Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

How is it that you started playing music? When I was 15 years old, my friends in high school started playing in bands and they said I should learn to play as well that it was really fun. Also, at that time I was really inspired by Alice Cooper, NY Dolls, and Kiss to play guitar.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? In Electric Frankenstein is Sal Canzonieri (Guitar), Dan Canzonieri (Bass), Steve Miller (Vocals and Lead Guitar), Rubin Badillo (Drums), and sometimes Jamie Pina (from Chemical People, 45 Grave, etc) plays with us as 2^nd Lead guitar.

Have you had other previous members? Well, there would be too many to name here, ha ha. The most important were Rik L Rik (from F-Word and Negative Trend and his own solo albums) who was guest singer for 1 album before he died of brain cancer; Scott Wilkins (from Verbal Abuse and Condemned to Death) was the singer on the 3^rd and 4^th of our albums and on 2 live albums; John Steele (from Voice of Doom) and Rob Sefcik (from Uppercut and Mind’s Eye) were two drummers for 10 years each. Jim Foster was the lead guitar player on all the early album up to How to Make a Monster, after that he was out.  Other people have played for a temporary time here and there.

Did you make music even when you were young? Well, yes, after I learned to play guitar, I started writing songs. But didn’t start my first band until I was 18.

Where are you from? I am from Morris County, from the state of New Jersey, in the United States of America.

What year did the band form? Electric Frankenstein started in 1991, when I started writing songs. But we started getting a full band together to play live in 1993.

What's your style of genre?

We started playing a new style called ‘Punk Rock & Roll’ in the beginning and then we developed the sound into what I call ‘Rock Punk’.

Punk Rock & Roll is 1970s punk rock with influences from 1970's and 80's Rock. Ultimately it means Punk Rock with Hard Rock guitar solos.

Now we also play Rock Punk, which is Hard Rock and Glam Rock played with punk rock influence. So the emphasis is reversed. There's a big difference in the sound.

What inspires you?

Well, I receive my inspiration from when Rock music was truly powerful and exciting, everything from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Also, from the great Blues music, like Howlin Wolf, Muddy Water, Lightning Hopkins, and so many more,

How often and where do you rehearse?

We generally rehearse once a week in different rehearsal studios that we rent by the hour.

We are looking to build our own practice space soon.

How have you developed since you started with the music?

Yes, as I explained in the other question, our sound progressed from adding Rock to Punk to adding Punk to Rock.

Kinda sounds like Mod Metal? Ha ha.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band?

Yes, I am known worldwide for my books and for my Chinese martial arts.

I have written over 12 books, some are books about Rock posters, some are about philosophy, some are about Chinese Martial Arts.

Also, I am known for putting together the very popular “A Fistful of Rock & Roll” compilation series, which features the world’s best
Punk Rock & Roll and Rock Punk bands. There are over 700 bands so far, over 2 series. Series 1 was 15 records and I am doing Series 2, 
which so far is over 13 records.

I have also curated art gallery shows for Low Brow style art.

Finally, I have done research work in various kinds of sciences, I had worked for the famous Bell Laboratories for over 25 years.
My hobbies are collecting Superhero and Monster books, and designing and keeping Natural Aquariums with fish from all over the world.

I also teach Chinese Martial Arts and Qigong (healing and fitness work).

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We pretty much have a new booking agent in Europe, Gunter Daems. He has been pretty good so far, knock on wood for good luck. Ha!

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? 

Hmm, well EF is always working with a lot of indie record labels, especially in Europe. 

We have records with Ghost Highway, Savage Magic, God’s Candy, Speedo Wax, Speed Freak Records, and more.

What made you decide to make this music?

Oh, in the early 1990s, all the cool music was ending and there was just boring stupid music around that was fake sounding. 
I was not interested in Pop Punk, Green Day, Rancid, and all that kind of stuff even if it was popular amongst kids. I was not a kid.

I wanted to make Rock and Punk music that was exciting again, and so that other bands that started around the same time as EF.

Something happened all over the world at that time that created a whole new underground Punk and Rock scene, and it was great that it mixed both together.

What are your songs about? Our songs are about being a Frankenstein. The pain of living in a cruel world surrounded by selfish, ignorant people.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics?

We all compose the songs together, we each contribute to all the songs until the songs sound finished.
The lyrics are written either by Steve, the singer, or me and sometimes by brother, Dan (Bass).

Do you start with the music or the lyrics?

Generally, if Steve writes the lyrics, we start with the music and then the words are added later.

If I write the lyrics, we start with the words, then we add the music that best fits the words.

Do you compose in a certain inviroment?Ha, no, either at home or at the rehearsal studios. Nothing special.

Have you done any covers live?

EF has done dozens of cover songs live; we have 2 albums out of all the cover songs that we have recorded.

The cover songs we have played the most have been: 
AC/DC - “High Voltage”, Reagan Youth – “Degenerated”, Damned “Love Song”, and many others that we played just once.

What language do you sing in? Just English.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Ha, the least was 10 people and the most 100,000 people.

What ages are most of your concert attendants? Between the ages of 15 and 60.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary?

We have a core of 5-6 songs that we always want to play and then we change the rest.

The set is usually 13 songs, with some cover songs and some encore EF songs at the end.

Do you have a regular place you play live often?

No, not anymore. So many places have closed down over the last 15 years.

We used to play regularly at CBGB, Coney Island High,  and the Continental in NYC.

The Euclid Tavern in Cleveland, Ohio. The Garage in Los Angeles, California.

Club Mesa in Cost Mesa, CA. Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, CA.

Emo’s in Austin, Texas, etc. for many years, but all these places are gone now.

What was your first gig like?

Actually our first gig was great! We practiced for a full year before playing live so that we would sound SUPER GOOD and it worked,
We gave a tape to CBGB and our first show was there! Right away, no audition and it was packed with people. The 2^ndshow, the same thing happened.

We got a Saturday night show with our audition tape right away at the Continental in NYC and it was totally packed with people who were hungry for new ROCK!
For many weeks before the 2 shows we put really cool flyers up all over NYC heralding the comic of Electric Frankenstein and the new Punk Rock & Roll sound.

It made people get excited for what was to come and when we finally played so many people came to the shows from curiosity and then they were very impressed because we had practiced for a full year first so EF sounded like a professional band already.

What was your latest gig? The last group of shows were great, we played in Japan at a Garage Band festival for 2 days, and later we toured the east coast of the US with the Adolsecents.

Have you had to cancel a gig? Well, when 9/11 happened we were forced to cancel our show in Chicago the next day and our European tour that month.

Where have you played live this year? Our first show of the year will be Saturday March 30 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a bunch of punk rock bands of all types.

Where do you plan to gig the comming year?

May 25^th, we are playing a Action Rock festival in Stockholm Festival. From July 9 to 14 we are touring in Germany and Belgium with The Hip Priests.
EF is playing the Sjock Festival in Belgium on July 13 with The Hellacopters, Gluecifer, and The Hip Priests, and more.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale?

We started selling merchandise from the very beginning of the band, we silk screened our own shirts back then which looked very cool.

Then we got too popular to do it ourselves. We have many different t-shirts, silk screened poster for many shows, patches and stickers, pins, and other things.

Where can people buy your merchandise? They can buy them on Etsy.com or direct from EF via Facebook or email.

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days?

Well, many people who downloaded our songs wound up becoming big fans and they come to our shows and buy our shirts and so on.

So, I have to accept this practice.

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this?

It has changed very much and it has become very difficult for new bands to develop a strong following and to make enough money in the beginning to survive.

Now bands have to figure out new way to become popular and have to network with other bands, like being on my Fistful of Rock & Roll compilations to get more known.

Bigger bands have to help new bands that are very good to get better known. Big labels have become pretty much unimportant.

Some labels are still the main way that music fans can learn about new bands that are really great.

What do you think of my work? I think it is great, you are doing a necessary thing.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Well, any time that information goes out to a lot of people, there is a greater chance that some new people will discover your music and become fans.

Do you have any role models or idols?

Ha, not really, music had great musicians as far as talent but terrible as people to look up to for ethics, ha ha.

I think it is better to stick to the Buddha or Lao Tzu for that.

Why do you think that they exist?

I don’t think they do. You have to find your own inner strength and be mindful so you can be the best you can be always and in all ways.

It is too easy to be a selfish, lazy, ignorant person like the average jerk in the world.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Musically, from older bands, they were writing and recording at a time when people were free to do their best and experiment to find something new and great.

What have been your biggest obstacles?

Lack of money and lack of time is always the biggest obstacles to anything.

The older you get the more you wish for more of both.

If I had much more of both, I would tour a lot more and I would put out my own records with my own label showcasing all the new bands that I really love that people need to hear.

Also I would start a better way to distribute records worldwide, which is another obstacle for most bands and labels.

What advice would you give other bands or artists?

Be smart and network with other bands and indie labels and get on my Fistful of Rock compilation series.

Make sure your band sounds the best it can be, compare yourself to the very best bands of the past and make sure your song writing measures up to them.

Don’t be lazy. Make sure you record great music and release it on a lot of small labels so that cool influential people will be excited about your band.

That way you will get more popular sooner. People don’t really read reviews anymore, they use the social media to ask others what they think is new and great.

How do you get psyched for a gig? I don’t really have to do that, I want to stay calm and clear (thanks to my Chinese Martial Arts background) so that I can focus on playing and enjoying being on stage.

Do you have any new material?

We have 3 albums worth of new songs started but not completed. Just ideas for songs. We started recording new songs.

We have 2 new songs coming out on Speedo Records in the UK, a split with The Hip Priests.

What are your web sites? www.electricfrankenstein.com/

How can people reach? Either through the websites or direct to me via email: [email protected]

What are your plans for the future?

Record more albums, make new shirts and posters, do more tours.

AND, we have a new book coming out, which will feature 125 original songs that have been recorded so far.

All the songs have been illustrated by over 120 artists in some way or another, looks wild, like a dement children’s book for adults.

Do you have something to add? It is important for all bands to keep Rock & Roll alive and well; to keep high quality in the song writing.