10 Questions with Frank Hurricane - “Here Comes The Story Of The Hurricane!”
1. What is most holy to you?
What's most holy to me is the beauty and feeling of what's going on around you at any given time; be it the music, temperature, weather, the shrymps you're hangin with, the thoughts and feelings of what's coming and what's happened already. Also pizza, mountains, and spiritual love!
2. What is life like on the road compared to being at home for you? What are some things you like to do outside of music?
Life on the road is so awesome because it's entertainment 24/7 and there's always something crazy happening, it's a nonstop party! Life at home these days is really great, because I live in a nice house with my love, Kylen, in Tennessee in the mountains and it's a good life here! Definitely a lot more laid back than tour life, but I keep it exciting in different ways, lots of hiking, swimming in nature, lots of listening to records, disc golf, and a lot of reading!
3. How do you feel about artists, at times, suffering in order to make their work? What makes music, specifically, more potent : Normal daily life experiences, or this consistency to provoke deep emotion and at times, pain to create lasting art?
I think if you want something you're making to be good, it is very necessary to have some suffering in the process, because that's a lot of what's really giving it the vybes, and the vybes are what makes something real and special! Pain is really important for that potent pymp music but also daily life experiences are really important to my art also for inspiration. And to connect the two is a great way to get some spiritual music flowing. Deep emotion of all types is what gets the spiritual tunes FLOWIN! Some of my main inspiration is that holy joy of the mountains and wind, and natural spiritual lovin, and some holy chugging and puffin!
4. You are a very prolific artist and have many different variations of releases from over the years. What is the recording process like for you compared to touring those albums?
Almost every record I do has a different recording process, sometimes at a studio with homies that I call in to play on it with songs prewritten, sometimes just sitting in my room and messing around for a couple months, sometimes practicing a ton with a band and then cutting the spiritual record, sometimes i try to do a whole idea of a record in one specific place and time, and sometimes I have something coming together for a LONG time! When I'm touring, it's not really to promote specific albums, I'm drawing from the whole Hurricane catalog while bringing in a lot of new stories and songs in!
5. What is your process when approaching a project? What comes first: the music, or the poetry?
Usually when I'm writing new songs I'll have some spiritual riffs that I've got bumping around in my head and then also lyrical ideas and they all just kinda come together when I'm thinking and messing around in my mind and with instruments while hiking, driving, jamming, etc.
6. Can you tell me a little about the late Danny Cruz? What was your relationship like with him?
Danny Monster Cruz was one of the realest homies and artists ever, a true genius who had so much talent and love to give in so many different ways! I lived in western Massachusetts for a while in mid 2010's and I had the pleasure of being his Personal Care Assistant, which means I helped him get around, and lots of other stuff, like taking him on tour, and eating lots of holy meals with him. We spent a lot of time together and he's had a huge impact on me and my music.
7. How has the pandemic affected you both spiritually as well as artistically as someone that is very consistent with touring and playing gigs?
At first the Rona had me cancel like 3 months of tour which was definitely a bummer, but I actually enjoyed the chill time, which I spent mostly with my family in GA, and with a lot of time in the woods. Now, I think the touring game is greater than ever and people are more pumped than ever to see some good live music and party down. Spiritually I think that the Rona just made things a little weird just because of the big break we all had, affecting the way we think about time, food, society, peace, and things of that nature.
8. Out of all your work, what are you most proud of? What do you reflect back on the most during this journey?
I'm most proud of "Love ya Love ya" which came out during the peak of rona so it didn't get much attention per se, I definitely think it's my best record out so far, but I'm even more proud of the new one that I've done with The Hurricanes over the past year, that'll be out sometime! I reflect most back upon holy hikes and holy tours I would say!
9. Are you currently working on anything new, or planning to hit the road anytime soon?
I've finished a new record with The Hurricanes (my band, Jake Merrick & John Spiegel) called "River of Love" and it is SO GOOD, talking to labels right now, etc. And I'm also working on a lot of other stuff, a spoken word album for an amazing European label, Futura Resistenza, amongst other things and always gonna be going on tour!
10. What are you most looking forward to as the new year draws near?
I'm really looking forward to making more music, having more fun, and getting my music out to more of the world!!!
https://frankhurricane.com/listen-to-music/
