ve always said that we can be as pretentious as we are stupid. We can get away with being quite highbrow, through the fact that we don’t know how to play our instruments, and everything else we do is very much brute force. I can talk about ancient playwrights and things without feeling like I’m being totally unbearable.
What would your dream Frog show look like? Where would the venue be and who would the support be?
Jacob: I reckon SO36 in Kreuzberg, Berlin is probably the dream venue and the support would probably be the Cramps and the Dead Kennedys. That would be a pretty wicked gig.
Where do amphibians come into all this?
Emma: A friend of mine did acid and saw God, and that God was a frog. And that got spun into a story. There was a bit of worship happening. It also rains all the time in Wales, and it’s always froggy outside. If you say it’s froggy and not rainy, it’s a lot more tolerable.
Jacob: We’re big bog people.
You reference Aesop’s Fables in your music.
Emma: I picked up a book of Aesop’s Fables from a charity shop, and there was one about frogs and anarchy and political systems, and I thought it would make for a sick song. I’ve rephrased the whole song and put it in my own words, but it is just the fable from the book, and it’s about 2500 years old. It’s from the Golden Age of Athens. I was very smug about being able to retell a story that’s been around that long.
Speaking of charity shops, I know you DIY all your own merchandise.
Emma: Yeah, I’ve always liked to make and decorate my own clothes, and I thought it would be sick to have merch for the band, but it’s quite expensive to make merch, especially when it’s standard. For the first few gigs, we went down to find a one pound rail in a charity shop. At the flat me and Jacob used to live in, there was always things hanging from the shower and the wall, soaked in bleach and green dye. I would put it all into a big soup until it was all green and bleached, and then I’d write lyrics on them with paint, draw little logos and things. We were able to sell them for pay what you want most of the time, so we encourage trading and bartering as well. We just wanted everybody to be walking around in weird green tie-dyed swamp clothes and create our own little world in our own little bubble.
Jacob: We’re very much into doing everything ourselves. Anything we feel like we can’t do, we outsource it to close friends and people we trust a lot.
Frog & The Belligerence play an album release show at The Royal George, Cardiff on Fri 20 Feb.
Admission: FREE. Info: Instagram
words EMMA WAY
