Attila

17 November 2014 | 11:21 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Attila have a bad reputation, and Chris Fronzak knows this all too well. Their sixth full length album 'Guilty Pleasure' is out on November 27 and promises to be every bit as offensive and fun as their previous records. The band will also destroy venues on their tour, presented by Destroy All Lines and Killyourstereo.com, in support of the aforementioned album next April. Ahead of their arrival, we chat with Fronz about his ventures outside of music, the new album and how to claim a position as his personal party assistant.

Attila have a bad reputation, and Chris Fronzak knows this all too well. Their sixth full length album 'Guilty Pleasure' is out on November 27 and promises to be every bit as offensive and fun as their previous records. The band will also destroy venues on their tour, presented by Destroy All Lines and Killyourstereo.com, in support of the aforementioned album next April. Ahead of their arrival, we chat with Fronz about his ventures outside of music, the new album and how to claim a position as his personal party assistant.

Hey Chris, how are you going today?

Good man, just chilling. What’s up?

I’m actually in a hotel room so I think our roles are reversed. Are you at home?

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I’m actually cruising around in my G wagon right now, just kicking it dude. I’m near a mall right now and I had to run some errands. I’m waiting on someone right now so I’m just chilling in the G wagon.

Awesome. Just to start off with: Nate left the band recently due to going straight edge; is there a way to be in Attila without having that party lifestyle?

To be honest, it is possible. You don’t have to drink or party to be in Attila, you don’t have to do any of that. It’s all about your personal mental strength when it comes to that stuff. When it comes to Nate, I don’t think he’s strong enough at this point mentally to resist addiction and alcohol and stuff like that. To be hoenst I’ve toned down from the height of my party days when I was pretty wild and crazy. I don’t really get out of control or anything, and I can keep it at a limit. But with him it was just becoming a problem, so for him to live his life better and for the sake of his health and wellbeing he had to not be in the band.

Have you toned it down because you’ve got a son and a girlfriend now?

I think that’s a big part of it. That and I’ve got so many business ventures that I’m a part of, I just physically can’t be too fucked up to do important emails and calls like that. So I party, but I just party like an adult now.

How do you still rap about being a player with the lifestyle you have now, is that your alter ego?

Exactly, yeah.

How do you get from being in the Fronz mindset to being in the Chris mindset?

It’s pretty easy. Just being in tour kind of puts me in the zone of Fronz I suppose, and it gets me in that mindset with heavy music and rock and roll that put me in that. (At this point Chris starts talking to someone outside of the car and comes back on the phone) That was a weird story, I don’t even know what that guy was saying. He was trying to ask me for money cause I’m in a nice car and I was like “all right, that’s cool man”. Sorry about that interruption.

No that’s all right. Moving on, do you ever get down about the life that you live? You always talk about being so positive, are there any points where you get down a bit?

I’m human like everyone else so there’s certain things that will get to me, but for the most part I would say I’m one of the most positive people I know. I usually remain positive about things, I think with me I get stressed from time to time because I work so hard because I do so many things but I don’t think that’s necessarily anything to be depressed about. It’s nothing major, so I would say I live a pretty good life and things are pretty much fine.

On those business ventures, what’s your favourite part about owning a clothing label?

There are lots of parts I love, but I really love that it’s an additional creative outlet for me. I love making music and I love that that’s a good creative outlet, but having a clothing line is amazing because it’s something else to keep my mind working at all times. Before I started the clothing line I would think of ideas for T-shirts and so it only made sense that I would do something like that. I love every aspect about running a clothing line, I love marketing, I love putting clothes together. I like seeing ideas go from being just that in my head to a real life product right in front of me that I can wear, that my friends can wear, my customers can wear, my fans can wear. I love it; I’m really passionate about Stay Sick and I’m really happy that other people are really passionate about it as well.

Do you ever think it’ll become too big where you won’t be able to do Attila and Stay Sick at the same time?

I don’t think there’s such thing as too big. I think the sky’s the limit and if it got to a point where it got really really big, I don’t think things would change that much because it’s already pretty big and it’s easy for me to handle. I did so many more things that people don’t know about, but how many people know I’m developing a brand new iPhone app, which has been going on for the past couple of months. How many people know that I’m going to launch my very own record label called Stay Sick Records? So I’m doing so many things that so many people don’t know about, and Stay Sick is time consuming but I’m passionate about it so it doesn’t really faze me. If it got to the point where I couldn’t physically handle everything myself, I would just have to hire more employees you know? I think it’s all good, the sky’s the limit and I want to take over the world.

Do you think people don’t know about those sort of things because you put on your Fronzilla personality and they don’t take you seriously?

Oh sure. People think lots of different things about me and people might not take me seriously and that’s just how people are. Some people like to judge a book by its cover and that’s the reason a lot of bands hate us because they don’t take the time to meet us and see who we are. Every band that gives us the time of day and see who we are and meet us end up loving us. That’s what’s cool; for example, Terror, we pretty much knew that Terror didn’t like us. But when we went on tour this Summer for Warped, we became best friends with them – literal best friends – and that’s just how it is with Attila. People think things about me, think things about the band but once you meet us you’ll fall in love with us because we’re just normal people who are having lots and lots of fun. I think people need to get out of the mindset that music needs to be preachy or gospel or has a deep message. Not everyone needs a deep message to have fun with music; I think music can be entertaining like a movie. Does every movie you watch have to change your life? Or do you just watch a movie sometimes to laugh and have a good time? That’s how I see Attila, that’s how I see music; I see it as for you to just sometimes have a good time and enjoy yourself.

Is that why you chose “Suck My Fuck” as your catchphrase because it’s so ridiculous?

Oh fuck yeah! It’s so ridiculous and it’s so awesome. Suck My Fuck is probably one of the coolest things I ever thought of honestly. It’s perfect; it’s like saying “suck my dick” but chicks can say it too and it sounds way better than “suck my dick”.

At what point did you think that up? What was the inspiration?

I think it was just something that randomly popped up on tour. The second it popped into my head and it came about, I would just say it 24/7. Anything someone would say to me, I would tell them to suck my fuck. It was just one of those things where you tell someone to suck your dick and they might be mad, but you tell them to suck your fuck and they laugh. That’s it, I like making people laugh, I like making them smile and I think suck my fuck is a fucking awesome thing.

One of the guys I know actually has that tattooed on his toes.

What?! No way! I’ve gotta meet that dude!

When you see people with tattoos of Attila, how does that make you feel about your own music?

I love it, I think it’s awesome. I think that Attila fans are some of the coolest fans on Earth and I think when people get tattoos because they’re die hard fans is amazing. I love it. I’m all about it, like I said, I love our fans more than anyone else because they’re so dedicated and they get it. They come to our shows, have fun, and we really vibe together.

Just onto the new album, it’s as ridiculous as the others, do you ever feel like you take it too far with lyrics like, “you were born to suck my dick”?

(laughs) I love that lyric! No not at all dude, I think music should push people’s buttons and push the limits, and I think that’s the essence of Rock and Roll. I think that’s what people have forgotten, they’ve gotten so tame and the world’s just full of pussies right now. I think that people have to realise that Rock and Roll is supposed to push the limits; it’s not supposed to be so tame. It’s supposed to offend you, sometimes it’s supposed to push your buttons and make you angry or whatever it may be. I think that’s why I’m here; I like my freedom of speech and I like being able to say whatever the fuck I want. I don’t really have a limit to be honest, and if I think of something that’s really crazy I keep it. I don’t edit my lyrics; whatever comes to my mind, I say it and I think I owe that to the Attila fans because if they got a filtered version of me it wouldn’t be Attila and I’d be cheaping out my fans. Because they deserve to get their unfiltered Fronz because that’s what it’s all about.

You’re heading back to Australia next year; what are you most looking forward to doing?

Shit, I love Australia. That’s our favourite country that we’ve ever been to. Well you tell me, what’s the weather going to be like in April, will it be pretty warm?

It’s usually pretty warm in Australia regardless but it’ll be what you call Fall so maybe not too many beaches. Unless you’re in Queensland maybe?

Gotcha. I would just like to see a beach in Australia and get to have a beach day because last time we were there it was hoodie weather. We didn’t exactly get to hit up the beaches. But whatever, I would just like to go to the beach and swim in the ocean or whatever. You guys have the coolest fucking animals out of any country and I love seeing everything, and you have a really badass feel and we love it out there. I just want to party and see some animals and have a good time again.

Just finally; now that I’ve got a direct line to you, what do I have to do to guarantee a position as your personal party assistant? I want to be ahead of the game.

You want to be ahead of the game?

Yeah.

Well I don’t know. I say when we’re in Australia you’ll have to do something really crazy and show me why you deserve the spot.

Have you got any tips? You’ve got to give me a jumping off point.

Hmm. I would say chug a fifth of Jack Daniels for me [laughs].

If I end up in the hospital, you can pay the bills for me?

Yeah, it’ll come out of your $40,000 a year!

Well unfortunately we’re out of time but thanks heaps for talking with me today Chris.

Yeah thanks man, I look forward to coming back to Australia, I can’t wait!

Attila return to Australia as part of the 'Guilty Pleasure' tour this April. Dates and details here.

'Guilty Pleasure' is due out November 27 via Cooking Vinyl Australia.