Utter Trash--Electric Frankenstein

Monster Mash

An interview with Sal Canzonieri of Electric Frankenstein

By Bob Ignizio

For the past 13 years, New Jersey’s Electric Frankenstein have been carving out their own path to success. Their raw, high energy blend of punk and classic hard rock has allowed the band to achieve crossover success with fans of punk, garage rock, stoner rock, and metal. They’ve released 13 full length albums and literally hundreds of singles, EPs, and compilation tracks. I recently had a chance to chat with rhythm guitarist and founding member Sal Canzonieri, and based on his comments it looks like this rock ‘n’ roll monster is just getting started.

Utter Trash: So this is your 13^th Anniversary as a band. How’s it feel to have been around that long?
Sal Canzonieri: It’s a lucky number for a lot of people, if you’re into monsters. It’s been lucky for us. Been a great year. At the end of this year we’re finishing the mixing of our brand new album. It’s our 13^th album, too. So it’s a good coincidence that everything worked out that way. We’re happy that we’ve lasted that long. Not too many bands can say they’ve lasted that long. It’s getting bigger than ever. Dark Horse put out a big book about us, and there’s going to be more books coming out. Companies are coming to us now and they want to do video games and sneakers and candies and all kinds of stuff. I’m like, alright, more stuff to play with. It’ll be fun.

UT: So how do you see the new album? Are you trying new things, or do you prefer to stick with what works?
SC: We never really stuck with what worked. We kept on evolving from the first record. The whole point of the band has always been where rock meets punk, and how it interacts. So we’ve always brought that in our sound. The new record to me is our very best one. We actually have two records coming out. There’s an EP of songs that we didn’t put on the album and a couple covers, and the brand new full length with all brand new stuff, 14 or 15 songs, that comes out in the spring. For me, after doing 13 albums, it’s my favorite one, and our best one, I think. It really sounds like what I always wanted us to sound like. It’s reached the maturation point where it’s really heavy and powerful and a good blend of punk and hard rock. It’s a really good synergy between the two things.

UT: You’ve been doing this tour as headliners. Do you prefer doing that, or would you like to get a good support slot?
SC: We’ve done festivals. We’ve played with Marilyn Manson and Monster Magnet and Social Distortion at festivals. So after next year we want to get back into that. It’s really fun to play for people who haven’t seen you before. You really get a lot out of that.

UT: Aside from the 13 albums, you’ve got massive amounts of singles, EPs, and compilation tracks.
SC: Everybody in the band, even the drummer, plays guitar and writes. So when we practice people always have ideas. Then we tape ‘em, and get a whole tape full of songs. Then we decide which one should be half of this one or half of that one, which ones we don’t want to do anymore. It’s just because we love music. And all these labels want us to put something out on their label. If the demand wasn’t there, we wouldn’t do it.

UT: Who’s putting out the new album?
SC: The EP is called ‘Super Kool’, and that’s coming out on BMS Records. Then TKO Records is doing the full length album this spring. We’ve been sticking with them. They’re the best label that we know right now. We’re not going to do any full lengths with other people anymore.

UT: Have you reached that comfortable level where you can quit your day jobs?
SC: You know what? We never really wanted to quit our day jobs because the bands that do, it becomes desperation. We notice their albums suck after a while. So we only play weekends. And we’ve been doing that for 10 years. We like our jobs. We have jobs that we want. We get time off to go to Europe for a month or so, and it works great. So I don’t really have to change that. If you’re just playing music, instead of being something you love you become desperate. You’re always worried about what people are thinking, and if anybody’s going to buy your next record. And then what do you do? You become a prostitute. I notice bands start getting slicker and poppier, and they suck after a while.

UT: You’ve produced a few bands. Is that something you want to get into more?
SC: Yeah, a lot of bands have been asking me and I didn’t have the time. Now I’ve been setting aside the time to do it. People like the way our records sound. Even the other day I got an email from a band wanting to sound like our ‘How to Make a Monster’ album. No problem, because I’m the guy who made it sound like that. A lot of times I help them write their songs. Some bands I tell them to get rid of this part, or rewrite that part. That’s what a real producer used to do in the fifties and sixties, and that’s the way it should be. You hear something and your tastes are telling you, and you’ve already proven what you do is successful. The other band wants to learn from you. They don’t want to be just taped and then told, “oh yeah, it sounds good. Don’t worry.” You’re stealing their money if you’re doing that.

UT: What sort of things haven’t you done with Electric Frankenstein that you’d still like to accomplish?
SC: I’ve been having all these meetings with companies that want to do an Electric Frankenstein video game. I write, I do artwork, so I want to do more than just play. We’re going to do a DVD of highlights from our live shows and TV appearances from all over the world. And we’re going to do another one that’s going to be like a best of album, but it’s going to be cartoons of the lyrics. So all different artists are going to do cartoons. It’ll be an animated ‘Best of’ album. To me it’s fun. I want this stuff for myself, and most of our fans are always asking for that kind of stuff. We’re also doing something that’s never been done before. Our new album, we’re completely changing the business model of how to do it. The label is just putting it out. Instead of the label doing everything they usually do, what we did is treated it like an independent film. We went and got sponsors like an independent film would. They paid for the recording, the tour support, and for Basil Gogos, the artist from ‘Famous Monsters’ magazine, to do the cover. And then on the CD itself you can go to the sponsors’ websites right off the CD. It’s like a mutual thing. A lot of business magazines are interviewing me, and they think it’s going to change the whole way independent music is made. It’s so much better. We made a lot more money than just getting an advance. And our fans are interested in the sponsors’ products. It’s cool stuff like toy companies, clothing companies.

UT: If it all ended tomorrow, what’s the one thing you’d want to be remembered for?
SC: The fact that I did things for real instead of being a fake band that went straight to a major label. I turned down all the major labels when we first started. If I can sell that much, what do I need them for? Why should I make a penny a CD when I can make five dollars a CD? I don’t need them, and we’re still around. Every major label punk band lasted a year or two. So the hell with them. Let them put out Britney Spears. The rock n roll should be left for the rock n rollers to put out.