On the eve of their whistle stop tour of Japan, Frisona, a young English band hailing from a provincial town in Upper Clackershire, look set for a big year with the release of their new song, “Across the Atlantic”. The band sat down with me over some pints of rather foul, dark beer and discussed how they are feeling about touring the states in the near future.
Lead singer Oliver Meadows said he was nervous about whether American audiences would “get” the sarcastic tones contained in the lyric, “You can keep your diner, coz we’ve got our greasy spoon,” which is repeated a dozen times in the new release.
Says Oliver, “The song is actually the title track of our new album, and it’s a commentary on the Americanization of our homeland, which has been going on since the dawn of time. Sting kind of came up with the blueprint by singing about a bloke preferring tea to coffee. We are adding a whole lot more to that. Do you know, for example, how hard it is to find traditionally prepared jellied eel these days?”
Bass player Jimmy Alexander chimed in with his view on jumping aboard the Star Spangled Express. “I’m sorry to tell you this, America, but not everyone wants to drink Coca-Cola and eat a cheeseburger. What’s all the fuss about French fries anyway? Just give me a portion of chips with some battered fish, and I’ll pay for that in English pounds too, thank you very much. One thing’s for sure; you won’t find me wearing a baseball cap backwards and mumbling “What’s up?” to people as a way of greeting them in the morning.”
Given a sneak preview of some songs on the album, I was treated to a tapestry of jangly guitar pop with references to English stuff like going upstairs on a double decker bus, betting on greyhound races while chewing salted pork fat, and yomping in nature with the Territorial Army.
Try as I might, I was unable to coax the rest of the album out of the band. but apparently it features stuff about over-boiled vegetables, policing the streets of Burma, and an often-repeated conversation between two eccentric West End thespians in the tea room at Ealing Studios in 1973.
