Following the success of their most recent single, ‘Keep You Close,’ FRENSHIP have just released their album called Vacation and are also looking forward to their tour which begins very soon. The dynamic electronic duo, consisting of members James Sunderland and Brett Hite, opened up to CelebMix about their single ‘Remind You,’ collaborations and more.
Their tour begins May 18th and continues through June in the United States. FRENSHIP’s new album Vacation is now available for both streaming and purchase.
For fans who may not know, how did FRENSHIP form and what inspired your band’s name?
We met working at Lululemon. It was one of the only jobs either of us had ever had, but it happened to be together. We were two of the few men that worked there. It all felt like a joke, you know the fact that we were there…us and spandex. We kind of hung out and had come from musical projects before…James was doing a DJ-duo thing and I was doing a singer-songwriter thing. We were kind of burnt out on those, so the timing was good for when we met. Eventually, we tried writing a song together and it seemed to have gone well, so we kept at it! James shouted out: ‘There’s big ships and there’s little ships, but the best ship is friendship.’ We ended up just saying that all of the time for no reason and that just happened to be the time when we were figuring out what to call [our duo]. We landed on that [name]. We took out a vowel and a consonant. Everyone was taking out all of the vowels [from their names], so we left in some and took out a consonant and one vowel.
What can you tell us about your single ‘Remind You’ and the inspiration behind that track or its overall message?
That song came together over a long period of time actually. It started with that pre-chorus and I think I was laying in bed with my lady and she was just having a really terrible couple of months. She was really down and just asked me: ‘Are you ever going to leave me?’ That kind of kicked off the pre-chorus which then kicked off the rest of the song which is a response to that down period in life. We sat on the song for maybe about a year, rewrote the chorus and did some more production [before its release].
Let’s also talk about the music video for ‘Remind You.’ What can you tell us about that whole process?
It doesn’t make all of the sense in the world to spend a bunch of money on a music video unless it’s a great idea. We really didn’t have a great idea, so we ran with that one idea [that we did] honestly. What I liked about it is that it does show a bit more of our personalities. Our music tends to be quite heartfelt and meaningful, but who we are as people…we like to joke around and we’re very carefree. That video represents us as humans a little better than a lot of other ones have. I think that this is a good opportunity for us to bridge the gap.
How did it feel to release ‘Capsize’ with Emily Warren and see how successful it became?
Once we released a few songs, we started having expectations for what’s realistic when you put music out. It wasn’t really different with ‘Capsize’ because we just figured a couple of people might like it. We knew it was good. We were proud of it and all of that, but we certainly had no expectations for it to perform the way that it did. For lack of a better term, we lost our sh*t. At the time, we were broke, out of our pub money and kind of on our last leg. That was the second song of two songs that we were putting out. We kind of just lucked out.
Your new album, Vacation, is out now! What makes this album different than what you have released in the past?
We definitely have run the gamut in terms of style and what we like, so it’s definitely everchanging. It’s probably the most mature version of us that we’ve ever [put out]. We’re not the youngest dudes anymore and we’ve been around the industry for a bit now. I think this is a really good representation of who we are as a band…not just two songwriters. Our live show was really top of mind when we were making these songs, so they should also translate to a live show. Our earlier songs were done without a live show in mind. It’s the best thing you’ll ever hear!
You guys have a big headlining tour that’s about to start! What do you love most about tour?
We love so much about tour. We consistently say that it’s where we make the most sense and where people understand us best. The best part is being able to do it. If you mess up one night, you get to fix it the next. If you do something great, you get to repeat it. So much growth happens as a performer in such a short amount of time. You go in one way and come out that much more proficient. We look forward to the bigger ones and the ones that you typically do well in. For us, that’s San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. As well as that, I think we look forward to going home to play hometown shows. I think there’s something really magical about playing to a large crowd one night and a small crowd the next night depending on the city. The venues vary in size quite a bit. There’s also a joy in that as well!
Is there anyone you both want to collaborate with in the future?
So many people! We’d love to do some big classic 80s artists like Sting or Phil Collins. It would be fun to get one of those in someday!
What do you want fans to know about you who may have just discovered your music?
We’re better in person is a good catchphrase [for us as a duo]! We really love interacting with people and we’re not always great at responding to emails.
Thank you, FRENSHIP, for taking the time to speak with CelebMix.
Listen to their new album, Vacation, here.
Follow FRENSHIP on Twitter and Instagram.
Be sure to see them on tour this summer and purchase tickets before they sell out!