I'm sitting here listening to Fra Nefarious' Leaving on a Meteor for about the fifth time in a row. This song really sticks with you. I found myself singing it in the car, the shower... you get the idea. What inspired soul could write such a heartfelt track?
When I first met Francisco Del several years ago, he introduced himself to me as 'Star.' The name made me smile. I did not realize at the time that no other name could sum up Del any better. Del is a talented musician, a creative performer, and an inspired song writer. Get to know Del and you'll see a Star.
When I first met Francisco Del several years ago, he introduced himself to me as 'Star.' The name made me smile. I did not realize at the time that no other name could sum up Del any better. Del is a talented musician, a creative performer, and an inspired song writer. Get to know Del and you'll see a Star.
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| Fra Nefarious original cover art |
Del: "Fra is short for Francisco. I found out though that it actually is a REAL name. It's Greek... used as a title for an Italian monk or friar; brother. (laughs) Nefarious is just that, infamous by way of being extremely wicked. Evil, sinful. Ok well, I'm not evil but to me I tend to look for names that sound nice to the tongue. Phonetically speaking. Together Fra Nefarious almost sounds like one word. It's not an alter ego as much as it is a band name. I still use Del as a singer of Fra Nefarious."The Paper Girl: Your sound seems to be heavily 70's and 80's influenced. I hear a little Bowie, a little Prince, and a lot of 80's UK rock. Who else influences your sound?
Del: "As for influences, you definitely know your sound. You have a fine tuned ear. This project was an experiment that went awry. I had no intention on making an album. My first song was Paradise. I wrote it after being inspired by the movie, The Man Who Fell To Earth (Bowie). It's for a female. I then pulled from Daft Punk for the dance foundation and BeeGees for the back up vocal warmth. I tried separating myself from the music so that I can produce it as an outsider looking in on the session. The album took exactly 14 days during a rainy, crazy weather pattern that hit us in Miami early July."The Paper Girl: The album cover is striking.
Del: "Thank you for the album cover compliment."
The Paper Girl: What influenced its design? What meaning do you attribute to it? Is it inspired by a specific culture or is it an emotional display?
Del: "I actually wanted to give the album a face. I went tribal because the album conveys attitudes about natural elements."
The Paper Girl: Who did your set design and make-up?
Del: "I painted my face à la 80's Adam Ant just in case it sucked... (laughs) Saving face."
The Paper Girl: Who photographed you?
Del: "I originally shot it on a 5D Canon with a tripod set up. I would click, and run back to pose. The very next day, my assistant erased all the pics, but not before I took photos from my phone and emailed them to a friend to see if they liked it. I was furious.
I took about 35 pics on my phone and chose the one where I actually WASN'T posing. It looked very unaffected. Seemed to capture a certain essence I hadn't even sought out. It's more of a look of frustration. I tweaked it out on my iMac in iPhoto and that's what you see. I intended to give it an 80's TV tube effect as if I was coming in through the waves from some other era (80's). I was happy with it, but the label that signed me independently took new ones. I think they are ok, but I guess I got married to this original cover."The Paper Girl: Your songs all seem to be about forces of nature. What moves you to write about things beyond man?
Del: "As for the forces that inspired the recordings, I wanted to make sure I didn't speak of anything superficial. Bling-bling, wealth, etc. I wanted to have an album that used, for instance, a storm to depict anger. Rain to depict cleansing. Fire to depict death or rebirth. A combination of all the elements, earth, wind, fire, water. It was as simple as that.
On the remake, Here Comes The Rain Again, I actually recorded the rain fall that day and left it in the recording. On Mountain, I used an ancient Cherokee Indian prayer, but gave it a transistor effect, as if he was orbiting the earth in a capsule because he was forced from the land and his only refuge left was the space capsule."The Paper Girl: I remember watching Soul Train as a kid and dancing my ass off. I know it is a different show, but tell me about your Soul Train appearance.
Del: "Wow, Soul Train... (laughs) I was called by my manager back in 05' and he told me I got SoulTrain. I didn't understand... I was like, 'I Got SOUL? SoulTrain?' He said I got the show... So it didn't make any sense because my song was getting airplay, but I thought I had to be burning up the charts in order to be on that show. But come to find out, Don Cornelius chooses who he wants on the show with his wife.
So I was chosen.
I got on a flight from Myrtle Beach to L.A. and the very next day 8 am, I was there. The wife greets me and escorted me to the dressing room with my name on the door. There are two other artists that day as well, side by side we have dressing rooms.
So one by one, we enter this studio which is actually HALF the size it appears on tv, about 4000 square feet, and the room is full of dancers that the crew know by name. They say, 'Tina over by the rafter'... 'Jerome, get up on the speaker'. They tell them when to clap, how loud, etc. Some of them are divas. More important than the artists... (laughs) I was nervous, duh, but I got through two songs. Then at the end they cut me a $1500 check... (laughs) Next day, back in Myrtle Beach."
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| Francisco "Star" Del |
Listen to Fra Nefarious on Sound Cloud (a four song sampler) or buy your favorite Fra Nefarious tracks on iTunes. Don't forget to follow Fra Nefarious and Francisco Del on Facebook.
