THE FREEZE
from Maximumrocknroll #11, 1984
INTERVIEW BY JED HRESKO
The FREEZE are a Massachusetts band playing for the Boston and Cape Cod scenes since late '77. They put the I Hate Tourists 45 out themselves, played on the Modern Method 7" sampler and the Boston Not L.A. LP, as well as putting out their Guilty Face EP and a new Land Of The Lost LP. Vocalist Cliff Hanger, guitarist Bill Close, and drummer Lou Cataldo have recently been joined by 2nd guitarist Chuck, and bassist Pete (from the "infamous" SMEGMA AND THE NUNZ).
MRR: WERE YOU ONE OF THE FIRST BANDS ON THE SCENE?
CLIFF: I don't know...
CHUCK: They were one of the hot bands in Dennisport. (laughter)
CLIFF: We were the scene on the Cape. We are again. They've all started and broken up.
MRR: THERE AREN'T TOO MANY RECEPTIVE PEOPLE THERE. DO YOU WANT TO COMMENT ON THE RECENT TROUBLE YOU MAY HAVE HAD WITH ACCEPTANCE IN THE BOSTON SCENE?
CHUCK: Great bunch of guys.
PETE: We have nothing against anybody.
CHUCK: We like everybody.
MRR: DO PEOPLE HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST YOU GUYS?
PETE: Definitely most of the knuckleheads.
CLIFF: There's no big problems anymore. People either accept us for what we are or they don't; but I don't really care myself.
MRR: I'VE HEARD THE ACCUSATION THAT SOME OF YOUR SONGS DWELL ON TYPICAL "PUNK ROCK THEMES".
CLIFF: I think that we have one song for each of those types of subjects. "Sacrifice (Not Suicide)" could be about religion; "Broken Bones" could be about rednecks; and "Violent Arrest" could be about cops. But we don't sing it over and over again. They're just single songs. I think we're overall more original lyrically than many other bands. I just tell stroies when I write, and they aren't about one particular thing.
MRR: THEY'RE LIKE BALLADS...
CLIFF: Yes, they're beautiful... (laughter)
MRR: WHAT ABOUT "Nazi Fun" OFF THE NEW LP?
CLIFF: Violence on the scene...
CHUCK: Idiots on the dance floor...
MRR: AND "No Exposure"...
CLIFF: It's more general (than about Boston's zine, Forced Exposure), and is about how fanzines can control the scene, something goes to their heads...
MRR: HEH HEH. WHO ELSE IN THE BAND PUTS INTO THE LYRICS?
BILL: None of us know how to read, so...
CLIFF: They've all sat down at various times, like they all wrote "Pighunt". Doug, our old manager, helped write "No Exposure" and "I Hate Tourists".
MRR: WHAT ARE YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
CHUCK: Jim Nabors.
BILL: OZZY.
CLIFF: We used to listen to heavy metal before punk: ALICE COOPER, BLACK SABBATH... then the RAMONES, DEAD BOYS, and a lot of '77 bands... DICKES.
BILL: SEX PISTOLS, DAMNED.
CLIFF: Of the newer bands, I like SOCIAL DISTORTION, BLACK FLAG, CIRCLE JERKS...
MRR: BILL, DO YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLE TOURING... WITH YOUR PARENTS?
BILL: Huh? Cliff, what did you tell him? No, my father's mellowed out.
CLIFF: It used to be hard for him to play... "What time are you coming home Bill?"
MRR: DID YOU GET ANY SHIT ABOUT "Go Team Go" ON THE CAPE?
CLIFF: No, but if I'd been back in H.S., the jocks would've been up in arms.
CHUCK: "Hey, you saying something about me?!"
CLIFF: "Oh, not it's not..." (laughter)
BILL: "Just about you bonehead"
CLIFF: "What makes you think that, sir?"
MRR: ARE YOU GONNA TAKE YOUR SOUND IN ANY NEW DIRECTIONS?
BILL: We'll have to see what happens.
CLIFF: We want to record, but we can't come up with the money for a new practice space even. I've got a new song about a priest who fucks little girls.
BILL: I'm not playing that.
CLIFF: You said that about "So Long Ago". You said "I'm not playing a song about a guy who kills little girls and buries them in his backyard.", when the song wasn't about that at all.
MRR: WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?
CLIFF: It's got double meaning -- the garden is the guy's memory, and he buries her in his memory.
MRR: WHAT ABOUT "Won't Come Back Alive"?
CLIFF: It's based on an emotional attachment between a crazy uncle and a "favorite nephew".
BILL: It's about his Uncle Fred. (laughter)
MRR: HOW ABOUT "Gardener And The Maid"?
CLIFF: That's another double meaning.
BILL: It's about how houses fall apart after many years.
CLIFF: Yeah (laughter). The "gardener" and the "maid" is like a husband and wife, and the house is their relationship and it's falling part, and they don't really notice it.
MRR: "Days Of Desperation"?
CLIFF: That's about a person who's frustrated and going nowhere in his own life.
BILL: "Can you tell me where the loose onions are?"
CLIFF: "Yes ma'am, right down there on the left. Come, I'll take your hand and show you. I work in the produce aisle."
BACK to the Freeze page
KILL FROM THE HEART Home