Frixion: the UKs hottest new boy band

Neil Painter, David Stanton and Johnny Wright walk, talk, look and most importantly sing like the UK’s latest pin-up boy band. But don’t confuse them with your everyday manufactured group – these Midlands lads have been friends since college, and after working the music scene for over three years got their break by signing with label Fame City. They haven’t looked back since.

On TV talent shows:
David: We did it on our own, which is something we take pride in. We don’t knock shows [like X-Factor] because some wicked talent comes from some of those shows, but we grafted the underground route and really worked our way to get the fan base for many years.

On hooking up with FDM for their debut single Afraid:
Johnny: We had done a couple of recording sessions with Varren FDM; he also wrote a few tracks on our album so it was a collaboration waiting to happen.
Two boy bands, three members each – a lot of
people are calling it the new-age Ebony and Ivory.
It’s something refreshing.

On girls:
Johnny: They [the girls] scream so loud we can’t even hear our sound system, but it’s all good. We’d never complain about it.
Neil: We’ve had some crazy shows, especially with FDM – they know how to get the girls hyped. We’ve been all over the place. Last year we were touring with N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder. We performed at the same event as Tine Tempah and Wiley at Flavour magazine’s show The Big Fest. We have shows coming up with N-Dubz, Mr Hudson, Mario, Chipmunk, Roll Deep. We got some gigs with some real good artists.

On who they would like to work with:
Neil: I’d love to work with Neyo.
David: I would love to get in the studio and make something happen with Neyo – that would be amazing.
Johnny: It’d also be wicked to work with some new artists. Labyrinth is doing amazingly well. I would like to do a track with him – he sounds sick. Maybe get Professor Green on the track too – he’s doing really well at the moment.
Neil: Taio Cruz – I would love to work with him too.

On their forthcoming album:
Neil: The album’s almost complete. The first single Afraid is out now. [There’ll be] a couple more singles, then the album to follow later this year.
Johnny: We are just really excited. We’ve been working for the last three years so we’ve got about three albums of material. It will be like a greatest hits album, ’cos every song reminds us of a time in our life. It’s an ‘all killers no fillers’ – there are no tracks that you will think sounds like an album track. Every track could be the next single. We got some wicked remixes on the album. The first album is just to show we are Frixion, this is what we do. Our sound is credible RnB with a kind of pop edge to it.

Any advice for aspiring artists?
Neil: Keep going. Be persistent. If you believe in yourself don’t let anyone tell you different. We believed in ourselves and [the] evidence is we have released our first video.
Johnny: There were many times we could have given up but we didn’t. I’m a big believer in don’t make a knockback, become a fallback.
David: I always refer back to The Beatles. They were denied like 12 times by major record labels. So don’t give up, don’t take any knockbacks, stay positive.

What’s good about you?
Johnny: We are not your typical average boy band. We give out a real good performance. We vibe off the audience. We are so alike in so many ways but we each bring something to the table.
David: We don’t dance and do the whole routine
when we perform. We go out and individually feel the music and do our own thing. We have our own styles of performing.

What’s not so good?
Neil: Freezing on the video shoot, [Laughs]
Johnny: Being away from family.

Before I was in Frixion, I wanted to be a…
David: Fighter pilot
Neil: Astronaut
Johnny: When I was younger I wanted to be a wrestler, I wanted long hair like Sean Michaels. Then when I was about 12 I found out it wasn’t real and I was really gutted.
Neil: He had a trademark catchphrase.
Johnny: Shut up you maggot! Now that’s a Johnny special.

Frixion’s debut single Afraid is out now. For more information visit http://www.myspace.com/frixionstyle

Interview by Sharleen Banton