Artist Spotlight: Frogpile

Their big debut and future plans

Frogpile pleasently surprised Vancouver’s local scene with the release of Jackie, the four piece’s debut EP.

The record is technically three tracks long, including a 40-second interlude, but the two full-lengths stand out as some of the catchiest spring-summer tunes to make it into the city’s underground. While the lyrics of the title track, “Jackie”, are eyebrow-raising to say the least, “How Do You Do?” is no more than a catchy song with a memorable hook.

The interlude, on the other hand, is a mishmash of songs that will be on their next EP all played at once. That track opens to the sound of frogs croaking, similar to how Frogpile labels themselves as “frogressive rock”—because if you have a gimmick, you might as well do it the right way.

The cover art for Jackie is deeply youthful and nostalgic, not to mention a possible depiction of who the inspiration behind the record could be. Whether the woman on the cover is the eponymous Jackie or not is a band-kept secret.

Guitarist Brian Tancredi says the name of the EP was inspired by the Hozier song “Jackie and Wilson”, but realized after writing the song that it was also his girlfriend’s sister’s name. While on vacation with said girlfriend, he sent a rough recording of it over to the rest of the band. They worked on it, sent it back, and without having heard the final lyrics, Brian played the song for her. Things got a bit messy from there.

“The whole chorus is about falling in love with your girlfriend’s sister, so I played that for my girlfriend without knowing the chorus of the song, and we just drove in silence for like 25 minutes afterwards,” says Brian.

“I wrote it first and it had nothing to do with my girlfriend’s sister. It was innocent. It was benign. Then Jordy just bastardized it.”

“I was just feeling it. I thought it sounded funny at the time,” shrugs Jordan Heaney, frontman and guitarist. “I was like, ‘Hey, this would be a good joke for Brian to hear when he’s by himself, alone.’ Then it turned into that story and we never changed them.”

Despite that slight, listening to the EP generally feels weightless and sentimental—a sensation that makes the golden month of April perfect for its 2016 release.

For the most part, Bassist Bartek Daniel mixed the EP, though Heaney contributed to the interlude, “Frogpile”. Also in the band is Luke Tancredi on drums and Bartek Daniel on bass.

Maia Jake also played violin on the title track, and Marta Danel provided vocals for “How Do You Do?”.

The band says that another short record is “in the works,” and they just finished their first tour tour this August.

As a live band, Frogpile puts on a fun show. What has always been guaranteed at a Frogpile show is a spirited crowd, but a majority of their material and technical precision as artists is brand new.