Freak Genes: "You Meet a Lot of People When You Play in Bands and Some Friendships From That Just Stick"

Freak Genes descend further into their disorienting and swarming synth-punk sounds on Delirik, number six from the UK duo. While recording destinations included Sofia, Bulgaria and Falmouth, England, the album's mechanized experimentation cuts its glitchy melodic hooks from a fever dream of dark and cold sounds that recall Fad Gadget, Bourbonese Qualk and Chrome. To dive deeper, we spoke with Freak Genes' Andrew Anderson and Charlie Murphy all about how the album underlines the slightly more indecipherable, disorientating part of grief, highlights of touring the USA, and what's prompting them to keep the band alive.

Photo by Alexzandra Roy

First tell me what you've been up to lately? What have you been listening to, reading, watching, or spending a lot of time doing?

Charlie Murphy: Recently, I've been putting on gigs in Falmouth where I live—there's a few of us who do it together in a community arts center called Fish Factory. I've also been putting together a zine called Afterimage, which was a great excuse to talk to musicians that I love. I spoke to Gimic who are a totally unique punk band from Bristol; Optic Sink who I've been a fan of since their first release; and Tasha Lizak who plays in Memorabilia and makes really interesting visual art. I've also really been enjoying the new Brute Spring record, as well as Liz Lamere, Klaus Shulze's Cyborg, everything from the Future Shock Recordings universe, Ike Yard and Fad Gadget (who have been a pretty key influence for Freak Genes). In terms of reading, Ursula K. Le Guin's translation of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, anything I can find from Decadence Comics and I am just starting Re-sisters by Cosey Fanni Tutti. I also watched the recent series Scavengers Reign and thought it was excellent.

Andrew Anderson: I made a short movie that came out at the start of the summer with the Bulgarian band I play in (called KAKE?, which is pronounced like "kak-eh" and is slang for "what’s up?"). That was a fun project, but it took up a lot of time and energy. So mostly sleeping and reading since then. Speaking of which, I've had The Cyberiad (Lem), Nostaligia (Cărtărescu) and The Journal of a Disappointed Man (Barbellion) on the go lately. I should add that I run a bookshop in Sofia, so if you or any of your readers are ever in this part of the world, please feel free to drop by (we have beer!)

For our readers unfamiliar, tell us about the origins of Freak Genes. How did you two meet and decide to start making music together?

CM: Andrew and I met when my old band Red Cords played with his group Proto Idiot in Sheffield. I still remember the gig really well, Virvon Varvon also played and it was a great line up—it had a big effect on my brain at the time. We struck up a friendship and decided to do a band that had all the songs that didn't fit with our other bands. It took a while to come to fruition, but I got a train up to Manchester sometime in 2016 and we recorded my parts for the 2017 tape Playtime.

AA: I actually remember this the other way around—I'm pretty sure I came down to Cornwall for Playtime, and Charlie came up to Manchester for our second LP (Qwak Qwak). But yeah, Charlie and I hit it off right away. You meet a lot of people when you play in bands, and some friendships from that just stick. We started chatting about music right away and we have kept that up ever since. Although actually we talk about football almost as much these days.

It was pretty cool catching you guys at Gonerfest 19 iIn Memphis. Who was part of your band during that US tour? Also, how has it been fully fleshing out these songs with a band and do you have a frequent rotation of band members?

CM: Thank you! Honestly it felt really gratifying to play the songs live, it was only the second tour we've done…and the first one was back in 2017. The writing and recording process are usually the central part of Freak Genes, so it was a nice change—performing our songs like created a new energy. It was especially gratifying given we’d just been through the pandemic. 

AA: We were very lucky that Phil Booth (JT Soar, Slumb Party), Sam Stacpoole (Holiday Ghosts) and Jonathan Meager (Fawn Spots) agreed to help us turn Freak Genes into a band again, and that all three of them are amazing musicians. We started off a little shaky, but by the time we got to Gonerfest we were really on it. I'm not used to getting such positive feedback, since most of the bands I play in are usually decent but also a bit shambolic…but with that line up it felt really good every night. 

What were the highlights of your US tour back in '22? You played shows with Tha Retail Simps, Dangus Tarkus, and Screensaver. 

CM: It's really difficult to pick a highlight—it was one of the best times I've had. I saw so many incredible bands, and I came back and so inspired that I instantly wanted to start making new music. If I had to pick a highlight Gonerfest is hard to beat, but there’s too many contenders. 

AA: The main highlight was spending two weeks hanging out with friends who I don't get to see all that much. And yeah, we played with a ton of great bands…I don't think I’ve ever been on a tour before where every night was with someone really worth watching. 

We've been fans of yours since the beginning, but how do you feel looking back on your catalog? Do you still like or relate to your past releases?

CM: As the band started as an outlet for ideas that didn't fit with our other bands, we deliberately tried not to edit each other's song writing stylistically too much. I think the early records are a lot more eclectic for that reason, but by the time we made Power Station, it was our fourth album so we maybe had more cohesion as songwriters and we both became really interested in writing on synthesizers. Since then, the records have been more homogenous. 

AA: Normally I don't like listening to my own music. But last year my daughter (three and a half at the time of writing) discovered that I play in bands, and she wanted to hear all my old albums. We listened to some of them (the really terrible ones I avoided), and that included Freak Genes. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how good most of it was…and it was nice to hear the evolution from scrappy DIY guitars up to slightly less scrappy DIY synths. 

What's the journey been like with Freak Genes over the last few years?

CM: Freak Genes has been a constant in my life for a while now, and getting to tour of the back of Hologram gave me a ton of energy. The only real regret is that Andrew and I live in different countries—Bulgaria and the UK—so it's not really been possible to play live anywhere as often as we'd like. 

AA: The main difference is how much time we spend on the writing and recording process now. As our lives have gotten a bit more complicated the process has become a bit more epic in its timescale, and also in terms of attention to detail. After every album we tend to have a moment where we talk and say, "okay, maybe we've completed this now." But usually, three to six months later, we talk again and have new ideas and off we go. So, we'll see what happens this time…but Charlie is the best person to write and work with, I can confirm this much. 

What insight can you share about your new album Delirik and how exactly did it all come together? Where was it recorded?

CM: With Delirik, we recorded and wrote the songs remotely between Sofia and Falmouth. The writing process was slightly different from the other records we've done, in that I'd come up with an initial idea and then Andrew would completely re-work the track from the components. So, a lot of the songs are almost like remixes—there's an original skeleton and then a fleshed out version. In some cases the original sounds nothing like the remix. In terms of the themes, I lost my mum in 2021 and my songs on Hologram were influenced by that. However, the songs that I wrote for Delirik address a later, slightly more indecipherable, disorientating part of grief. The working title for the album was delirium, but then that evolved into Delirik because it just felt like a better fit for the music. 

AA: As Charlie says, in the past, we'd tend to write half the songs each, and then finish one another's songs. But this time I think Charlie spent more time on ideas and then I was really getting involved in the production—making things denser and weirder. It was a nice change, and I'll be interested to see how we can keep refining that process for whatever comes next. 

Across the new album I see you were listening to some Bourbonese Qualk and Chrome. What kind of gear did you have in the band? Tell us about effects, pedals, etc. 

CM: My partner Chloe introduced me to Bourbonese Qualk and I've been listening to them a lot. Chrome have been a band we've both loved for a long time, but on this record I feel their way of changing the course of a song in the middle into almost a different track has been an influence. I feel like their songs mutate, and we wanted the songs on Delirik to do something similar. 

AA: Because the editing was so dense a lot of the album was recorded in the box. So, that meant lots of N.I. and Soundtoys plugins, as well as a bunch of weird free virtual synths that we found. Oh, and Charlie actually sings into a microphone on this one…I think in the past he's always used his laptop mic, which, somehow, I never realized…a great example of turning the limitations of your tools to your advantage. 

How did the track "Reflective Surface" come about and what were the inspirations behind it?

CM: Lyrically, "Reflective Surface" is a hopeful song about self-renewal. The Imagery in it was influenced by underwater life and body horror films. It was the first song we wrote for the new album and it evolved drastically from demo to completed track, which set the precedent for all the songs that came after. 

AA: This is a really good example of how the songs would evolve—the original sounds totally different, with less texture. All the breathing stuff and the slightly off-kilter drum beat came much later. But, at the same time, the core of Charlie's idea is still there. And I think his lyrics are excellent…and slightly less depressing than usual!  

What's the story of "Head of the Snake"? 

AA: I was messing around with a synth and found that odd bass sound. Then the working title came from that—it sounded dark and reptilian. Also, at the time I was really into breathing sounds and backwards talking, so there's a lot of that stuff on there. Charlie sent me a bunch of lyrics and (from what I remember) I cut them and used them in different parts of the song. 

What was it like putting together "Clear in the Night"?  

CM: This was the most even collaboration of all the tracks on the album. Andrew wrote the music and the vocals came really quickly. Lyrically, it's about a feeling that memories come to you with clarity when you’re falling asleep, and I was trying to capture a bit of that feeling too. 

AA: Agreed. I'd just add that this was also our attempt at doing a '90s big beat track, but somehow it ended up far darker and more miserable…as per usual.  

What were the inspirations behind the cover art?

CM: With the cover art we wanted something that gave an image to the idea of Delirik. It took a while to find the right thing, and the insert for the record was printed it on a riso machine that was slightly broken, so it gave it a strange quality that seemed to fit somehow with the title and the concept. 

AA: Originally, we were going to make half the artwork each and then combine them, kind of sight unseen. That didn't really work out, but Charlie's concept that emerged from that was so good that we just went with it.

Aside from the new album, what else is on the horizon for Freak Genes? 

CM: Not too sure at the moment, but as ever, I am sure we'll start sharing ideas again really soon. 

AA: Yeah I think we'll have a new song on a compilation from Girlsville later in the year. We might also do a compilation album of all our one-off songs and unreleased stuff. 

Thank you for taking your time. Any advice or last words you'd like to share with our readers?

CM: Thanks so much for asking such interesting questions, it’s been really fun answering them—and thanks for reading! Also want to say a huge thanks to Sam Richardson of the excellent Feel It Records for his continued support with the band—it's awesome to have our records alongside so many great ones. 

AA: Yeah, it's a real honor for people to take an interest in our small project. Advice-wise, if you find someone that you love to collaborate with, do your best to hang on to that—it's so valuable. Working on this stuff over the years with Charlie has really motivated me to learn new things and try new ideas…and I'm sure I wouldn't have done anywhere near as much if I'd just been working in isolation. Although it's tricky that we're far apart, it's been totally worth the effort to keep it going for almost a decade now. 

Delirik is out now on Feel It Records.