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Occupying the former residence of local greats Bootiddy and The Rustic Overtones, Orono-based band Frank and the Redhots have had quite the shoes to fill.
But with packed shows, original tunes and an eccentric sense of humor, the four-member band has come into their own, even creating a unique sub-genre of music.
“Condiment rock,” said keyboardist and guitarist Danny Herasymchuck. “It’s, like, everything. Without it, all rock seems quite plain.”
Herasymchuck, 21; guitarist Tom Menzie, 22; drummer Bobby Attanasio, 22, and bassist Hugh Valaitis, 22, are seniors at the University of Maine, and have been playing together since 2009 when they moved into the apartment they share in Orono.
“We all played the right instruments and started jamming,” Attanasio said. “We started with just playing covers and messing around and then started thinking about playing at bars.”
Frank and the Redhots played their first show in 2009 at The Dime in Old Town on Halloween. Since then, the band has seen the best of the Orono bar scene, performing shows at Woodman’s Bar and Grill, The Roost or the Bear Brew Pub almost every weekend this semester, incorporating their own wacky themes and personalities into their sets.
Crowds have witnessed an array of interesting wardrobe choices from sleeveless flannels to cowboy hats and Flintstones costumes, and they can almost always catch at least one band member sporting their staple, a red bandana.
“It’s the red hotness,” Attanasio said.
Influenced by funk, reggae and rock artists ranging from Phish, Grateful Dead and Sublime to The Meters and The Beatles, Frank and the Redhots keep about 90 tunes in their repertoire. Approximately 20 of them are originals with lyrics and structure written by Herasymchuck while the rest of the band contributes their own parts.
“He doesn’t tell us what to play,” Menzie said. “We just kind of go off his song and add our own style to it. We kind of have that sixth sense of when to change. We kind of know where we’re going to go, which you can only get from playing over and over again every weekend.”
Many times, the band’s listeners don’t realize some songs are originals because they fit in so well with the rest of the music they play. “Henrietta,” written by Herasymchuck, was mistaken for a Phish song once. Sometimes people even know and sing the lyrics.
“It definitely is a reflection of how we interpret the music that we play and how we play it to our own,” Herasymchuck said.
At their shows, Frank and the Redhots try to play songs the crowd will enjoy, but with no specific audience in mind. A few favorites include “Possum” by Phish, “Caravan” by Van Morrison and “Whisky in the Jar,” a famous traditional Irish song. About one-third to half of the songs played during their sets are originals.
“We don’t really care who we play for, as long as people like us,” Attanasio said. “We definitely don’t cater to any sort of audience. We kind of play music that everyone should like.”
Crowds vary depending on the show’s location, but each brings a unique environment and atmosphere to perform in. Earlier this semester, the band played at the Bear Brew for a show almost all of their parents attended, and on St. Patrick’s Day at the Roost for a sloppy, loud and over-capacity celebration. Some of their best shows, they said, have been at their apartment.
“We just packed this whole downstairs and we would shove our instruments in that corner and just have house parties,” Menzie said. “People would try to crowd surf across the room. My favorite times playing were here.”
Before they were officially called Frank and the Redhots, the band tossed around other name ideas.
“We had the idea of someone and then something,” Herasymchuck said. Some ideas: “Hugh Valaitis and the Octagon Trio,” “Sweet Ray and the Babies” and “Gray and the Poupons.”
But it had to be Frank and the Redhots.
“All we do in this house is eat food with Frank’s Red Hot on it,” Herasymchuck said. The name works well with the theme of condiment rock, and sometimes, members of the band are even mistaken as being named “Frank,” especially Valaitis.
“I was walking on campus and I saw someone I kind of know and he’s like ‘oh hey Frank, what’s going on?’” Valaitis said.
“It’s all something that we strive to become,” Herasymchuck said.
With a few dents in their instruments and sticky keyboard keys saturated with beer, Frank and the Redhots approach their final performance, “Farewell Franks,” on April 29 at Woodman’s. Although sad to see the days of college condiment rock fade away, the band hopes to make the best of their last few shows within the tight-knit community of Orono.
“Pretty soon it’s just going to be a memory,” Herasymchuck said. “It’s good to have memories but not as good as experiencing things.”
The guys agree they’ve all become better musicians and have learned a lot from each other over the years — each playing an important role in a band at the height of the Orono bar scene.
“We’re each 25 percent of the band, and I think that’s really personified through our shows,” Herasymchuck said. “We trust and understand each other as musicians and I think it says a lot about just the way we get along.”
For one last bottle of Frank’s Red Hot, see Frank and the Redhots at Woodman’s for their final shows on Friday, April 22 and Friday, April 29 at 10 p.m.
